There are 14 Courts of Appeals in Texas which, since September 1, 1981, have heard intermediate appeals in civil and criminal cases.

Courts of Appeals are located in Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Texarkana, Amarillo, El Paso, Beaumont, Waco, Eastland, Tyler, Corpus Christi, and Houston. Houston has two Courts of Appeals. Each court has jurisdiction over a geographical district. The districts of the Houston courts are coterminous.

The number of justices for each court ranges from 3 each in five courts to 13 in Dallas, which is the largest. There are 80 justices statewide.

For the tenth consecutive year, total pending caseloads of the 14 Courts of Appeals increased during the state fiscal year which ended August 31, 1997.

The pending caseload increased from 10,539 at the beginning of the fiscal year 1997 to 10,809 at the end of the fiscal year.

The Courts of Appeals had 7,418 criminal cases and 3,121 civil cases pending as of September 1, 1996. On August 31, 1997, 7,404 criminal cases and 3,405 civil cases were pending. The state average for pending cases at year's end was 135 per justice.

Of the 7,404 criminal cases pending in the Courts of Appeals at the end of fiscal year 1997, 42.3 percent had been on the docket less than 6 months, 28.1 percent from 6 to 12 months, and 29.6 percent more than 12 months.

At the end of fiscal year 1997, 3,405 civil cases were pending on the dockets of the Courts of Appeals, 9.1 percent more than the 3,121 pending on September 1, 1996. Of those civil cases pending on August 31, 1997, 45.5 percent had been on the docket less than 6 months, 30.5 percent from 6 to 12 months, and 24.0 percent for more than 12 months.

The largest number of pending cases per justice (195) at the end of the fiscal year was in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. The lowest number per justice (66) was in the Tenth Court of Appeals in Waco.

New Case Filings

A total of 10,754 new cases was filed in the Courts of Appeals during the fiscal year, which included 6,088 criminal cases and 4,666 civil cases. This was an increase of 0.1 percent from the 10,742 total new cases filed in fiscal year 1996. New criminal cases decreased 0.9 percent from the 6,146 filed in fiscal year 1996 and civil cases increased 1.5 percent from the 4,596 filed in fiscal year 1996.

Considering civil and criminal cases together, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas had the highest average number of new cases filed per justice (162) during fiscal year 1997. The other courts ranged down to 69 cases per justice filed in the Eleventh Court of Appeals in Eastland. State average filings were 135 per justice.

Approximately 27 percent of all new cases filed in a Court of Appeals in Texas in fiscal year 1997 were filed in the two courts located in Houston. Approximately 20 percent of all new cases filed in the state were filed in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas.

The 
The courts disposed of 11,249 total cases during the year, an average of 141 dispositions (84 criminal and 57 civil) per justice.Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas disposed of the largest total number of cases per justice (193) during fiscal year 1997. The lowest number per justice (84) was in the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana. State average dispositions were 141 per justice.

Criminal dispositions increased 18.1 percent from 5,699 dispositions in fiscal year 1996 to 6,732 dispositions in fiscal year 1997.

The average lapse of time between the filing of a criminal case in a Court of Appeals and its disposition ranged from 6.0 months in the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana to 21.6 months in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. The average lapse of time for the 14 courts was 13.1 months.

The average lapse of time between submission of a criminal appeal and its disposition ranged from 0.2 of a month in the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana to 3.6 months in the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi. The average lapse of time for the 14 courts was 2.2 months.

Civil Dispositions

In fiscal year 1997, there were 4,517 civil dispositions by the Courts of Appeals, an increase of 1.2 percent from the 4,465 civil dispositions in fiscal year 1996.

The average lapse of time between the filing of a civil case in a Court of Appeals and its disposition ranged from 4.1 months in the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana to 11.2 months in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. The average lapse of time in the 14 courts for civil cases was 7.9 months.

The average lapse of time from the submission to the court of a civil case and its disposition ranged from 0.5 month in the Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana to 6.0 months in the Twelfth Court of Appeals in Tyler. The average lapse of time for the 14 courts was 3.3 months. A case is "submitted" when the court hears oral argument or when it is referred to the justices for formal consideration if no oral argument is heard.

In fiscal year 1997, the justices of the Courts of Appeals wrote 10,480 opinions, 5.3 percent more than the 9,951 written in 1996.

The Courts of Appeals reversed, at least in part, the decision of the trial court in 10.6 percent of the cases disposed of during fiscal year 1997, compared to 12.5 percent in fiscal year 1996.

While the 14 Courts of Appeals operate to a large extent as autonomous courts in specific geographic districts, some equalization of the dockets occurs by transfer of cases among the courts on order of the Supreme Court, pursuant to statutory authority. The Supreme Court transferred a total of 193 civil cases and 570 criminal cases among the courts in fiscal year 1997, compared with 48 civil cases and 205 criminal cases transferred in fiscal year 1996. In addition, the two Houston Courts (1st and 14th) are authorized by statute to transfer cases between those courts.