Opinion Library
Texas court rulings translated into actionable litigation strategy.
This Week's DigestStrategy Category
863 opinions found
In re Brittany Hilbert
COA05
In this original proceeding arising from a conservatorship-related case, the relator asked the Dallas Court of Appeals to vacate a final order, attorney’s-fee award, and interim conservatorship or possession rulings based on parental-presumption and best-interest complaints. The court did not reach those merits because the mandamus filing was procedurally defective: the appendix and record were not supported by properly certified or sworn copies as required by Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 52.3 and 52.7, the challenged final order and relevant hearing transcript were missing, and the petition disclosed unredacted sensitive data in violation of Rule 9.9. Applying Walker v. Packer and Dallas mandamus-record precedent, the court held that the relator failed to provide a sufficient record to establish entitlement to mandamus relief and struck the filing for the confidentiality violation.
Litigation Takeaway
"Mandamus relief can be lost before the court ever considers the merits. In family-law emergency appellate practice, lawyers must file a complete, properly authenticated mandamus record, include the exact order and any necessary reporter’s record, and scrub all sensitive information under Rule 9.9. Even serious conservatorship complaints will fail if the filing is procedurally noncompliant."
In re Malik Adonis Dartell Conyers
COA05
In this original proceeding arising from a child-return dispute, the relator asked the Dallas Court of Appeals to prohibit enforcement of a trial court’s return order and to stay related proceedings. The court did not reach the merits. Instead, it held the petition failed to comply with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 52 because it lacked the required certification and was supported largely by documents that were neither sworn nor certified, leaving an insufficient record for extraordinary relief. The court also denied the emergency motion as moot after denying the petition and struck the filings for including unredacted sensitive data in violation of Rule 9.9.
Litigation Takeaway
"Emergency appellate relief in family-law cases can be lost on procedure alone. If a writ petition is missing the Rule 52 certification, relies on unauthenticated attachments, or includes unredacted sensitive information, the court may deny or strike the filing without ever considering the underlying custody or child-return issue."
Patrick Adam Ortiz v. The State of Texas
COA08
The El Paso Court of Appeals affirmed Patrick Adam Ortiz’s convictions for continuous sexual abuse of a child and two indecency-with-a-child counts. The defense argued the child complainant was not credible because she delayed reporting, previously did not disclose abuse to CPS, had some inconsistencies, and her mother allegedly wanted to use the allegations in a custody dispute. The court held those points went to weight and credibility for the jury, not legal sufficiency. Applying ordinary sufficiency and preservation rules, the court concluded the complainant’s detailed testimony alone was enough to prove repeated qualifying acts over the required period, and it rejected the remaining complaints about judicial comments, charge and indictment defects, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance, and double jeopardy.
Litigation Takeaway
"In family-law cases, “this was raised for custody leverage” is not a silver bullet. Courts may still credit abuse allegations when the record shows repeated access, a detailed disclosure history, explainable delay, and contextual corroboration. Lawyers should build or attack these cases through chronology, access, prior statements, and corroborating circumstances—not motive rhetoric alone."
In the Interest of N.H.S. and H.A.F., Children
COA05
The Dallas Court of Appeals affirmed termination of Mother’s parental rights, holding the evidence was legally and factually sufficient to support the trial court’s best-interest finding under Texas Family Code section 161.001(b)(2). Mother challenged only best interest on appeal, so the court focused on the Holley factors and section 263.307 considerations, relying on evidence of repeated abuse allegations, prior CPS “reason to believe” findings, the children’s fear of Mother, self-harm and trauma tied to that fear, unsafe and unsanitary home conditions, medication noncompliance, positive drug tests during the case, and the children’s improvement in foster care. Although Mother completed some services and her related criminal charge was dismissed after pretrial intervention, the court held that favorable evidence did not outweigh the broader pattern of danger, instability, and emotional harm, and it affirmed the termination order.
Litigation Takeaway
"Best-interest cases are won on a layered record, not a single bad incident. Evidence of abuse history, child fear, trauma symptoms, mental-health noncompliance, unsafe home conditions, and the child’s improvement in a stable placement can collectively support strong best-interest findings, while partial rehabilitation or service completion may not overcome a record showing ongoing danger and instability."
Ortiz v. Nelapatla
SCOTX
In Ortiz v. Nelapatla, the Texas Supreme Court decided whether a partial counteraffidavit under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 18.001 defeats an entire medical-expense affidavit or only the portions actually challenged. Ortiz submitted affidavits from three medical providers to prove past medical expenses, but Nelapatla’s counteraffidavits disputed only specific portions of two providers’ bills. The trial court nevertheless excluded those two provider affidavits in full absent live expert testimony, and the court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court analyzed the text of § 18.001, especially its allowance for controverting “all or part” of an affidavit, and held that the statute does not impose an all-or-nothing result. Unchallenged portions of a compliant medical-expense affidavit remain competent evidence of reasonableness and necessity and may go to the factfinder without live expert testimony. Because the lower courts excluded the affidavits too broadly, the Court reversed and remanded.
Litigation Takeaway
"A targeted challenge only creates a targeted evidentiary problem. If the other side’s § 18.001 counteraffidavit attacks only certain medical charges, the remaining unchallenged charges should still be admissible without live expert proof. In family-law cases involving uninsured medical expenses, therapy bills, counseling costs, or medical-needs evidence, lawyers should separate disputed from undisputed charges and press for admission of the uncontested portion."
Travis v. Vanderbilt
COA03
In Travis v. Vanderbilt, the parties resolved a divorce and related protective-order dispute through a statutorily compliant mediated settlement agreement that incorporated an agreed protective order lasting for the parties’ lifetimes. After signing the MSA and the protective order as to both form and substance, and waiving post-order relief and appeal, the respondent later argued the lifetime term was improper because the order contained no family-violence finding and should have defaulted to a two-year duration. The Third Court treated the issue as one of consent and waiver, not statutory construction. Relying on the binding effect of Family Code section 6.602 MSAs and the rule that a party generally cannot attack an agreed judgment absent a jurisdictional defect or vitiated consent, the court held that any complaint about the protective order’s duration was waived. The court affirmed denial of the motion to reconsider and left the lifetime agreed protective order in place.
Litigation Takeaway
"If your client signs a divorce-related MSA and agreed protective order as to both form and substance, especially with an express waiver of post-order relief and appeal, do not expect to undo negotiated terms later by recasting them as statutory defects. In family-law settlements, protective-order duration, findings, and collateral consequences must be negotiated and drafted carefully on the front end because consent will usually waive non-jurisdictional complaints."
Wallace v. Powell
COA05
In Wallace v. Powell, the Dallas Court of Appeals affirmed denial of a bill of review after Wallace tried to overturn an underlying summary judgment by attacking only the affidavit supporting the traditional summary-judgment ground. The court explained that a bill-of-review petitioner who participated in the underlying case must make a prima facie showing of a meritorious appellate ground likely to succeed on appeal. Because the underlying judgment rested on both traditional and no-evidence summary-judgment grounds, Wallace had to challenge both independent bases. His failure to address the no-evidence ground, identify evidence raising a fact issue, or explain why that ruling would have been reversible was fatal, so he could not establish the threshold meritorious-ground-of-appeal element.
Litigation Takeaway
"If you are using a bill of review to attack a final judgment, you must show a likely winning appellate issue against every independent ground supporting that judgment. In family cases, attacking only the weakest affidavit or one legal theory is not enough when the order could also stand on a separate no-evidence, standing, limitations, or other dispositive ground."
In re Tracy Hoots
COA12
In In re Tracy Hoots, a pro se relator sought mandamus relief in a family-law dispute, alleging her children were removed without lawful process and that the trial judge had a conflict of interest. The Tyler Court of Appeals did not reach the merits because the petition failed to comply with Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 52.3 and 52.7: it included no certified or sworn copy of any challenged order, no adequate mandamus record, and identified no specific trial-court ruling or refusal to act that could be reviewed. Applying the rule that mandamus requires a sufficient record showing a clear abuse of discretion, and that pro se litigants are held to the same procedural standards as lawyers, the court held the relator failed to establish entitlement to extraordinary relief and denied the petition.
Litigation Takeaway
"Mandamus is won or lost on the record. In family-law cases, even serious complaints about child removal, due process, or judicial bias will fail unless the petition identifies a specific reviewable trial-court action and includes a Rule 52 appendix and mandamus record with certified or sworn materials supporting every factual assertion."
Nunez v. Nichols
COA03
In Nunez v. Nichols, the Austin Court of Appeals considered whether sufficient evidence supported an order requiring a father to pay ongoing and retroactive support for his adult disabled daughter under Texas Family Code section 154.302, plus health-insurance and unreimbursed medical-expense obligations. The court held the evidence was legally and factually sufficient because it showed the daughter’s serious physical and psychiatric conditions began before age eighteen, continued into adulthood, and left her requiring substantial care and personal supervision while not capable of self-support. The father’s evidence of limited independence, including travel and a restricted driver’s license, went to weight rather than negating the statutory elements, and his expert did not provide a vocational basis to establish employability. The court therefore affirmed the support and medical-support portions of the order, but reversed and remanded the $25,468.46 attorney’s-fee award because the record lacked the detailed proof of hours, rates, and value of services required to support that amount.
Litigation Takeaway
"For adult disabled-child support cases, courts want functional proof, not just diagnoses: build a timeline showing pre-majority onset, current inability to be self-supporting, and the need for substantial day-to-day supervision. For opponents, isolated signs of independence are usually not enough without developed evidence of actual self-sufficiency. And regardless of who wins on the merits, an attorney’s-fee award can still be undone on appeal if counsel does not present disciplined lodestar-style proof."
In the Interest of Baby Boy T; In the Interest of L.B., S.B., and B.B.
COA10
The Waco Court of Appeals affirmed a Brazos County order terminating a father’s parental rights after appointed counsel filed an Anders brief. The court independently reviewed the full record, including the father’s pro se response, and held the appeal was wholly frivolous. In addressing the required endangerment grounds under Family Code § 161.001(b)(1)(D) and (E), the court relied on severe evidence that father physically abused another child in the home, that the children at issue were exposed to that dangerous environment, that father minimized the abuse as discipline, failed to accept responsibility, failed to show meaningful therapeutic progress, and had no recommendation for reunification despite technical service completion. The court also held that appointed counsel in a termination appeal may not withdraw solely because counsel filed an Anders brief; absent additional good cause, counsel must continue representation through any petition-for-review stage.
Litigation Takeaway
"In termination and other child-safety cases, courts focus on actual danger and whether the parent truly changed—not just whether services were completed. Abuse of one child, denial or minimization, and failure to benefit from therapy can support findings that other children remain at risk. For appointed appellate counsel, an Anders brief does not automatically end the representation."