DOCKET EQUALIZATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR OUTCOMES
IN A RE-SHAPED APPELLATE LANDSCAPE
In the most recent iteration of a docket equalization transfer order, the Supreme Court of Texas sends batches of cases from Fort Worth to El Paso, from Austin to Houston and Texarkana, and from San Antonio to Amarillo and Corpus Christi. Mandamus proceedings and interlocutory appeals are excluded. Starting in 2019, such transfers, though merely administrative, may change the prospects for litigants because the partisan composition of the Texas courts of appeals will have changed. Some COAs remain solidly Republican while others will have Democratic majorities, including the appeals courts in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Most of the Democrats elected to the intermediate courts of appeals in 2018 are newcomers to the bench. By contrast, a good number of Republican incumbents were initially appointed by the Republican Governor to fill vacancies. Some of those voted out of office have served for many years. Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court remains all-Republican because Republicans still hold sway in statewide polls. If the takeover by Democrats on many of the intermediate court portends a change in the state's jurisprudence, the Texas Supreme Court will be busy, come 2019 and thereafter, undoing what the intermediate courts have done.
Hotlink: Signed Dec. 18, 2018 Transfer Order in pdf
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS
Misc. Docket No. 18-9166
________________________________________
TRANSFER OF CASES FROM
COURTS OF APPEALS
________________________________________
ORDERED:
I.
Except as otherwise provided by this Order, the first 30 cases filed in the Court of Appeals
for the Second Court of Appeals District, Fort Worth, Texas, on or after December 3, 2018, are
transferred to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Court of Appeals District, El Paso, Texas.
II.
Except as otherwise provided by this Order, the first 10 cases filed in the Court of Appeals
for the Third Court of Appeals District, Austin, Texas, on or after December 6, 2018, are
transferred to the Court of Appeals for the First Court of Appeals District, Houston, Texas; the
next 22 cases filed in the Court of Appeals for the Third Court of Appeals District, Austin, Texas,
are transferred to the Sixth Court of Appeals District, Texarkana, Texas.
III.
Except as otherwise provided by this Order, the first 28 cases filed in the Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Court of Appeals District, San Antonio, Texas, on or after December 3, 2018, are
transferred to the Seventh Court of Appeals District, Amarillo, Texas; the next 12 cases filed in
the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Court of Appeals District, San Antonio, Texas are transferred
to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals District, Corpus Christi, Texas.
IV.
Except as otherwise provided by this Order, the first 10 cases filed in the Court of Appeals
for the Tenth Court of Appeals District, Waco, Texas, on or after December 10, 2018, are
transferred to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals District, Houston, Texas.
Misc. Docket No. 18-9166
Page 2
a court of appeals means the receipt of notice of appeal by the court of appeals.
In effectuating this Order, companion cases shall either all be transferred, or shall all be
retained by the Court in which filed, as determined by the Chief Justice of the transferring Court,
provided that cases which are companions to any case filed before the respective operative dates
of transfer specified above, shall be retained by the Court in which originally filed.
It is specifically provided that the cases ordered transferred by this Order shall, in each
instance, not include original proceedings; appeals from interlocutory orders; appeals from denial
of writs of habeas corpus; appeals in extradition cases; appeals regarding the amount of bail set in
a criminal case; appeals from trial courts and pretrial courts in multidistrict litigation pursuant to
Rule 13.9(b) of the Rules of Judicial Administration; appeals in cases involving termination of
parental rights; and those cases that, in the opinion of the Chief Justice of the transferring court,
contain extraordinary circumstances or circumstances indicating that emergency action may be
required.
The transferring Court of Appeals will make the necessary orders for transfer of the cases
as directed hereby, and will cause the Clerk of that Court to transfer the appellate record in each
case, and certify all orders made, to the court of appeals to which the cases are transferred. When
a block of cases is transferred, the transferring court will implement the transfer of the case files
in groups not less than once a month, or after all the requisite number of cases have been filed.
Upon completion of the transfer of the requisite number of cases ordered transferred, the
transferring Court shall submit a list of the cases transferred, identified by style and number, to the
State Office of Court Administration, and shall immediately notify the part ies or their attorneys in
the cases transferred of the transfer and the court to which transferred.
The provisions of Misc. Docket Order No. 06-9136 shall apply.
SO ORDERED this 20th day of December, 2018.
Also see related posts on appellate case transfers in Texas: --> Can one court of appeals make caselaw for another? | Docket equalization among Texas courts of appeals | Jurisdictional limitation applies when case is transferred from one Court of Appeals to another
