5thCoA Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas

FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS IN DALLAS   

5TH COURT OF APPEALS - DALLAS - LARGEST APPEALS COURT IN TEXAS WITH 13 MEMBERS - Nota bene: This is a state appellate court, not the Fifth Circuit which is the federal appeals court that hears appeals from U.S. District Courts located in Texas.

2018 MID-TERM ELECTIONS UPDATE -  DALLAS COA GOES FROM REPUBLICAN TO  DEMOCRAT CONTROL THANKS TO 2018 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS 

Place 1 (Chief): Democrat Robert Burns won the race for chief justice with 52.79% of the vote over his Republican opponent, Douglas S. Lang, who received 47.20%. (nonfinal election results)

Final tally for Chief Justice Races in Fort Worth and Dallas COAs 

Place 2: Democrat Robbie Partida-Kipness defeated Republican Incumbent David Evans with 52.08% of the vote
Place 5: Democrat Erin Nowell defeated Republican Incumbent Craig Stoddard with 52.94% of the votes
Place 9: Democrat Bill Pedersen defeated Republican Incumbent Jason Boatright with 52.75% of the votes
Place 10: Democrat Amanda Reichek defeated Republican Incumbent Molly Francis with 52.59% of the votes
Place 11: Democrat Cory Carlyle defeated Rep Jon Browning with 52.612% of the votes
Place 12: Democrat Ken Molberg defeated Republican Jim Pikl with 53.46% of the vote.
Place 13: Democrat Leslie Lester Osborne defeated Republican Incumbent Elizabeth Lang Miers with 52.41% of the votes

Final tally in contested races for associate justice positions on the Fifth COA in 2018
(Data from Texas Secretary of State) 

BLAWG COVERAGE OF DALLAS COA AND OPINION OUTPUT 

Two blawgs are devoted to coverage of the Dallas Court of Appeals: Sua Sponte: A Dallas Appellate Blog, a legal blog by law firm Carrington Coleman Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P. hosted on Google's Blogspot; and appellate solo Chad Ruback's appellate blog, which is not in traditional blog format, but is integrated into his website at https://appeal.pro/news.

Appellate Lawyer Chad Ruback provides excellent insights in the appellate process on this website 

The Sua Sponte blawg provides on-going coverage of opinions issued by the Dallas Court of Appeals,
 including summaries of holdings and brief discussions of implications for practitioners and their clients.

2018 MEMBERSHIP OF THE DALLAS COA AT THE END OF THE YEAR 

Note that the place designations are rather meaningless, except in the context of elections. The court's websites does not even indicate which justice holds which numbered seat on the court. The court's own listing is in order of seniority, rather than alphabetical or by place designation.

Court's Letterhead listing membership as of December 2018 

Carolyn Wright Chief Justice
David Bridges, Justice
Molly Francis, Justice
Douglas S. Lang, Justice
Elizabeth Lang-Miers, Justice
Robert M. Fillmore, Justice
Lana Myers, Justice
David Evans, Justice
Ada Brown, Justice
Craig Stoddart Justice
Bill Whitehill, Justice
David Schenck, Justice
Jason Boatright, Justice

The defeated incumbents' terms ended December 31, 2018.

Other court personnel: General Counsel: Cliffie Wesson; Managing Attorney: Carol Geary;
Clerk: Lisa Matz; Business Administrator: Gayle Humpa
   
2015 NEWS AND MEMBERSHIP CHANGES 

Clock tower detail -
Old Red Courthouse in Dallas,
which is now a museum

now a museum  

David Schenck, an appellate practitioner, has replaced Justice Michael O’Neill, who retired. He was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry for a term to expire at the 2016 general election. Schenck was a Litigation Department member and national chair of the Specialized Litigation and Advanced Motion Practice Team at Dykema Gossett PLLC in Dallas at the time of his selection for the appellate bench. Meanwhile, Justice O'Neill still sits by assignment and still writes opinions. See, e.g. Estevez v Leader Financial Services No. 05-13-01512-CV (Feb. 19, 2015)

Link: Gov. Perry Appoints Schenck as Justice of the 5th Court of Appeals - January 7, 2015

2014 JUDICIAL ELECTIONS 

Two Republican incumbents, Ada Brown and David L. Bridges, won in uncontested races. Republican candidate Bill Whitehill did not draw a Democratic opponent for Place 8 on the court in his bid to succeed Justice F. Fitzgerald, and will therefore take office come January 2015. The only contested race was also won by a Republican. Gubernatorial appointee Craig Stoddart (Place 5) defeated Democrat Ken Molberg with 55.61% of the vote in the race for the unexpired term.

2015 MEMBERSHIP ROSTER IN ORDER OF SENIORITY with links to official bios. 

Chief Justice Carolyn Wright Place 1
Justice David Bridges Place 6
Justice Molly Francis Place 10
Justice Douglas Lang Place 11
Justice Elizabeth Lang-Miers Place 13
Justice Robert M. (Bob) Fillmore Place 12
Justice Lana Myers Place 4
Justice David Evans Place 2
Justice David Lewis Place 9
Justice Ada Brown Place 3
Justice Craig Stoddart Place 5 was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, Place 5, by Governor Rick Perry in August 2014.
Justice Bill Whitehill Place 8 was elected to the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals at Dallas in November 2014 and assumed office on January 1, 2015. Justice Bill Whitehill  replaced the Honorable Kerry P. FitzGerald, who retired from the Court on December 31, 2014.
David Schenck, Place 7, appointed to succeed Justice Michael O’Neill, who retired

MEMBERS OF THE COURT AS OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2014 WITH TERM EXPIRATION

George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building - Dallas 

Carolyn I. Wright 2018
David L. Bridges 2014
Michael J. (Mike) O'Neill 2016
Kerry FitzGerald 2014
Molly Francis 2018
Douglas S. Lang 2018
Elizabeth Ann Lang-Miers 2018
Robert M. Fillmore 2018
Lana Rolf Myers 2016
David Evans 2018
David B. Lewis 2018
Ada Elene Brown 2014
Craig T. Stoddart 2018* (unexpired term; up for election in 2014)

JAN 2013 MEMBERSHIP: ASSOCIATE JUSTICES BY PLACE DESIGNATION

OPINION PRODUCTION IN FY 2014 

Notes: Ada Brown was appointed Justice effective September 20, 2013 to replace Mary Murphy, who retired. The Dallas Court of Appeals used the largest number of visiting justices in FY 2014: Justice Frances Maloney; Justice Sue Lagarde; Justice Charles Campbell; Justice Linda Thomas; Justice Martin Richter; Justice Charles Holcomb

COUNTIES SERVED BY THE DALLAS COURT OF APPEALS 

Collin County, Grayson County,  Kaufman County, Dallas County,  Hunt County, Rockwall County.

Dallas County accounts for the largest portion of the caseload, given its large population size and number of trial courts. By contrast, the Houston metropolitan area and surrounding counties are served by two appellate courts, the First Court of Appeals and the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, which divide the caseload and have combined total of 18 justices serving ten counties, the most important and populous of which is Harris County.

Hotlink to this court's website: http://www.txcourts.gov/5thcoa.aspx

LOCATION OF COUNTIES SERVED BY THE 5TH COA 

Counties from which the Fifth COA hears appeals 

DALLAS COURTHOUSE PICS 

The Dallas-based court of appeals is not housed in the Old Red Courthouse, but the latter is a much prettier courthouse, historically and architecturally speaking.

Founders' Plaza with Old Red Courthouse, new courthouse on the left 

Old Red Dallas County Courthouse, now a museum

WHERE IS THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS LOCATED? 

The Physical Location of Fifth Court of Appeals and Mailing Address are identical:

Fifth Court of Appeals

George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Bldg.

600 Commerce Street, Suite 200

Dallas, Texas 75202-4658 

George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Bldg. - North facade 

JFK Memorial with George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building behind it 

Page last revised or updated: 1/1/2019