The Texas Supreme Court enacted amendments to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure effective January 1 that will have a big impact on family law attorneys. We all will need to calendar deadlines differently and our pleadings and orders are going to look different. Service by e-mail is now allowed and service by delivery services is now recognized. These big changes in rules include: 1. Mandatory Electronic Filing. New Rule 21(f) requires attorneys in civil cases to electronically file court documents "in courts where electronic filing has been mandated." E-filing is mandatory in Harris and Fort Bend Counties and permissive in Galveston, Brazoria, Montgomery and Chambers Counties. Electronic filing will be mandatory in all Texas counties by 2016. 2. E-filed documents must be in searchable PDF format. Electronically filed documents are required to be in text-searchable PDF format (most documents scanned at the copier are not in this format) per Rule ... Read More >
Archives for January 2014
New “Mongoose” Newsletter Exposes Judge Pratt’s “New Year’s Eve Massacre”
The January 12, 2014 edition of the "Mongoose" newsletter discussed the illegal and horribly unwise dismissal of 661 cases by Judge Denise Pratt on December 30 just to make her court's statistics look better. Click here to read the newsletter. Here is one story from this newsletter: Pratt's "New Year's Eve Massacre" Dismisses Hundreds of Cases Here is one example of what Judge Pratt did to hundreds of cases on December 30. Cause number 2012-06882 is a post-divorce suit to address undivided property pending in the 311th since February 2, 2012. The case has been set for trial seven times and six times it was continued by Judge Pratt. On December 2, 2013, Judge Pratt continued the trial until January 27, 2014 and told the attorneys that the case had to go to trial in January or she would dismiss it. On December 30, 2013, along with hundreds of other cases, this lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Pratt without notice or hearing. The attorneys received notification that the case ... Read More >