The Texas Supreme Court Session in Longview

LONGVIEW – East Texans got a chance on Thursday to see the Texas Supreme court in action. It started with the court hearing two cases at Longview’s LeTourneau University. The first case was an inheritance rights case out of Amarillo. The second case was about medical malpractice and government immunity out of Houston. The oral arguments were held in the Belcher Center. Following the oral arguments there was time for a question and answer session with the justices. In the afternoon the justices held breakout sessions on campus for students and at the Gregg County Courthouse for attorneys and other legal professionals. The Texas Supreme Court’s visit was designed to educate students and the public about Texas government and how the highest court in the state, for civil appeals, operates.

On the two issues that went before the court, the first was on whether Texas law recognizes tortious interference with inheritance rights; (2) whether sufficient evidence supports the jury’s fraud verdict and its damages award; (3) whether damages may be awarded based on the jury’s undue-influence finding; and (4) whether sufficient evidence supports the jury’s finding that a woman lacked mental capacity to amend her trust.

In the second case, The principal issues stemmed from a challenge to a medical
resident’s dismissal from a malpractice claim are (1) whether the trial court’s dismissal order was interlocutory (issued before judgment) and (2) whether the resident is protected by governmental immunity if she is hired and paid by a separate foundation but supervised by employees of a medical school clinic. Appeals from interlocutory orders generally are not allowed except by limited statutory exceptions to avoid a case being appealed piecemeal.