Appellate Judges

Permissive Appeals: Amendments to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.3

The amendment increases the importance of permissive appeals in Texas and will enhance their ability to impact outcomes in civil litigation.

The Amendment to Allow Time-Sensitive Self-Preparation of the Clerk’s Record on Appeal in Texas Courts Has Officially Been Adopted

MAY 1, 2024

LIT COMMENTARY ON VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTION BY COA 14

DISSENTING MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHARLES A. SPAIN JUSTICE

This court’s practice allows for a single justice to ask for a response from the real party in interest, and the clerk has made that request. The court’s practice does not allow for an individual justice to ask that a relator file a proper original-proceeding record, so the clerk will not make that request based on the request of a single justice.

In this mandamus proceeding, the court reporter has notified the court that a reporter’s record has been requested. As of today, relator has neither filed a properly authenticated transcript of any relevant testimony from any underlying proceeding, including any exhibits offered in evidence, nor has relator made a statement that no testimony was adduced in connection with the matter complained.

See Tex.R.App.P. 52.7(a)(2).

The fact that the court reporter has stated that a record has been requested by relator suggests that the record may be necessary.

It would be a simple matter for the clerk of this court to ask relator to comply with the mandatory provisions of Rule 52.7(a)(2), notifying relator that noncompliance will result in an involuntary dismissal.

I feel certain that relator would comply, allowing the court to determine whether relator is entitled to relief based on a proper record.

The court does not, depriving the relator of notice and an opportunity to cure and leaving it to the subjective determination of the majority to decide what constitutes enough of a record to rule on the merits.

See generally In re Rahbar, No. 14-23-00117-CV (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] Mar. 14, 2023, orig. proceeding) (Spain, J., dissenting).

It is frustrating to not have a proper record on which to reach the merits, especially as this could be easily resolved.

But we don’t, and I dissent and reluctantly express no opinion on the merits.

In re Sanchez, No. 14-23-00169-CV, at *6-7 (Tex. App. Mar. 17, 2023)

After LIT’s Founder Complained About the Constitutionality of the Clerk’s Record Fee on Appeal, This Amendment Suddenly Appeared

DEC 18, 2023 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: DEC 18, 2023
DEC 18, 2023

Above is the date LIT Last updated this article.

Notice of Election. Within 10 days after the date that an appellant files a notice of appeal for a civil suit, an appellant may file a notice of election with the trial court and the court of appeals stating that the appellant will file an appendix that replaces the clerk’s record for the appeal.

No Clerk’s Record. A court clerk must not prepare or file a clerk’s record or assess a fee for preparing a clerk’s record if a party files an appendix under this rule.

Mark contends that the recent Texas Supreme Court amendment, Misc. Docket No. 23-9093, allowing permissive appeals from interlocutory judgments to be accompanied by copies instead of certified copies, conflicts with the requirement for appeals from final judgments.

He argues that the imposition of substantial fees for certified copies is constitutionally flawed, creating discrepancies between different appeal types.

Mark asserts that electronic filing systems at both court levels ensure the certification of the docket, rendering the term “certified” in this context a misnomer.

Furthermore, he notes the contrast with appeals from U.S. District Courts to Circuit Courts, where no expenses are incurred for a “certified” Clerk’s Record.

Finally, due to the fact this Misc. Docket No. 23-9093 was issued so recently, this is understood to be the first case constitutionally challenging the judicial amendment.

Final Approval of the Repeal of Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure
28.2 and of Amendments to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.3

NOV 17, 2023 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: NOV 17, 2023
NOV 17, 2023

Above is the date LIT Last updated this article.

Tex. R. App. P. 28.3 (Before Amendment eff. Sep 1, 2023)

Rule 28.3 – Permissive Appeals in Civil Cases

(a) Petition Required.

When a trial court has permitted an appeal from an interlocutory order that would not otherwise be appealable, a party seeking to appeal must petition the court of appeals for permission to appeal.

(b)Where Filed.

The petition must be filed with the clerk of the court of appeals having appellate jurisdiction over the action in which the order to be appealed is issued.

The First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals must determine in which of those two courts a petition will be filed.

(c) When Filed.

The petition must be filed within 15 days after the order to be appealed is signed.

If the order is amended by the trial court, either on its own or in response to a party’s motion, to include the court’s permission to appeal, the time to petition the court of appeals runs from the date the amended order is signed.

(d) Extension of Time to File Petition.

The court of appeals may extend the time to file the petition if the party:

(1) files the petition within 15 days after the deadline, and

(2) files a motion complying with Rule 10.5(b).

(e) Contents.

The petition must:

(1) contain the information required by Rule 25.1(d) to be included in a notice of appeal;

(2) attach a copy of the order from which appeal is sought;

(3) contain a table of contents, index of authorities, issues presented, and a statement of facts; and

(4) argue clearly and concisely why the order to be appealed involves a controlling question of law as to which there is a substantial ground for difference of opinion and how an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.

(f) Response; Reply; Cross-Petition; Time for Filing.

If any party timely files a petition, any other party may file a response or a cross-petition within 10 days.

A party may file a response to a cross-petition within 10 days of the date the cross-petition is filed.

A petitioner or cross-petitioner may reply to any matter in a response within 7 days of the date the response is filed.

The court of appeals may extend the time to file a response, reply, and cross-petition.

(g) Length of Petition, Cross-Petition, Response, and Reply.

A petition, cross-petition, response, and reply must comply with the page limitations in 9.4(i)(2)(D)-(E).

(h) Service.

A petition, cross-petition, response, and reply must be served on all parties to the trial court proceeding.

(i) Docketing Statement.

Upon filing the petition, the petitioner must file the docketing statement required by Rule 32.1.

(j) Time for Determination.

Unless the court of appeals orders otherwise, a petition, and any cross-petition, response, and reply, will be determined without oral argument, no earlier than 10 days after the petition is filed.

(k) When Petition Granted.

If the petition is granted, a notice of appeal is deemed to have been filed under Rule 26.1(b) on that date, and the appeal is governed by the rules for accelerated appeals.

A separate notice of appeal need not be filed.

A copy of the order granting the petition must be filed with the trial court clerk.

(l)When Petition Denied.

If the court of appeals denies the petition, the court must explain in its decision the specific reasons for its finding that an appeal is not warranted.

On petition for review, the Supreme Court may review the court of appeals’ denial de novo, and, if the Supreme Court concludes that the statutory prerequisites for a permissive appeal are met, the Supreme Court may direct the court of appeals to grant permission to appeal.

Tex. R. App. P. 28.3
Amended July 25, 2023, eff.9/1/2023.

Comment to 2023 change: Rule 28.2 is repealed. Rule 28.3 is amended to implement sections 51.014(g) and (h) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code and governs the procedure for all permissive appeals filed after September 1, 2023.

Texas Enhances Permissive Appeals by Requiring Explanation for Denials and Expanding Supreme Court Review

SEP 12, 2023 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: NOV 17, 2023

The Texas Supreme Court has unveiled a change to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.3 to implement recent legislation requiring the state’s 14 intermediate appellate courts to explain themselves when denying petitions for permissive appeal.

The amendment increases the importance of permissive appeals in Texas and will enhance their ability to impact outcomes in civil litigation.

Overview

With certain statutory exceptions, only final judgments are appealable.

Section 51.014(d) of the Civil Practice & Remedies Code provides a remedy by permissive appeal when:

(1) a case turns on a controlling question of law;

(2) about which a reasonable difference of opinion could exist;

and

(3) resolution by an appellate court “may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.”

The idea is to conclude lawsuits earlier by resolving potentially dispositive but unsettled legal questions, thus sparing the parties significant litigation costs.

Although Texas has allowed permissive appeals for many years, built-in limitations have caused them to be underutilized.

For instance, permissive appeals were formerly conditioned on both the trial court’s permission and the opposing party’s agreement to appeal.

The latter requirement was removed in 2011 — potentially reducing friction in the process — but the same amendment reinstituted an earlier rule that the appellate court must give its permission to appeal.

The net effect was to give already-busy appellate courts discretionary jurisdiction over permissive appeals with little incentive to hear them.

Copy-Paste Errors and an Unsatisfactory Escape Hatch

Denials were so routine in one appellate court that its opinions used exactly the same language — including a typographical error — in case after case.

Although a plurality of the Texas Supreme Court criticized this practice in Industrial Specialists, LLC v. Blanchard Refining Co., another appellate court later repeated the same mistake, signaling that courts were failing to heed the exhortation in Industrial Specialists and elsewhere that they should not sidestep permissive appeals.

The intermediate court’s all-too-common approach to permissive appeals led the Texas Supreme Court to sometimes open an “escape hatch” in important cases a lower court had refused to decide.

The Court recognized in Sabre Travel Int’l, Ltd. v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG that courts of appeals have discretion to accept or deny permissive appeals, but it rejected the suggestion that denial forecloses Supreme Court review.

In their concurrence in Duke Inc. v. Fuentes, Justices Brett Busby and Evan Young described the increased use of this fail-safe as “deeply unsatisfactory,” explaining that courts already disinclined to grant permissive appeals would feel even less pressure to do so if they knew the Supreme Court would just take the appeal and review the trial court’s decision itself.

From the litigants’ perspective, those concerns and limitations inherent in the Supreme Court’s discretionary docket meant one thing:

When an appellate court declined to hear a permissive appeal without explanation, the parties often had to defer meaningful review of a dispositive legal question until after a costly trial.

A Legislative Solution Leads to a New Procedural Rule

In the last regular session, the Texas Legislature amended the interlocutory appeal statute in a way Justices Busby and Young concluded will “fundamentally change [and] largely resolve the current morass.”

First, the amendment requires courts of appeals to provide the specific reason for finding that a permissive appeal is unwarranted.

Second, the amendment permits the Supreme Court to direct an intermediate appellate court to accept a permissive appeal if, on the Supreme Court’s de novo review, it concludes that Section 51.014(d) is satisfied.

The amendment to Rule 28.3 implements the legislature’s directive as of Sept. 1. Subject to further revision after a comment period, the rule now includes this new provision:

When Petition Denied. If the court of appeals denies the petition, the court must explain in its decision the specific reasons for its finding that an appeal is not warranted.

On petition for review, the Supreme Court may review the court of appeals’ denial de novo, and, if the Supreme Court concludes that the statutory prerequisites for a permissive appeal are met, the Supreme Court may direct the court of appeals to grant permission to appeal.

Looking Ahead

This change should help realize the promise of Texas’s permissive-appeal process.

Before, a party could incur substantial fees pursuing a permissive appeal only to have it denied without ever learning why.

Now, a court of appeals will have no discretion to deny a petition for permissive appeal without justifying its decision.

And if the Supreme Court isn’t satisfied with the explanation, it can override the denial and direct the court of appeals to reach the merits when it determines review is warranted.

Clients who value efficiency in litigation should welcome this change and consider pursuing permissive appeals in the right circumstances.

A permissive appeal could be far more cost-effective than enduring the expense and uncertainty of a trial before confirming how the appellate court would decide a controlling question of law.

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Permissive Appeals: Amendments to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.3
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