Criminal Case Need Not Shut down Civil Discovery on the Same Facts.

A guy does a bad thing to another person. That person sues the guy and starts discovery. The guy is charged with a crime on basically the same facts. As a civil defendant, the guy asks to be excused from civil discovery until the criminal case is disposed of. Trial judge grants it.
The civil plaintiffs ask the appeals court for a writ of mandamus to force the trial judge to continue civil discovery-- the defendant may assert privileges against inquiries that would require waiver of rights not to self-incriminate, but the defendant will have to assert them. The court of appeals conditionally issues the writ. Conditionally issuing the writ means that the court of appeals won't imperiously order the trial judge to do its will, but trusts the trial judge to whatever is appropriate in light of the opinion, and will only order the trial judge to do something if the trial judge dawdles about taking the COA's hint. (If there's a mandamus case where the COA does issue a direct order, that means that it is angry with the trial judge.)
In re Tina Fontaine and Gerald Fontaine, No. 17-08-09496-CV, 2017 WL 6390530, Tex. App.-- Beaumont, Dec. 14, 2017 (mem. op.) (per curiam) (orig. proceeding)

U.S. Supremes Not Coming to Rescue Civilly Committed Sex Offenders, at Least, not Soon

United States Supreme Court announced today that it would not hear a case concerning the constitutionality of Minnesota's sexually violent predator law. The committed people won in the trial court, the State of Minnesota took it up on appeal to the United States Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit, which overturned the trial court. The committed people had asked the United States Supreme Court to hear it, but the high court did not. With very few exceptions, SCOTUS gets to choose the cases it wants to hear. About 7,000 to 8,000 cases are brought to SCOTUS each year that someone wants them to hear. About 80 get the full treatment-- merits briefing and oral argument, and about a 100 get some kind of ruling without oral argument, etc. The chances of SCOTUS taking any case in particular is a little more than one out of a hundred.

Today, the first Monday in October, is the beginning of the court's term for this year. The Justices' main holiday is from the end of May to September. You may ask what do the Justices do in September before the official beginning of the court's term. What they do is prepare and have the Long Conference. The Justice meet together most Fridays to choose what cases to hear and which justice will supervise the writing of court's opinion in each case. But they don't have such meetings over their summer vacation. When they come back, they have about three months' requests for cases to be taken, and they get rid of those summer requests in one long meeting-- the Long Conference in September.

On that first Monday in October, SCOTUS announces that it is taking or refusing to take about one-third of the cases for the year.

The Beaumont Court of Appeals is still responsible for far more of the appeals of sexually violent predator civil commitment matters than the other courts. If SCOTUS had taken the Minnesota case mentioned above, SCOTUS could have decided to make major changes in that law that would have affected every state, including Texas. But those old rivers, the Potomac and the Neches will likely keep on flowing the way they always have, at least for another year.

Are There Any Situations in Which a Civil Litigant Has a Right to Appointed Counsel in a Texas State Court?

We're not talking here about criminal cases. We're not talking here about federal cases. Though Texas juvenile proceedings are designated as civil instead of criminal, the criminal counsel appointment rules apply.  Sexually violent predator civil commitment is supposed to be civil-- it may oversimplify to say that the criminal counsel appointment rules apply (a criminal defendant has to be competent to stand trial, an SVPCC respondent does not, and such a person can have a guardian ad litem)  and in Texas civil proceedings, except for a very few statutory exceptions, the default rule is that civil litigants do not have a right to appointed counsel. 

 In one in a million cases, a judge might appoint counsel for an unrepresented party-- there is no budget for this kind of thing, but a judge might ask a lawyer buddy to take a case on a pro bono publico basis. 

Let's start with regular old civil lawsuits, money or property or injunction suits.

Now, though, appointments might come for minors or adult incompetents and have to be paid for by one, some, or all of the parties. 

But indigent parents in state-initiated proceedings to terminate a parent's rights have the right to counsel, and courts have the duty to inform the indigent parents of this right.

Cross Appeals

As to Texas civil cases, if any party timely files a notice of appeal, another party may file a notice of appeal within the applicable period stated above or 14 days after the first filed notice of appeal, whichever is later.

The leading Texas criminal case on cross-appeals is Pfeiffer v. State, 363 S.W.3d 594, 599 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). It taught an appellate court's jurisdiction is invoked by the timely filing of a notice of appeal. And that the proper notice of appeal vests Texas appellate courts with a broad scope of review and revision over a criminal case. Once jurisdiction of an appellate court is invoked, exercise of its reviewing functions is limited only by its own discretion or a valid restrictive statute. For example, appellate courts may review unassigned error—a claim that was preserved in the trial court but was not raised by either party on appeal. Pfeiffer quoted Carter v. State, 656 S.W.2d 468 (Tex. Crim. App. 1983) that quoted an even older case from the Texas republic that there is a fundamental proposition pertaining to appellate functions of the Judicial Department: A constitutional grant of appellate jurisdiction treats a right of appeal in criminal cases ‘as a remedy to revise the whole case upon the law and facts, as exhibited in the record. Thus, when a defendant appeals a conviction, the courts of appeals have the jurisdiction to address any error in that case, including the State. When a defendant appealed his conviction, the entire case was subject to review, and the State could raise its claim of an illegal sentence without filing any notice of appeal.

Beaumont Keeps Past and Present Relief from Being Granted to "Failure to Complete Sex Offender Treatment" Convicts by Legislature.

VanDyke v. State, ___ S.W.3d ___, No. 09-14-00137-CR (Tex. App.-- Beaumont, Feb. 10, 2016, no pet. h.)

Know Nothing About Texas's Sexually Violent Predator Law? This Paragraph's for You.

Seventeen years ago, Texas created a sexually-violent-predator law. Texas prisoners about to be released who had had two sex offenses and who had a behavioral abnormality which made them likely to reoffend could be brought to a jury trial, and if those facts were established. those people were made subject to supervision by a state agency, which created and enforced a plethora of rules (Communicating with any person without the permission of the agency was a violation-- viz. during a phone call home to the family, saying "hello" to a family member who was a minor was a violation. If the power went out on the 35-year-old portable tracking transmitters-- the volume of a medium-to-large reference book--  issued to the offender, that was held to be a violation. If one did not follow the rules, they could be convicted of a third degree felony. Practically everyone in the program had two prior felonies, so that these violation sentences could result in prison terms of 40 years or life.
This program (first called Council on Sex Offender Treatment (CSOT), then Office of Violent Sex Offender Management (OVSOM), now Texas Civil Commitment Office (TCCO)) and the court and the judge in charge of these matters have had more problems over the last three years than can fit in a blog post.

Texas Improved the  SVP Law.

Roger Dale VanDyke was convicted of violating civil commitment by failing to complete sex offender treatment and was sentences to 25 years in prison. While the case was on appeal, Texas amended Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. sec. 841.085 to prohibit prosecution for failing to complete sex offender treatment. The legislature said that this change covered all failures to complete sex offender treatment past, present, or future, except that a final conviction existing on the effective date of the change would remain unaffected.

Well, VanDyke's case was on appeal on the effective date of the change of law, so he asks, is not my conviction overturned? Chief Justice Steve McKeithen, writing for a panel including Justices Hollis Horton and Leanne Johnson, holds that to the extent that the statute change relieves sentenced convicts, the legislature is violating the separation of powers by taking over an executive function-- the granting of clemency to convicts, so that that part of the law is unconstitutional, and no existing sentences, either final or subject to appeal cannot be can be overturned or reduced by the legislature, but only by executive action, viz. the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In a count of the first 13 years of Perry's governorship, one out of 33 requests for clemency, including pardons, was granted, so good luck with that.

So You Want to Appeal a Texas State Summary Judgment?

A trial is a determining of controverted facts and law. Usually both sides agree on the law, but don't generally agree on the facts. If the facts of a case are agreed, both sides can submit their view of the law to a judge, and the judge can issue a final judgment. (Why can't one of the sides get a jury?  Because a jury's job is to decide fact disputes. No fact disputes? Then no need for (and no right to) a jury.)
Let's say a lawsuit is filed Lawsuit A-- one side says that a factual dispute exists between the parties about one of the elements of a case  and the other side says that any factual disputes are not about any of the elements of the cause of action. That other side asks for the judge to rule that there are no factual disputes about any of the elements of the case, so that no factual determination is required, just a final decision on the law. If the judge grants the motion that there are no factual disputes in the case. The judge will enter a final judgment which one or the other parties may appeal. In Lawsuit B a judge may grant a summary judgment because a defense is proved as a matter of law such that no trial is needed. In Lawsuit C a state summary judgment that can be granted because-- after a reasonable time for discovery a side propounding a cause of a cause of action or a vital defense have not come up with more than a scintilla of evidence in favor of the element or defense..
There need not be oral hearings as to whether or not a summary judgment motion or similar motion should be granted.
As you recall, generally, judgments can not be appealed unless they are final.
Really good trial judges check the pleadings and interlocutory rulings and nonsuits of all parties and make sure not to close a trial file unless every issue for every party has been adjudged or dismissed. Judges often put in a judgment that they intend to be final and appealable "This is a final judgment," and "All relief not granted is denied." This last sentence is especially clever: any element of the litigation or any party in the litigation that might have been forgotten now has an appealable ruling!
You can imagine that frequently, the party that wanted the trial might want to object or a party to a law dispute may want to appeal the trial court's law ruling.
As in any non-interlocutory appeal, if the lower court's judgment is not final, the higher court lacks jurisdiction over the matter. If the higher court finds that it does not have jurisdiction over your matter then you case is on the fast track to Loserville.
Surprisingly, there is a line of authority that says that determining the finality of a judgment should not be a big deal. That, for example, if a lower court judgment is issued under circumstances that would make a reasonable outsider think that the judgment is supposed to be a final judgment-- that is, at the end of super-comprehensive, but not completely comprehensive, bench trial or jury trial, that even though it left out some early parties who dropped out of the case, though technically some of their causes of action were still pending, evidence of finality is close enough for government work. I know that I am not the only appellate lawyer to think that these cases make bad precedent. If it is not as clear as glass whether or not a court has jurisdiction, we lawyers cannot give reliable advice to our clients, and it opens appellate courts to the appearance of requiring absolute finality for disfavored parties and giving a pass to favored ones.
Practice tip one: if a proposed appeal comes to your desk less than 30 days after the judgment, do what the trial judge should have done in the first place: check the pleadings and interlocutory rulings and nonsuits of all parties and check whether every issue for every party has been adjudged or dismissed. If any have been left out, consider a motion for a trial on those issues or a motion to dismiss those issues, or even a motion for summary judgment. Consider this even if the judgment proposed to be appealed is old, even very old. Remember, generally, the appellate deadlines do not begin to run until there is a final judgment, and if a suitable judge or panel rule that the judgment is not final, the clock has not begun to run at all. 
 It is highly unlikely that any harmful error will be found nor any appellate relief granted unless the appellant made it clear in a timely written response to the motion for summary judgment what the error. If the motion for summary judgment is unclear, special exceptions must be filed to the motion. In response to the special exceptions for the motion, the judge may give the summary judgment movant a chance to replead.  Sometimes the movant repleads, and the respondent specially excepts to mistakes that were not fixed. A motion will generally be dismissed only if repeated efforts fail to produce understandable and reasonably complete motion points fail.

Where to File Texas State Habeas Corpus Applications

In March 2012 I promised a post about what Texas state courts to file habeas corpus applications in, but I don't seem to have done it yet.

• Civil- Applications for writs of habeas corpus only arise in civil trial courts one of two ways:

1.  When someone is held in contempt of court. Contempts of court may be divided into two types: criminal and civil. Contempt of court is a crime in Texas, and habeas corpus may be sought against a criminal contempt finding, as it may for any other crime. Civil contempt is when judges confine people in order to coerce them to follow a court order. They appear to arise most often in family law matters. Judges may only hold people in civil contempt for a maximum of 18 months.There is no right to appeal a civil contempt order; the only relief is through habeas. In these cases, one may generally apply for habeas through a court of appeals that supervises that trial court. The Texas Supreme Court may also have jurisdiction but in practically all cases it will require a relator to exhaust its court-of-appeals remedy before the Texas Supremes will hear the case.
2. When the writ is sought as to a nongovernmental confinement, most commonly possession of a child contrary to family law rights, though habeas is a civil remedy against any unlawful private confinement, against a kidnapping, enslavement, peonage or the confinement of sex workers, etc. Courts of general jurisdiction may hear these matters: state district courts and most county-courts-at-law. If a relator doesn't like the result there, the relator can apply for a writ first in the court of appeals, then if one needs to go further, to the Texas Supremes. Under a few circumstances, an appeal may lie against a trial court's denial of habeas relief.

• Criminal pre-trial- One must start in one's trial court, and if one wants to go further an application may subsequently be made first the court of appeals, and, if necessary, in the Court of Criminal Appeals.

• Criminal post-conviction- Practically all such applications for State of Texas relief are governed by Texas Code of Criminal Appeals chapter 11, with special provisions for habeas applications relating to people under a death sentence, people seeking relief from community supervision judgments and people imprisoned for non-death offenses. People suffering under imprisonment convictions apply straight to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has a large group of staff attorneys dealing with  those cases, including old friends of mine formerly with State Counsel for Offenders. Non-death-penalty relators are governed by article 11.07 and has a required form which may be found here. Texas offers all indigent imprisoned convicts appointed counsel on appeal to the courts of appeal, but not to non-death-penalty prisoners, so the vast majority are not done with lawyers, but are done by the convicts themselves. The form is intended to be helpful to them and to ease the court's work. Community supervision relators have to try to reform their conditions in the trial court, then file in the trial court, and they and the State may appeal that decision.

Special Exceptions Preservation of Error

Let's start at the beginning. In a Texas state civil case, what's a defendant to do when a plaintiff files a bogus lawsuit? A defendant would have many options. First, the petition should be examined for a missing or obscure element of something needful- a formal point or an element of the cause of action. Special exceptions to the petition would lie, or they would not. Also, if requested, the special exceptions might be granted, or might not be. That makes a matrix of four options:

1. justified exceptions granted;
2. justified exceptions not granted;
3. unjustified exceptions granted; or
4. unjustified exceptions not granted.

If justified exceptions were granted, generally, the petition would be struck. The striking order should give the plaintiff a chance to correct the problem. If the plaintiff does not, then there's no petition and the case should be dismissed. The plaintiff could appeal, but the appeal would fail.
If justified exceptions were not granted, the case would go on, but the exceptions would preserve appellate error for the defendant, giving a good basis for appeal.
If unjustified exceptions were granted, and repleading would not satisfy the court, the plaintiff should object to preserve error for appeal, and the plaintiff's appeal should be successful.
If unjustified exceptions are not granted, the trial goes on, and the defendant's appeal will not be successful.
Texas Rules of Civil Procedure

Preserving Error as to Jury Questions in Texas Trials

A web post about juror questions in Texas trials is here. It'll give you some clues if you ever have to appeal a juror's asking a question in a Texas criminal trial or unfairly asking a question in a Texas civil trial.