Texas Supreme Court Argument Preview: Attorney's Fees and Supersedeas

In June, I posted that the Supreme Court of Texas had agreed to consider whether attorney's fees must be included in the determination of the amount of a supersedes bond. At the time, the date for oral argument had not been set. The Court will hear arguments in this case on Wednesday, November 7.

Whether attorney's fees must be superseded has been an issue since the Legislature made significant changes to supersedeas rules as part of the tort reform package in House Bill 4. Under the new rules, only compensatory damages need to be included in the supersedeas calculation. The courts of appeals have split on the issue. The Dallas Court of Appeals and Austin Court of Appeals have held that they do not need to be included in the calculation, while both Houston courts and the Corpus Christi court have held that they must be included.

The case in the Supreme Court is In re Nalle Plastics Family Limited Partnership, No. 11-0903. It is the last of four cases set for argument on November 7. The argument session begins at 9:00 a.m., and it can be viewed through a free live video webcast courtesy of the State Bar at: www.texasbarcle.com/CLE/TSC.asp.

- Rich Phillips, Thompson & Knight