In its orders this morning, the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear argument in a mandamus petition regarding whether the amount of statutory attorney's fees must be included in determining the amount of a supersedeas bond (or deposit in lieu of a bond). The case is In re Nalle Plastics Family Limited Partnership, No. 11-0903. The briefs can be downloaded here.
According to the mandamus petition, the Dallas Court of Appeals and the Austin Court of Appeals have held that statutory attorney's fees do not need to be superseded, but both of the Houston courts and the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals have held that they must be. The issue turns on whether attorney's fees are either "compensatory damages awarded in the judgment" or "costs awarded in the judgment." If they are not, then they do not need to be superseded. This has been an open question since the adoption of House Bill 4 and the concomitant revisions to the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure.
The date and time of the oral argument have not yet been set.
- Rich Phillips, Thompson & Knight LLP
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