72 results for 'judge:"Soto"'.
J. Soto finds a lower court erred in determining royalties in a mineral rights dispute. A careful reading of a mineral rights deed, as well as an understanding of “the ‘usual’ royalty during the era in which [the 1937 deed] was drafted,” shows the appealing parties are correct that they should have reserved a “1/2 floating royalty interest” rather than a “1/16th fixed royalty,” as the lower court determined. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00168-CV, Categories: Energy, Real Estate
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a woman was shot at an apartment complex following an argument. Defendant argued there was not sufficient evidence to convict him, but while “the record contains no direct evidence” that he was the shooter, the “cumulative force of the circumstantial evidence,” including the lack of any other suspects at the scene when the woman was shot, was enough evidence to convict him. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: June 23, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00211-CR, Categories: Evidence, Firearms, Assault
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in denying a motion to compel arbitration in a contract dispute between former business partners. While the parties did have an arbitration agreement, it narrowly applied to the terms of a construction contract between them and does not apply to the dispute here, which specifically concerns whether one party was “time-barred from seeking payment.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: June 23, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00232-CV, Categories: Arbitration, Civil Procedure, Contract
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant of murder and giving him a life sentence after he killed an escort at his home. Defendant argued that he “freaked out” after the victim raised her prices and threatened to call police and that there was not adequate evidence to support “the jury’s rejection of his sudden-passion claim,” but the jury was “free to reject” these arguments and did not commit a legal error by doing so. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00207-CR, Categories: Intent, Jury, Murder
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J. Soto finds a lower court erred in a convoluted dispute between representatives of a personal estate and a “long-term friend and legal advisor” of that deceased person. The estate had sued the friend to collect on a promissory note and the friend then countersued alleging unpaid legal fees and won at lower court. In determining the amounts owed to parties, the lower court failed to adequately consider interest that continued to accrue on the promissory note. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00092-CV, Categories: Attorney Fees, Contract
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he shot and killed a woman he had been romantically involved with. Defendant argued there was not sufficient evidence for the jury to reject his assertion that he “acted under the influence of sudden passion,” but defendant had a “preexisting suspicion” that the victim was involved with another man and jurors correctly determined that his actions were “purposeful and made after cool reflection.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00196-CR, Categories: Intent, Murder, Domestic Violence
J. Soto finds a lower court erred in a convoluted foreclosure dispute. In the court’s first opinion in this dispute, it found a debt receiver had not established that a company facing foreclosure was a “subsidiary” of World Class Capital Group — a company owned by Nate Paul, a real-estate investor involved in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — and therefore that the receiver could not settle the foreclosure to address the debt. In this second opinion, the appellate court asks the trial court to reconsider the “authority” of the receiver in this foreclosure. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00225-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Debt Collection, Property
J. Soto finds a lower court erred in a convoluted foreclosure dispute. A court in a separate case involving debts allegedly owed by the company facing foreclosure had appointed a receiver, which then attempted to settle the foreclosure on the basis that that the company facing foreclosure was a “subsidiary” of another in-debt company: World Class Capital Group, a company owned by Nate Paul, a real-estate investor involved in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. However, that receiver has not proven that they could “take possession” of the foreclosed property, and “factual questions remai“” as to whether the receiver was authorized to act on behalf of the company facing foreclosure. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 25, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00073-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Debt Collection, Property
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant of sexual assault of a child. Defendant argued there wasn’t adequate evidence to convict him and that the court had improperly barred him from cross-examining a witness — the mother of the alleged victim and defendant’s ex-wife, whom defendant argued was biased because she had an interest in related divorce and child custody proceedings — but this witness “did not dispute” that there were “difficulties in their marriage” and any benefit to defendant from cross-examining her “would have been minimal.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00206-CR, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Witnesses
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant in a “series of interrelated kidnappings and a murder.” Defendant argued there were a number of issues with her convictions, including closing arguments by prosecutors “comparing her to world leaders guilty of murder and genocide,” but prosecutors were in fact making a permissible argument that she was a criminal “mastermind” who was “morally culpable” for alleged “indirect participation in the killing of others,” and prosecutors alleged that defendant was intimately involved in the crimes, including by being “present taking notes” while one person was allegedly tortured. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 17, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00166-CR, Categories: Jury, Murder, Kidnapping
J. Soto finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant in a “series of interrelated kidnappings and a murder.” Defendant argued there was not sufficient evidence to support prosecutor's arguments that she was part of organized criminal activity and that prosecutors had unfairly prejudiced her by admitting autopsy photographs of a murder victim, but the jury heard evidence that defendant wanted others to “clean … up” and “do something” about evidence of one murder, and the autopsy photographs supported key aspects of the prosecution argument, including that the victim had been bound before his killing and was later dismembered. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: May 17, 2023, Case #: 08-22-00165-CR, Categories: Jury, Murder, Kidnapping