18 results for 'judge:"Alley"'.
J. Alley declines to issue a petition for writ of mandamus vacating discovery-related orders in a divorce case. The relator ex-husband, who is a lawyer, argued discovery requests from his lawyer ex-wife could improperly require him to produce “attorney-client and work-product documents,” but the lower court has not yet ruled on privilege issues and, therefore there is “no clear abuse of discretion.”
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 08-24-00026-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law, Discovery
J. Alley finds a lower court erred in granting a defendant’s motion to suppress his confession to sexually abusing his daughter. While defendant referenced that he would get a lawyer while being questioned by detectives, he continued to speak to them regardless, and as he “was not in custody and was free to terminate the interrogation,” his confession should not have been suppressed. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00077-CR, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Alley finds a probate court did not err in its division of a deceased man’s estate. Despite arguments to the contrary, the court did not change a settlement agreement reached by inheritors of that estate, as the term “estate property” has “a clear, unambiguous meaning in Texas law and does not include a surviving spouse’s half interest in community property.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00167-CV, Categories: Settlements, Wills / Probate, Contract
J. Alley finds a lower court did not err in admitting contested evidence of an injured 10-year-old girl bystander in a murder case which ended in conviction. While defendant argued that prosecutors unfairly used the evidence to “portray him as a ‘scorned and hated man,’” the evidence was relevant as it showed defendant had acted “in a manner clearly dangerous to human life.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00108-CR, Categories: Evidence, Murder
J. Alley finds a lower court ruled partially correctly when it granted summary judgment to car sales and financing companies after they were sued by customers who argued a car they bought had “defects rendering it worthless.” The customers brought no viable claims against the car financer and the “as-is” language in their sales paperwork defeated their claims against the car seller, and the lower court was right to grant summary judgment. However, the lower court was wrong to approve sanctions against the customers’ attorney, as it had no evidence impugning his motives or credibility. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00127-CV, Categories: Trade, Contract, Attorney Discipline
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J. Alley finds a lower court ruled correctly in a quo warranto case in which Texas sued to remove a Kerr County commissioner because that commissioner had pleaded guilty to felony burglary in 1973 at age 17, and people with felony convictions are not eligible to hold public office in Texas. The commissioner raised a number of issues on appeal, including arguing that his guilty plea was most equivalent to modern-day deferred adjudication and therefore was not a conviction, but the 1973 judgment “unambiguously characterizes itself” as a conviction, and the commissioner’s arguments rely heavily on recollections of conversations with his now-deceased attorney. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00319-CV, Categories: Evidence, Government, Due Process
J. Alley finds a lower court did not err in granting damages in a fraud and contract case stemming from a convoluted land deal between a landowner and a developer, which culminated in the landowner being on the hook for an overpayment on the property. While the developer disputed the sufficiency of the evidence against him, the lower court found he’d made numerous misrepresentations in his dealings with the landowner. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00134-CV, Categories: Evidence, Fraud, Real Estate
J. Alley finds a lower court did not err in sentencing defendant to 55 years in prison for murder. Defendant, who was delusional at the time of the incident but did not seek an insanity defense, argued the sentence was too long and therefore violated “the rehabilitation objective of the Texas Penal Code,” but defendant did not preserve error for review — and even if he did, “a sentence that falls within the statutory range of punishment is not an abuse of discretion.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00142-CR, Categories: Competence, Murder, Sentencing
J. Alley finds a lower court did not err in granting summary judgment to a title company that sued a seller to recoup expenses after it said the seller sold a property without paying off an existing lien. On appeal, the seller has disputed an affidavit from the president of the title company describing how it resolved that lien, but this is “the first time” the seller has raised this issue and he did not adequately preserve error for review. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00135-CV, Categories: Property, Real Estate, Contract
J. Alley finds a lower court did not err in excluding video evidence of a man’s physical abilities after that man sued an oil company over a car accident and won at jury trial, claiming pain and physical impairment. The video was not introduced until after the discovery deadline, and while the oil company raises a number of arguments for why the video should nonetheless be allowed, including arguing the man “cannot be surprised by what he does at a worksite,” none of the arguments sufficiently justify allowing the video. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00096-CV, Categories: Vehicle, Damages, Discovery
J. Alley finds a lower court did not err in convicting defendant of capital murder after defendant — who was arrested in early 2018 but not tried until late 2022 — invoked his right to a speedy trial. While the delay here was indeed “extraordinary” and “should be the rare exception and not the rule,” much of the delay “stemmed from factors outside anyone’s control,” including disruptions from the Covid pandemic, and defendant did not raise his speedy trial right until 2022. Furthermore, much of the stress faced by defendant was caused not by delays but by the seriousness of the charges against him, which involved killing two people, including a minor. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00026-CR, Categories: Constitution, Speedy Trial, Due Process
J. Alley finds a lower court partially erred in determining damages in a divorce case in which an expert for the ex-wife testified about alleged financial fraud committed by her ex-husband. While the ex-husband did not ultimately overcome the fraud claims in general, the lower court erred in including awards based on financial transactions which were ultimately accounted for — and which even the expert ultimately determined were not fraudulent. Reversed in part and remanded.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00016-CV, Categories: Family Law, Fraud, Damages
J. Alley finds a lower court correctly convicted defendant of assault after he set a former romantic partner on fire in a domestic violence incident. Defendant argued that evidence of previous domestic violence, as well as photographs of the victim's burns, were “extraneous” and should not have been admitted because “their prejudicial effect outweighed their probative value,” but defendant failed to preserve his objections, and the photographs were valid evidence because they showed that the victim suffered “permanent disfigurement and protracted impairment.” Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00111-CR, Categories: Evidence, Assault
J. Alley finds a lower court ruled correctly in convicting defendant of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault following a car accident involving defendant that left one person dead and another seriously injured. Defendant, who pleaded guilty, argued his plea had been involuntary on the grounds that he had ineffective counsel, but his only argument for this claim is that his attorney believed that he was eligible for community service, which was in fact true until the court made a deadly-weapon finding. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00125-CR, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Dui, Manslaughter
J. Alley denies mandamus relief to a Loving County sheriff candidate who argued the local Republican Party chair had improperly failed to disqualify another candidate based on his lack of police or military service. But the other candidate had in fact worked as a peace officer, and while his license was put on administrative hold, but details of that hold are “rather cryptic,” and the candidate seeking relief cannot establish that the other candidate’s license is “inactive, revoked, or subject to any disciplinary action.”
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00356-CV, Categories: Elections, Government
J. Alley finds a lower court erred in not dismissing a case on grounds of governmental immunity after the city of Fredericksburg was sued by a pedestrian who was injured by a falling tree branch. The city would only be liable if it had “actual knowledge of the dangerous condition” of the tree, which it did not in this case because the tree appeared healthy, was regularly maintained and had not been subject of any complaints. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: 08-23-00236-CV, Categories: Government, Tort, Premises Liability
J. Alley dismisses, for want of jurisdiction an appeal, brought by mechanics who were sued for fraud and other claims by a customer who alleged that the mechanics had “spraypainted an older motor” rather than installing a new engine as he had paid for. The customer had already obtained a no-answer default judgment after the mechanics failed to respond, and they did not file this appeal until after the deadline.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Alley, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 08-23-00107-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, Fraud, Contract