In a victory for the principle that litigants who want an in-person adversarial proceeding should get one, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday conditionally granted a writ of mandamus in In re Owen J. Merrell and Jeanna East (No. 22-0556).
As you may recall from a prior post, this case arose from a personal injury lawsuit resulting from an auto accident. The trial court ordered the parties to a remote jury trial, to which both sides objected. The trial court denied their joint motion for an in-person trial. The parties sought a writ of mandamus from the Houston [1st] Court of Appeals, which denied the petition. Without hearing oral argument, SCOTX conditionally granted the writ, finding the trial court’s order overriding the parties’ joint objection arbitrary and unreasonable and thus an abuse of discretion. The trial court failed to state good cause for its order, either on the record or in response to SCOTX’s request.
TCJL filed an amicus curiae brief in the Texas Supreme Court urging the Court to grant the writ. The Texas Association of Defense Counsel, Texas Trial Lawyers, and Texas Chapters of The American Board of Trial Advocates likewise filed briefs in this case. We are pleased that the Court has responded decisively and preserved the parties’ right to a traditional in-person jury trial if they so choose.
