With today’s order list, the Court set six new cases for argument, filling out its February argument sitting in the process.

Click through for a list of those cases

The Texas Supreme Court handed down three opinions with today’s order list and filled out its February argument calendar with new grants. (( I put a list of those grants up in this post. ))

Today’s opinions involved jurisdiction over out-of-state corporate officers, the reasons that a trial court must give to grant a new trial, and what happens if a district court with exclusive jurisdiction tries to transfer away a trust case.

Today’s only signed opinion was authored by Justice Guzman — her first on the Texas Supreme Court.

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The Texas Supreme Court began the year with a quiet order list. There were no opinions issued or new petitions granted review.

The Texas Supreme Court issued four opinions with today’s order list. It did not set any new cases for argument.

According to the Court’s online calendar, this is the last regular order list of 2009. The next regular orders are scheduled for January 8, 2010.

Read more about today’s opinions

In this week’s orders list, the Texas Supreme Court issued three opinions and set one new case for argument in February.

Today’s opinions involved:

• whether the same “eight corners” rule that governs an insurer’s duty to provide a legal defense might also get the insurer off the hook for its coverage obligation [it doesn’t];
• the “producing cause” standard of proof under the Texas DTPA [it’s higher than you may think]; and

• the reliability of expert testimony in a design-defect case [not good enough].

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The Texas Supreme Court did not release any opinions with today’s order list.

The Court did grant the State’s motion to particpate in the upcoming oral argument in City of Dallas v. VSC, LLC, No. 08-0265 (more info), a case about when the exercise of the state’s police power could violate the takings clause. The Court had invited the views of the Texas solicitor general in June, and that office filed a brief in September. (( A quick scan of the brief’s Table of Authorities showed a citation to John Milton, which turned out to be a reference to the metaphorical “sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Bog.” For those curious enough to spend $12.50, Lexis will sell you a law review article about the history of this metaphor, which the synopsis teases “has appeared in no fewer than 222 state and federal cases since 1847.”

I’m not quite that curious. But I couldn’t help noticing one strange link between this metaphor and Texas Solicitor General Jim Ho, who submitted this brief. According to Above the Law — “[t]he good news [of his hiring at Texas SG] first surfaced” on the publication Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog.
))

Today’s Texas Supreme Court order list had something for everybody. The Court:

• decided a class certification issue, resolved a question about landowners’ duties to recreational users of their property, and applied a recent holding about the reasonableness of attorneys fees;

• issued its first “improvident grant” since 2003a rare “improvident grant”;

• granted rehearing in the controversial Exxon well-plugging cases;

• issued a revised opinion in a case about whether business owners can be compensated for lost profits when the government takes their land;

• set four new petitions for argument early next year;

• had two Justices file a dissent from the Court’s denial of review of a petition about the immunity police officers maintain while moonlighting; and

• asked for the views of the Texas Solicitor General on a case about whether cities are shielded from subsequent legal challenges to a city building commission’s determination that a building is a nuisance.

Read more about these orders…

The end of this short Veteran’s Day week brought a quiet order list from the Texas Supreme Court, in which no petitions were granted and no opinions were issued.

Next week brings a private conference on Monday afternoon (( The Justices will also be attending Texas’s swearing-in ceremonies for new lawyers that same morning. )) and oral arguments on Wednesday and Thursday.