Just when you think things in Texas courts cannot get more absurd, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an opinion today (February 19, 2010) on a case pending before the Court since 2005, reversing both the trial court and the court of appeals.  What is amazing is not just how long it took for the Court to decide the case (this was the Court’s oldest case), or even that they reversed both lower courts (the Court is never skittish about reversing cases).  The best part of the story is that the Houston lawyer for the plaintiffs (the party that won before the trial court and the court of appeals) SUED the nine justices of the Supreme Court of Texas in federal court, to force them to make a decision.

Well, they made a decision eight days after being sued.  And the decision the Court gave that Houston lawyer was this: “You lose!”

I had a similar case many years ago.  I represented a truck driver in a dispute with an insurance company pending in Galveston federal court.  Both sides had filed motions that would decide the case.  After waiting several months for a decision, the Dallas lawyer representing the insurance company wrote the judge a letter and asked when he was going to rule on the motions.  Moments after I received that letter, a fax came in from the judge, and guess what he told that Dallas lawyer.  That’s right – “You lose.”

I suppose the lawyers in both cases had darn good reasons for poking their fingers in the eyes of the judges who were going to decide their cases.  Certainly, justice delayed is justice denied.  Still, it is seldom a good idea to push a judge too far.