Report: SCOT to Hand Down New Rules Mandating Expedited Civil Trials—- Mandatory truncated Texas trials of civil matters are on the immediate horizon according to some reports.
As part of HB 274, the legislature passed a bill during the last session requiring the Supreme Court of Texas to promulgate new rules of civil procedure that would assure faster trials and less discovery in civil suits involving less than $100,000 in controversy. The bill was silent as to whether the rules should be mandatory or voluntary.
A working group of TEX-ABOTA, TTLA and TADC unanimously recommended and proposed a draft of a purely voluntary rule which would require the consent of all parties before expedited trial procedures would apply. The Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee reviewed the TEX-ABOTA/TTLA/TADC proposal in January and approved the voluntary approach by a hefty margin. SCOT has had the matter under consideration since that time.
There are now unconfirmed reports that SCOT will publish its proposed rules for expedited civil trial procedures before the end of the year in the Texas Bar Journal. These unconfirmed reports further say that the SCOT’s rules are mandatory in all civil cases involving less than $100,000 (except family law, healthcare liability, and cases involving the government). The rules would significantly limit discovery of all kinds as well as limit the trial. The rules may also provide further limitations on civil cases involving more than $100,000 that may or may not be voluntary.
Once the SCOT expedited civil trial rules are published, there will be a comment period and opportunities for revisions, before the rules are made final.
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