Justice Ysmael Fonseca

Texas appellate judge. | Writing on law, civic life, the institutions that shape a free society, and the pursuit of justice.

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

There are fees for everything, but there may be some limits...Here's an article reporting on a decision by the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals affirming a trial court's ruling that the City of El Paso's environmental franchise fee constitutes an unauthorized tax rather than a lawful fee. It summarizes the court's reasoning, the parties' positions, and the potential implications of the decision, including possible refunds and the City's response.

https://t.co/PAfbM7doRQ

[SCOTUS Wire @scotus_wire]

🚨 In a 2-1 vote, the Fifth Circuit ruled that federal law overrides part of Texas's social media law that requires platforms to monitor and filter content to keep minors from seeing certain categories of material, but it upheld age verification requirements.

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

13-24-00336-CV | David White v. Gerardo "Gerry" Lozano

In today's #1styearreview, let's look at our Court's pronouncements on the proper resolution of an election contest under the Texas Election Code.

After finding that illegal votes had been cast, the trial court reopened the evidence to determine for whom those votes were cast. We held that this was within the trial court's discretion because, when the true outcome of an election can be determined, the Election Code requires the court to subtract the illegal votes from the appropriate candidate's total and declare the actual winner rather than order a new election. We also held that the appellant's evidentiary challenges could not succeed because the appellate record was incomplete, requiring us to presume the missing evidence supported the trial court's judgment.

The judgment declaring Lozano the winner of the election was affirmed. #TXCourts #ElectionLaw #AppellateLaw

Find the opinion here: https://t.co/b8XfSAp3K4

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

13-25-00088-CV | In re Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London Subscribing Severally to Policy No. THM000938-01

In today's review of my first year on the Court, #1styearreview, we look at this case addressing intervention under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 60 and Texas Insurance Code § 542A.006.

After the insurer elected to accept liability for its adjusters under § 542A.006, the insured sued only the adjusters and attempted to exclude the insurer from the case. We held that the insurer had a justiciable interest in the litigation because any judgment could affect its rights and liabilities, including its contractual right to invoke the appraisal process. As a result, the trial court abused its discretion by striking the insurer's plea in intervention.

#TXCourts #AppellateLaw #TexasInsuranceLaw #1styearreview

Find the opinion here: https://t.co/5hVSDhuTVK

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

13-25-00231-CV | Jose Andres Leon v. City of Corpus Christi

Yesterday, the Thirteenth Court of Appeals addressed an important issue under the Texas Tort Claims Act.

The plaintiff's original petition mistakenly labeled negligence claims against a city employee rather than the city itself. We held that courts look to the substance of the allegations—not merely the labels used in the pleadings. Because the petition alleged the employee was acting within the scope of his employment while operating a motor vehicle, it sufficiently invoked the TTCA's waiver of governmental immunity. The later amendment simply clarified the claim and related back to the timely original petition.

#TXCourts #AppellateLaw #TTCA

Find the opinion here:
https://t.co/tXuZOBJqeu

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

Surely by now you've heard about the Supreme Court's decisions concerning boys in girls sports and birthright citizenship, or other high-profile cases, but you probably didn't hear much about Chatrie v. United States.

Chatrie is an important decision which holds that cell-phone location data falls under the Fourth Amendment's protection because obtaining location history from a third-party like Google is a "search." During investigations, law enforcement set virtual boundaries called "geofences" around a specific location to request data to learn which devices were in that area during a certain time period. This information helps law enforcement identify suspects or persons of interest. Now law enforcement—and the courts—must make sure they comply with the Fourth Amendment.

Technology may change, but the Constitution still applies.

The opinion is at the following link: https://t.co/EzCkhOSC6t

#SCOTUS #FourthAmendment

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

After a long hiatus, I'll be using this account to highlight publicly available published opinions from my Court and share developments in Texas appellate law. I hope these posts make appellate decisions more accessible to lawyers and the public.

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

@HRTexas Such an honor! Thank you!

[Justice Ysmael Fonseca @JudgeFonseca]

@bpdflores Thank you, Bishop! You're in our prayers.