Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of April 16, 2012

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Tex. Real Estate Comm'n v. Bayless, No. 02-11-00005-CV (Apr. 19, 2012) (Meier, J., joined by Walker and Gabriel, JJ.).

Held: Occupations code section 1101.605(a) applies to an action against a real estate license holder upon which an uncollectible judgment is based, not to a verified claim for payment from the trust account of the unpaid amount of the uncollectible judgment.

In re Marks, No. 02-12-00129-CV (Apr. 19, 2012) (Meier, J., joined by Livingston, C.J., and Gardner, J.).

Held: Relator knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel at his family law contempt hearing that resulted in Relator being jailed for 180 days. Even though the trial court added language to the statutory mandates of Texas Family Code section 157.163 by also informing Relator that he was additionally waiving his right against self-incrimination, the trial court fully admonished Relator of his right to counsel in accordance with section 157.163. Furthermore, the totality of the circumstances, including Relator's affirmative answers that he understood his rights coupled with the trial court's recitation on the record that Relator had elected to testify at the contempt hearing, demonstrate that Relator abandoned his right to have counsel present.

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