Court of Appeals in Odessa Wednesday
Dec. 10—The three justices from the 11th Texas Court of Appeals in Eastland will make a trip to Odessa this week to hear arguments in two separate cases.
Many of Texas' 14 courts of appeal make an effort to hear arguments outside their home court at least once or twice a year.
Chief Justice John Bailey and Justices Stacy Trotter and Bruce Williams will be in Ector County District Court to hear the two cases on Wednesday morning.
One of the cases, Darkhorse Water v. Birch Operations originated in Martin County.
According to online court records from the 118th Judicial Court, the two parties are arguing over the rights to a parcel of land.
Darkhorse Water attorneys contend Billie Pat McKaskle owned an undivided 20% of the surface estate in certain lands in Martin County and signed a five-year agreement with Darkwater giving them exclusive right to drill wells to produce water and dispose of waste water on the property and to sell produced water and hydrocarbons. However, two years into the agreement, Birch Operations filed documents claiming McKaskle also gave them some of the same rights she'd given to Darkhorse.
Both parties filed motions for a summary judgment and Yeats sided with Birch Operations. Darkhorse is now appealing.
The second matter the justices will hear involves the parent company of the Odessa American (AIM Media) and the City of Odessa.
AIM Media filed a lawsuit against the City of Odessa in Ector County District Court nearly three years ago alleging the city was violating the Texas Public Information Act by not releasing public crime records in a timely manner and the city was also violating the law by redacting "basic" public information, such as the nature of the calls, addresses and suspects' names.
The OA provided several examples of reports that were released months after the events and filled with redactions.
The City of Odessa tried to get the lawsuit dismissed stating the court lacked jurisdiction because the city was immune from the lawsuit. A visiting judge denied the motion and the 11th Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
However, earlier this year a judge did dismiss the lawsuit, declaring the issue "moot" because the city had ultimately provided the newspaper with the police records it had requested.
AIM Media has asked the 11th Court of Appeals to find the city did violate the TPIA and to issue an order prohibiting them from doing so in the future.
"The OA's claims are not moot because the City's failure to comply with the TPIA is likely to recur but to evade review," attorney Jeff Nobles wrote in an appellate brief.
In addition, AIM Media is seeking attorneys fees.
Chief Justice Bailey was appointed to the 11th Court of Appeals nine years ago by Gov. Rick Perry. He's been Chief Justice since September 2018. He practiced trial and appellate law in Abilene several years before becoming a staff attorney at the 11th Court of Appeals in 2001.
Justice Trotter spent 20 years with the Shafer Law Firm in Odessa before being appointed to serve as judge in the 244th Ector County District Court by Perry in 2004. He returned to private practice for a few years and then was elected to serve as judge in the 358th Ector County District Court in 2014. He began serving on the 11th Court of Appeals in December 2020.
Justice Williams practiced civil law as a member of Cotton Bledsoe Tighe and Dawson in Midland for 38 years. He's certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in personal injury trial law, focusing on product liability defense and he's certified in civil trial law, focusing on commercial business and oil and gas litigation.
He was elected to the 11th Court of Appeals in November 2020.
