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JUSTICES OF THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS
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Elizabeth
Lang-Miers
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Molly
Francis
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Lana
Myers
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Douglas S.
Lang
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Kerry P.
FitzGerald
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Robert M.
Fillmore
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Martin E.
Richter
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Mary
Murphy
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David
Bridges
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Joseph B.
Morris
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Carolyn Wright,
Chief Justice
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Jim
Moseley
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Michael J.
O'Neill
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LEGAL CITATION
Texas Constitution, Article V, Section 1, Texas Government Code Annotated, Section 22.201
JURISDICTION
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas has jurisdiction over appeals from both
district and county courts located in Dallas, Collin, Grayson, Hunt, Rockwall and Kaufman counties. The
Court hears both civil and criminal appeals.
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HISTORY OF THE APPELLATE COURTS
Texas achieved its independence from Mexico in 1836. In 1876, some 40 years later, the Supreme Court
of Texas was still the only appellate court and had jurisdiction of both civil and criminal cases and decided
questions of fact as well as of law.
Our present Constitution, as ratified in 1876, provided for two appellate courts, the Supreme
Court, having jurisdiction of civil cases only, and the Court of Appeals, having jurisdiction of all criminal
cases and of certain civil cases. The judicial section was amended in 1891 to create the Courts of
Civil Appeals as intermediate appellate courts; and the name of the Court of Appeals was changed to the Court
of Criminal Appeals.
By an Act approved 1892, the Courts of Civil Appeals for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd District
were created. They were located at Galveston, Fort Worth and Austin. By subsequent legislation, the number
of Courts increased to eleven. The 1st located in Galveston was moved to Houston in 1892, 2nd in Fort
Worth, 3rd in Austin, 4th San Antonio, 5th Dallas (both in 1893), 6th Texarkana (1907), 7th Amarillo, 8th El Paso
(both in 1911), 9th Beaumont (1915), 10th Waco (1923), and the 11th Eastland (1925). During the early 70's, Courts
of Civil Appeals were also added at Tyler (12th), Corpus Christi (13th), and the Houston Court split to become the 1st and 14th.
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas was formally opened on
September 4, 1893. There was a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices until 1978 (85
years) when three additional Justices were authorized. In 1981, criminal jurisdiction was added and six additional
justices. In 1983, an additional justice position was created and the present configuration is 12
Justices and one Chief Justice. Statewide, there are a total of 80 Appellate Court Justices.
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JUSTICES OF THEFIFTH COURT OF APPEALS
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Carolyn Wright
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Chief Justice
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Joseph B. Morris
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Justice
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Jim Moseley
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Justice
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David Bridges
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Justice
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Michael J. O'Neill
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Justice
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Kerry P. FitzGerald
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Justice
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Martin E. Richter
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Justice
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Molly Francis
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Justice
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Douglas S. Lang
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Justice
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Elizabeth Lang-Miers
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Justice
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Mary Murphy
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Justice
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Robert M. Fillmore
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Justice
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Lana Myers
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Justice
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HOW APPEALS ARE DECIDED
A case is not decided by the Court until the record of the proceedings in the trial court and the briefs
are filed by both parties to the appeal. The case is then "submitted" for decision.
Each case is set for submission before three justices on the Court. In certain circumstances, cases
may be heard by a panel consisting of all of the justices (en banc). Cases are generally set for submission
on Tuesday and Wednesday of each week and a panel of three justices hear all of the submitted cases that are argued.
Each case is assigned to one of the justices on the panel to author the opinion. At times,
other justices may author concurring and/or dissenting opinions.
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COMMUNICATION WITH THE COURT
Correspondence or other communications relative to any matter before the court must be conducted with the
Office of the Clerk of the Court and may not be addressed to or conducted with any of the justices or other
members of the court's staff.
Like all judges, the Justices of the Courts of Appeals are required by law to observe very strict ethical standards
-- far stricter than for any other public official. These standards absolutely forbid the Justices and
their staffs to talk with anyone about pending cases or to explain or elaborate upon an opinion the
Court has issued. We understand that many people would like to talk to the Justices and their staffs
about cases, but the laws of Texas strictly prohibit this practice. See Tex. R. App. P. 9.6
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