The Texas Supreme Court has declined to consider the appeal of South Texas College of Law Houston professor James Paulsen, who has engaged in a five-year legal battle over allegedly being defamed by a Houston lawyer.

Paulsen sued lawyer Ellen Yarrell after she complained to South Texas Dean Donald Guter that Paulsen acted improperly when he wrote unsolicited letters criticizing her legal decisions to a trial judge in a high-profile Houston child custody case she was handling.