Some Good News: Texas Civil Litigators Just Got 2-Month Deadline Extension

The Texas Supreme Court, responding to concerns from trial lawyers, on Wednesday extended deadlines for the statute of limitations and service for all civil cases until June 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Previously, the Supreme Court had given discretion to trial courts across Texas about whether to extend the statute of limitations in civil cases. Now it’s mandatory.

The high court’s April 1 eighth emergency order said that civil limitations and service deadlines are tolled between March 13 and June 1, unless extended further by the chief justice.

“This does not include deadlines for perfecting appeal or for other appellate proceedings,” the order said.

If lawyers need relief from those deadlines, they should ask the court that’s handling  the case. Deadline extensions requests “should be generously granted,” the order added.

A Supreme Court press release noted that this is a response to a letter from bar associations and plaintiff and defense attorney associations who pointed out a problem with giving courts discretion about extending limitations deadlines.

“There could be various application or enforcement of statute of limitations for cases filed in Dallas County as opposed to filed in Williamson County, effectively allowing different rules for all 254 counties,” explained a March 27 letter signed by leaders of the State Bar of Texas, the bar’s litigation section, and bar associations in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, the Texas chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Texas Association of Defense Counsel, and Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

The main organizer of the letter, Jim Perdue Jr., a partner in Perdue & Kidd in Houston, wrote in an email that he’s very pleased that the Supreme Court issued the order to address the problem.

“The entire country is unsettled as we all feel like we are flying blind on a host of issues. Personally, I hope this clarity will be accepted as addressing the procedural issue created by the impossibility of filing and achieving service for affected cases during this time. The Court’s decision on the period of time acknowledges the problems all litigants are confronting under the state of emergency,” Perdue said. “We should all try to find common cause like these to keep access to the system of justice and fair processes in place for people and parties on both sides.”

Related story:

Plaintiffs, Defense Lawyers Ask Texas Supreme Court To Tweak COVID-19 Limitations Order