The global pandemic has presented challenges for all of us. It has been especially challenging for the legal system. Most in-court proceedings were canceled, resulting in delay and forcing litigants to eventually have their “day in court” by Zoom or other remote technology. This partial shutdown of the court system has left a backlog of cases in many counties and for many clients who have been awaiting decisions in their cases for months and perhaps years. I have described this problem to non-lawyers as airplanes circling an airport waiting on permission to land.  But, in many cases, those planes are running out of fuel and need to land soon.

Texas has a statutory solution that can help alleviate some of this problem, but it appears most lawyers do not know about it and are not using it. It’s Chapter 151 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which provides for the appointment of a “Special Judge” to hear all or part of a case.