A homeowners’ association, sued for over-enforcement of parking rules, argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they were tenants and did not own property in the relevant association area. The Fifth Court agreed:

[W]e conclude the Declaration [of the HOA] contemplates affecting the rights, status, or other legal relations of occupants other than property owners. Moreover, the resident appellees’ petitions, original and amended, assert that the Lutzes were charged legal fees by the company that owns the house they lease and that the same company warned the Lutzes that the lease would be voided for future parking violations. Therefore, we conclude the Lutzes asserted and provided evidence that their rights, status, and other legal relations are affected by the Declaration such that they may seek a declaration of their rights, status, and other legal relations under the Declaration.

Shores at Lake Ray Hubbard Owners Association v. Lutz, No. 05-24-00717-CV (Jan. 21, 2026).

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In re Cedar Hill Hotel LLC clarifies the applicability of Section 15.0642 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which addresses mandamus petitions to enforce mandatory-venue provisions.

The Court emphasized that Section 15.0642’s deadlines are keyed to “the date the trial starts” or “notice of the trial setting,” but once a transfer order issues, any prior trial setting in the transferring court becomes a nullity and no trial will “start” there. Therefore: “Section 15.0642 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code does not apply when a party seeks a writ of mandamus to compel a respondent judge to vacate an order granting a motion to transfer venue and transferring an entire action to another county.”

In this action, because the relator sought mandamus after the 30-day plenary period, the proceeding was moot and the appellate court lacked jurisdiction. No. 05-24-01478-CV; Dec. 23, 2025

A recent dispute about various statistical-reporting requirements for prosecutors led to a lively summary of the law in Texas about appellate stays.

1. Fifteenth Court. After an appeal by Texas stayed the trial court’s temporary injunction, the Fifteenth Court granted temporary relief, reinstating the trial court’s injunction for the named parties only, and thus staying enforcement of the reporting rules as to those prosecutors during the appeal. Relying on Tex. R. App. P. 29.3, the court said that it was not deciding the merits on limited briefing but found greater risk of immediate, irreparable harm without a short, party-limited stay. A dissent argued that the majority granted injunctive relief without the required preliminary merits assessment or a likelihood-of-success finding.
2. Supreme Court. In December 2025, the supreme court conditionally granted mandamus relief, concluding that the 15th Court limited the State’s legislatively protected supersedeas without undertaking the preliminary merits assessment required by Rule 29.3, and required a further opinion from that court about the matter by early January. A concurrence elaborated further on several points.
3. Fifteenth Court, Redux. Shortly thereafter, the Fifteenth Court affirmed the temporary injunction for the named prosecutors but narrowed it to exclude non-parties. The court held appellees showed a probable right to relief because the Government Code does not grant the Attorney General authority to promulgate the reporting rules, and such authority cannot be implied absent an express grant. The court also upheld findings about injury, including reporting burdens requiring thousands of staff hours and diversion from prosecutions, and compelled disclosure of privileged and confidential. Notably, the Court deemed the injunction overbroad as to non-parties: temporary relief preserves the parties’ status quo, not statewide interests absent proof of irreparable injury to non-parties. A 15th concurrence again provided further explanation.

Steinhagen v. MC Trilogy Texas LLC makes two key points about the Texas Citizens Participation Act: first,  that commentary alleging municipal corruption in publicly accessible YouTube broadcasts addresses matters of public concern and thus triggers the TCPA framework; second, that the discovery rule does not extend limitations for defamation or business disparagement arising from such public posts.

On the limitations issue, the Court emphasized that reputational injuries from mass‑media publications are not “inherently undiscoverable,” analogizing YouTube dissemination to newspapers or television for accrual purposes.

As for another stream, the Court held the plaintiff failed to make a prima facie showing because the statement that a “public record” had “disappeared” did not specifically refer to the plaintiff, and the remainder—predicting that speaking to authorities would put one’s “life … in jeopardy”—was a nonactionable opinion about future events, not a verifiable fact. No. 05-24-00325-CV; Dec. 29, 2025. Notably, this is a fairly uncommon “opinion” from the Fifth Court, rather than a “memorandum opinion.”