Procedure in Civil Cases


 

    Pre-trial

• Special exception shall be considered waived when not timely filed and presented. 
  
  
• It is the intention of the Courts of Bell County to make full utilization of the pre-trial rules contained in Rule 166, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, and this rule will be strictly conformed to.  
  
  
• When counsel for either party fails to appear at the pre-trial after notice to appear, the court may:

• Rule on all motions and exceptions in absence of such counsel. 
• Declare any motions or exceptions of such absent party waived. 
• Advance or delay the trial setting according to the convenience of the counsel present. 
• Pass and reset the pretrial.

• Counsel at pre-trial shall either be the attorney who expects to try the case, or shall be familiar with the case and as fully authorized to state his party's position on the law and facts, make stipulations and enter into settlement negotiations as trial counsel.  If the Court finds counsel is not qualified, the Court may consider that no counsel has appeared and may take any of the procedures provided above. 
  
  

   Trial Setting

• Civil cases may be set for trial on the merits only after appearance has been made or after appearance day has passed as to all parties sued.  All request for settings shall be in writing, directed to the Docket Clerk for Civil Cases and Domestic Relations Cases or to the Court Coordinator for Criminal Cases, and a copy of request for setting shall be mailed contemporaneously to all other counsel in the case.  The request shall specify the desired date or alternate dates.  Oral requests, or requests which do not specify desired dates, will be disregarded. 
  
  
• Except by mutual agreement between all counsel and the Court, no jury settings will be made within a period of thirty (30) days after the date of the request for a setting. 
  
  
• Cases on the Jury docket shall be set on Monday of a Jury week, and shall be subject to trial at any time during the week.  Jury docket cases shall take priority on those weeks designated for that purpose. 
  
  
• Upon receipt of a request, a setting will be made and notice mailed to all attorneys. 
  
  
• If any attorney or party objects to the particular setting, written notice of such objection stating the reasons therefore should be delivered to the Court and all opposing counsel within ten (10) days.  Failure to timely file objection to any setting will be taken as a consent to such a setting, and the setting will become a firm setting at the end of such ten (10) day period. 
  
  
• Attorneys are encouraged to communicate with opposing counsel before requesting the setting of a case (or at the time of objection to a setting) in an effort to agree upon a setting date.  All agreed settings will be treated as firm settings from the time notice of same is given to the Court. 
  
  
• All objections to settings that are not disposed of by agreement of counsel will be heard by the Presiding Judge at 9:00 A.M. of the Friday following the date such objection is filed. 
  
  
• On Wednesday morning before the trial setting for the following week, it shall be the duty of each counsel:
  
  To communicate with the Court in person or by telephone and announce ready or not ready.  If an announcement of not ready is to be made, a motion for continuance must be filed, such motion will be heard on the following Friday morning at 9:00 A.M. unless opposing counsel advised the Court that no contest will be made to the motion. 
  
  
• If counsel does not communicate with the Court as herein above indicated, the Court may treat such failure as any one of the following:

• An Announcement of ready.
• An indication of no contest to any opponents' motion for continuance or other preliminary relief, or  
• Where the case has been on file for more than eighteen (18) months, and/or has been set two (2) or more times previously without going to trial, on motion of an opposing party, the case may be dismissed for want of prosecution. 

• Anything herein above to the contrary not withstanding, the Court will honor an agreement of the parties to pass if advised of same by 10:00 A.M. of the Wednesday preceding the Monday of the week for which the case is set; provided, however, that if a case has been on file for as long as 12 months and/or has been previously set for trial on two or more dates without going to trial, a firm trial setting may be passed only with the permission of the Judge. 
  
  
• All settlement negotiations should be concluded before Wednesday preceding the date set for trial.  Any settlement or other agreement reached between Wednesday morning preceding the week of trial and Monday morning of the trial week should be communicated as early as possible to the trial Judge or docket clerk in order that other matters may be scheduled or the Jury released.  The Courts reserve the right to require the presence of counsel and the parties at the time for which the trial was set to inquire into the circumstances surrounding any settlement reached between docket call and setting date. 
  
  
• All Criminal Cases shall be set by the Court Coordinator's Office (254-939-3521 Ext. 5247 or 5245).
  
  
• All Domestic Relations and Civil Cases shall be set by the Civil Coordinator, Paula King (254-939-3521 Ext. 5246).

    A case may be dismissed for want of prosecution for any of the
    following reasons:

• Failure of the plaintiff to request a setting or take other appropriate action to prepare the case for trial after receipt of written notice from the Clerk that the case has been pending for twelve (12) months or more. 
  
  
• The procedures provided by Rule 165A, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, effective February 01, 1973, are adopted and will be compiled with in all dismissals for want of prosecution. 
  
  

• In order to facilitate the hearing of non-contested and Ex-parte matters with minimum interference with other judicial business, counsel is requested; whenever testimony is to be heard on such a matter, to contact the Docket Clerk in advance if possible and obtain a setting for a convenient time. 
  
  
• When it is necessary for the Court to appoint a guardian ad litem for minor, incompetent parties or an attorney ad litem for absent parties, or an investigator in adoption cases, the Court will appoint an independent person, provided the court may appoint an attorney who is already counsel of record for one of the parties if the Court finds that no conflict of interest or other circumstances exist which would prevent such attorney from providing adequate representation for such minor, incompetent or absent parties. 
  
  
• No attorney of record shall be permitted to withdraw from any case without presenting a motion, and obtaining from the Court an order granting leave to withdraw.  Such motion shall be accompanied by the clients written consent to such withdrawal or a certificate by another lawyer that he has been employed to represent the client in the case, or a copy of such motion shall be mailed to the client at his last known address, with a letter advising that the motion will be presented to the Court on or after a certain hour, not less than four (4) days after mailing the letter, and that any objection to such withdrawal should be made to the Court in writing before such time and a copy of such letter shall be attached to such motion.  A copy of such motion shall be mailed to opposing counsel.  Such leave may be denied where the motion is presented so near the trial date as to require delay of the trial.  After leave is granted, the withdrawing attorney shall send the client's letter by certified mail notifying him of the withdrawal, stating any settings for trial or otherwise and advising him to secure other counsel, and shall send a copy of such letter to opposing counsel and the Clerk of the Court. 
  
  
• No divorce will be granted without first having a properly filled out report to the Department of Vital Statistics.