Victory in the Texas Supreme Court
July 6, 2009On July 3, 2009, the Texas Supreme Court issued a favorable decision in an appeal that challenged a default judgment. The case (Dolgencorp v. Lerma) arose after a fire in a Dollar General Store in South Texas. The trial court issued a default judgment for more than $1 million against Dollar General when its defense lawyer was unable to attend the trial because he was in the middle of a trial in another city. The court of appeals affirmed, at which point the client hired Beck Redden to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court threw out the default judgment by a 9-0 vote. The Supreme Court appeal was handled by Beck Redden appellate lawyers David Gunn and Connie Pfeiffer. (Opinion Attached)