Court Opinion

ID: 9471981
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:45:52.87486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:40.568238
License: Public Domain

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge,
with whom TATE and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges, join, concurring:
This is a diversity case in which we follow Texas law. Majority opinion, n. 5. The thorough and scholarly opinion is devoted in major part to a detailed analysis of Texas decisions, the remainder to a discussion of the facts of this case. I agree with the interpretation of Texas law reached by the majority but I tread diffidently in that field. The Texas jurisprudence is not pellucid, and the result we reach might be overturned by the decision of any of the Texas Courts of Appeals or its Supreme Court.
The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure caution that “a hearing or rehearing en banc is not favored and ordinarily will not be ordered except (1) when consideration by the full court is necessary to secure or maintain uniformity of its decisions, or (2) when the proceeding involves a question of exceptional circumstance.” Fed.R. App.P. 35. This case does not meet either criterion. Therefore, I voted against its consideration en banc. Once again, I suggest that the resources of our fourteen-judge en banc court should be reserved for cases worthy of that effort. See Nash v. Estelle, 597 F.2d 513 (5th Cir.1979) (en banc) (Rubin, J., dissenting).