The Texas Appellate Case Search database, http://www.info.courts.state.tx.us/appindex/appindex.exe/home?, was a great source of information. Then early last year most of the info just disappeared and it has not been updated since last April. Anyone know what happened? Is there anyway to get it back up and running?

My understanding is that the site is run by the Office of Court Administration. They planned to update the site, starting with the Courts of Appeals, which is why only CCA info was accessable for a while.

I don't know the details, but I agree that it was a good resource.

Jeff Garon

OCA has built new sites for some of the courts of appeals, such as Eastland and Corpus Christi. They're pretty nice in that they let you get opinions, look at data from the case management database, and sign up for email alerts. They are still a far cry, however, from the sites for the Dallas court of appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas.

Dallas went its own direction several years ago, and Justice Hankinson got the Supremes to use the same company. Those sites update DAILY and the case management information is far easier to use than the new OCA sites. We regularly go onto the site to update our own database. You are automatically subscribed to email updates for a case when your bar # is recorded into a case record. It has links that will drop scheduling notices into your Microsoft Outlook calendar. It is very reliable.

It seemed to me that that OCA's Appellate Case Index was seldom updated, hard to search, and contained little useful information. Most of that was probably due to the age of the system used by OCA and the coa's to collect and report their data. In any event, I think that competition from the other guy is bringing OCA around.

According to Justice Bea Ann Smith (at the Criminal Appeals Seminar this week in Austin), all 14 courts of appeals are expected to have a system, similar to the Third Court's new one, up and running by the end of the summer. Since OCA is working on that project, I guess the website I referenced will become obsolete and that probably explains why it has been neglected. Supposedly every opinion issued by the courts will become available on the web. While this system is still lacking in comparison with the 5th Court's, it will be a great improvement. One wonders why OCA did not seek to use the existing Dallas system, rather than develop a new one. Also the 4th & 8th courts have also had something different in place (the 8th court had their opinions available for a price). I am unclear whether everyone will be going to the new OCA format or not. It is exicting to see better information coming available on the web. Justice Smith really pushed everyone making use of the "casemail" feature.

The casemail function is great. Now I don't have to look for the postcards from the court to filter their way down to me. I like being able to look at my appellate case load and find out if there is a new filing or when something is due without pulling files or bothering my paralegal.

Charles Matz, the webmaster for the 5th Court and Supreme Court sites, is in business. I would hope that OCA looked into contracting with him or buying him out before spending state money to do the same thing in much the same way. Who knows? All in all, the new OCA sites and the 5th Court site are great tools for the appellate prosecutor. I might change a thing here or there, given the choice, but I rely on to a great extent.

I've been unable to get unpublished cases off the new sites,though.

Some good news. The site I originally referenced has now been updated (a bit). It now contains info on cases filed in the CCA thru 5/2/02. I use it primarily to see whether a PDR has been filed, so it will again serve that purpose (if it doesn't remain static again).

Martin, which coa do your cases normally go to?

80% to Waco and 20% to Eastland

I presume it is the "end of the summer" (as Justice Smith contemplated in her talk last May). And for the most part she proved right. All but the Fort Worth, Dallas and Waco Courts have now switched over the OCA website format. Opinions are still not available for the Amarillo, El Paso and Eastland courts, but no doubt will arrive soon. So, basically you can now get current opinions (including unpublished) from both Houston courts, Corpus, Tyler, Beaumont, Texarkana, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. Published opinions are available from the Fort Worth site. I guess the taxpayers are paying for this service, but the benefit to the prosecutors alone should justify the cost. Hurray for progress!

[This message was edited by Martin Peterson on 09-21-02 at .]

Martin, we're running into quite a few cases where we are told "no html opinion exists" or something like when we try to click on the opinion link. What's your experience with that?

Also, do you think they'll sitch to an automatic email notification system like that in the Dallas COA. Once you're signed up, every time your bar # appears in a case record, you get email updates on the case until you unsubscribe. The OCA sites require you to subscribe to cases individually. I haven't had much experience with their email system yet.

I would hope your experience with "no html exists" will dwindle. It appears to me that except for Eastland, Amarillo, El Paso and Waco the sites are posting their most recent opinions pretty consistently. Frankly, I've not been trying to get very many opinions from these new sites so far, but that's going to change. Patience will likely be the watchword. I just hope the clerks do not lose interest or the ability to keep up and that this information remains free. Anybody who tries to maintain a webpage knows it can be a daunting task at times, even with the best of programs. Since most of my interest focuses on Waco I guess its just my luck that they are the laggards [preceding term refers to hypothetical personnel and certainly not to Ms. Roessler or any of her staff]. My guess is the OCA casemail system will not act like a spambot and you will have to sign up case by case--that's not too difficult is it?

Not too hard to subscribe, of course, but I enjoy the convenience of the Dallas system.

I hope that oca maintains the sites so that there is uniformity.