(Download) "City Of San Benito V. Rio Grande Valley Gas Company" by In the Supreme Court of Texas * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: City Of San Benito V. Rio Grande Valley Gas Company
- Author : In the Supreme Court of Texas
- Release Date : January 26, 2003
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 76 KB
Description
This class action was brought on behalf of an alleged class of eighty south Texas cities for recovery of franchise fees allegedly owed to them. A number of Texas cities, including the petitioners herein, tried to opt out of the class. Some were successful, but the trial court denied the requests of the seven cities petitioning here and signed a final judgment approving settlement. We must decide whether an unnamed class member must intervene in the trial court in order to appeal its overruled objections to a class settlement and whether a city must hold an open meeting to authorize its attorney to opt out of a class action. The court of appeals denied appellate relief because the cities failed to intervene in the trial court and also denied mandamus relief because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing the cities' requests to opt out. 63 S.W.3d 19. We conclude that an unnamed class member is not required to intervene in order to appeal its objections to a class settlement or its opt-out requests. Thus, the cities are parties for purposes of this appeal. We further conclude that the cities could authorize their attorneys to opt out of the litigation without formal action in an open meeting. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals' judgment and render judgment that six cities successfully opted out of the class and one did not. Because these issues are dispositive, we do not reach the remaining issue of whether the settlement was fair.
 "City Of San Benito V. Rio Grande Valley Gas Company" by In the Supreme Court of Texas * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}