State justice's remarks on Miers were perfectly proper: This article appeared in Saturday’s Houston Chronicle providing a further look into last week’s public admonition of Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. Hecht’s appeal of this sanction will be decided by a three-judge panel appointed by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson.

Texas Justice Admonished for Miers Support: This article appeared in Tuesday’s edition of the Washington Post focusing on the accusation that Justice Nathan Hecht had used his position to support Harriet Miers when she was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

The Texas Lawyer reports here that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct has issued a public admonition to Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht regarding comments he made to the press last year in support of the nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Ex-firefighter's case goes to Texas Supreme Court”: Yesterday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram included this article about a discrimination lawsuit against the City of Grapevine that has now landed in the Texas Supreme Court. An ex-firefighter has brought charges against the city stating that they failed to accommodate him after he had to leave his firefighting career due to a multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

It has been a big two weeks for Kroger -- winning two cases before the Texas Supreme Court in just as many weeks. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court issued this per curiam opinion in Kroger Co. v. Elwood. The Court held that a courtesy clerk could not recover damages from injuries he suffered after a customer shut her vehicle door on the Kroger employee's hand while he was transferring items from a grocery cart into the customer's vehicle.

In the final home-stretch before the summer break, the Court released seven new opinions last week:

• In Kroger v. Suberu, a case involving a shop-lifting prosecution that went wrong, the Court held that a Kroger customer had insufficient evidence to support her claims of malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Chief Justice Jefferson wrote the majority opinion and Justice Johnson wrote the dissenting opinion.
  
• In In the Interest of A.M. and B.M, the Court examined "under what circumstances a parent, who has been ordered to pay periodic child support, may raise the affirmative defense of Texas Family Code section 157.008", a statute allowing a parent to off-set child support if the parent cared for the child longer than the court-ordered possession. In an almost unanimous opinion, Justice Medina reversed the lower court by holding that "reimbursement remedies of offset or counterclaim are alternative, not cumulative." Justice Johnson wrote a concurring and dissenting opinion.
  
• In Evanston Ins. Co. v. Atofina Petrochem., Inc., Justice Green issued this unanimous opinion discussing the scope of insurance coverage that is provided to a third-party additional insured under an excess insurance policy.
  
• In Belt v. Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison, & Tate, Inc., the Court addressed whether there is a legal bar preventing an estate's personal representative from maintaining a legal malpractice claim on behalf of the estate against the decedent's estate planners. In a unanimous opinion, Justice Jefferson wrote that there is no legal bar.
  
• In Shupe v. Lingafelter, the court issued this per curiam opinion holding that the failure to submit a negligent entrustment charge in this personal injury car crash case was harmless error.
  
• In Amer. Flood Research v. Jones, the Court issued this per curiam opinion regarding imposing sanctions on a lawyer for discovery abuses.
  
• In In re Ron Smith, the Court issued this per curiam opinion regarding a trial court's order setting aside a party's cash deposit in lieu of a supersedeas bond.

High court to decide if woman can sue pastor: Yesterday’s edition of the Fort Worth Star Telegram contained this article reporting that the "Texas Supreme Court will review a lower court ruling allowing a woman to sue her minister after he divulged details from her marriage counseling sessions to his congregation."