The Texas Supreme Court has started its Fall decision making season. Three opinions were announced today.

• In In re Texas Dep't of Fam. and Protective Servs., the Court addressed whether the Court of Appeals properly granted mandamus relief in a suit affecting the parent child relationship (SAPCR). Finding that mandamus relief was improper, this opinion ordered the Court of Appeals to vacate its order.

• In In re General Electric Capital Corp., the Court addressed, in a mandamus proceeding, whether a party who did not receive notice of a jury demand nevertheless waived its contractual right to a non-jury trial by failing to notice that the case had been moved to the jury docket. In this per curiam opinion, the Court held that General Electric did not knowingly waive its contractual right to a non-jury trial.

• In Cary v. Alford, the Court issued this per curiam opinion addressing whether a party's affidavit was sufficient to establish that his failure to answer was an accident rather than conscious indifference. Without much explanation, the Court remanded the case to the district court to reconsider the issue in light of Fidelity & Guar. Ins. Co. v. Drewery Constr. Co., 186 S.W.3d 571 (Tex. 2006).

In quest for election, Texas jurist walking across state: Monday’s San Antonio Express-News contains this article discussing how “Judge Bill Moody of El Paso is running one of the more unconventional races for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court: He's walking 1,017 miles — from the New Mexico border to Orange at the Louisiana border — in an effort to meet people the old-fashioned way.”

Election Time Approaches: With elections in November, the Dallas Morning News has this editorial endorsing the following candidates for the Texas Supreme Court: Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, Judge William Moody, Justice David Medina, Justice Nathan Hecht, and Justice Phil Johnson.