Second Court of Appeals

The Texas Legislature appropriates funds to the Texas Supreme Court each biennium for the purpose of transferring cases among the fourteen courts of appeals to equalize the dockets and promote efficiency in the use of court resources. See Tex. H.B. 1, 84th Leg., R.S., IV-2, Rider 3 (2015). The General Appropriations Act provides that “equalization shall be considered achieved if the new cases filed each year per justice are equalized by 10 percent or less among all the courts of appeals.” Id.

Accordingly, the supreme court issues quarterly orders that transfer cases from those courts with higher numbers of new cases filed per justice to courts with lower numbers of new cases filed per justice. The court of appeals to which the case is transferred decides the case in accordance with the precedent of the transferor court. See Tex. R. App. P. 41.3. General guidelines for docket equalization transfers are set forth by supreme court administrative order. See Policies for Transfer of Cases Between Courts of Appeals, Misc. Docket No. 06-9136 (Tex. Sept. 22, 2006, order).