The Harris County courts will conduct a hearing to evaluate whether certain adjustments should be made to the special docket established to handle residential cases arising out of Hurricane Ike. Currently, all residential cases have been consolidated in a special docket for pre-trial purposes before the 11th District Court, Hon. Mike Miller presiding. Judge Miller has entered a standing pre-trial order that governs the handling of Ike claims and establishes a fast track docket to mediation, and has issued a master set of discovery to be used in all matters pending in the Hurricane Ike special docket. The hearing will address whether the following changes to the special docket should be made:
Proposal 1: Eliminate the consolidation of all existing and future residential Ike cases while maintaining the standing pretrial order and master discovery for all residential Ike cases in all Harris County civil courts;
Proposal 2: Leave things as they are except that all cases will be permanently transferred back to the originating court 30 days prior to the first trial setting.
As co-liaison counsel for Plaintiffs appearing in the Harris County Residential Ike docket, Doyle Raizner LLP is evaluating these proposals and welcomes all feedback from other Plaintiff counsel. The hearing will take place on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 3pm in the 11th District Court for Harris County.
More information concerning the Hurricane Ike residential special docket can be found on Judge Miller’s website. For more information about the upcoming hearing, contact Jeff Raizner at jraizner@doyleraizner.com.
