What court of appeals will consider my case? Which court of appeals will decide my case? To which court of appeals will my case be assigned?
Pursuant to Texas Government Code section 22.201, the fourteen courts of appeals districts are as follows:
The First Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington. The First Court of Appeals is in Houston (as is the Fourteenth Court of Appeals).
The Second Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Archer, Clay, Cooke, Denton, Hood, Jack, Montague, Parker, Tarrant, Wichita, Wise, and Young. The Second Court of Appeals is in Fort Worth.
The Third Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Comal, Concho, Fayette, Hays, Irion, Lampasas, Lee, Llano, McCulloch, Milam, Mills, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Sterling, Tom Green, Travis, and Williamson. The Third Court of Appeals is in Austin.
The Fourth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Brooks, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, LaSalle, McMullen, Mason, Maverick, Medina, Menard, Real, Starr, Sutton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Wilson, Zapata, and Zavala. The Fourth Court of Appeals is in San Antonio.
The Fifth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall. The Fifth Court of Appeals is in Dallas.
The Sixth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Bowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Fannin, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Hunt, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Panola, Red River, Rusk, Titus, Upshur, and Wood. The Sixth Court of Appeals is in Texarkana.
The Seventh Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Cochran, Collingsworth, Cottle, Crosby, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Dickens, Donley, Floyd, Foard, Garza, Gray, Hale, Hall, Hansford, Hardeman, Hartley, Hemphill, Hockley, Hutchinson, Kent, King, Lamb, Lipscomb, Lubbock, Lynn, Moore, Motley, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, Terry, Wilbarger, Wheeler, and Yoakum. The Seventh Court of Appeals is in Amarillo.
The Eighth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Andrews, Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Pecos, Presidio, Reagan, Reeves, Terrell, Upton, Ward, and Winkler. The Eighth Court of Appeals is in El Paso.
The Ninth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, and Tyler. The Tenth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Bosque, Burleson, Brazos, Coryell, Ellis, Falls, Freestone, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, Leon, Limestone, Madison, McLennan, Navarro, Robertson, Somervell, and Walker. The Ninth Court of Appeals is in Beaumont.
The Eleventh Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Baylor, Borden, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Dawson, Eastland, Ector, Erath, Fisher, Gaines, Glasscock, Haskell, Howard, Jones, Knox, Martin, Midland, Mitchell, Nolan, Palo Pinto, Scurry, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Taylor, and Throckmorton. The Eleventh Court of Appeals is in Eastland.
The Twelfth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Anderson, Angelina, Cherokee, Gregg, Henderson, Houston, Nacogdoches, Rains, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Smith, Trinity, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood. The Twelfth Court of Appeals is in Tyler.
The Thirteenth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Aransas, Bee, Calhoun, Cameron, DeWitt, Goliad, Gonzales, Hidalgo, Jackson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Lavaca, Live Oak, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton, and Willacy. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington. The Thirteenth Court of Appeals is in Corpus Christi and Edinburg.
The Fourteenth Court of Appeals District is composed of the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals is in Houston (as is the First Court of Appeals).
When the per-justice workload is substantially heavier in one court of appeals than another, the Texas Supreme Court will periodically enter a “docket equalization” order, transferring some cases from the court of appeals with the heavier workload to the court of appeals with the lighter workload. See Texas Government Code section 73.001.
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