The County Court Law is limited in hearing non-family law civil cases to those cases where the amount at dispute is more than $500 but less than $100,000.  Obviously, this includes a wide variety of cases including breach of contract, personal injury, debt collection, commercial litigation and the like.

These types of cases often include discovery disputes, or disputes about what information the parties can learn about their opponent’s cases.  When the parties cannot agree amongst themselves to disclose to each other revenant information, the judge must conduct hearings to determine just what documents, witnesses, tangible items such as photographs and/or other information the parties must produce. Other significant duties of the judge include consideration of and entry of temporary restraining orders and injunctions (prohibiting one party or the other from engaging in a particular activity, such as using land or depleting assets); determining what evidence sought to be introduced by the parties fulfills all of the legal requirements to be admitted in court; ruling on pretrial motions such as summary judgment motions which would dispose of either the entire case or certain issues prior to trial; conducting jury selection; and determining the proper “jury charge,” the series of instructions and questions to be submitted to the jury prior to its deliberations.

Civil cases may be tried to the court or to a jury.  If all the parties agree, the case can be tried directly to the judge, without a jury, in which case, the judge will determine the appropriate evidence to be considered, assess the credibility of the witnesses and the evidence, and make the final determinations of both liability (if the defendant is liable for the plaintiff’s damages) and damages (the amount of money which would fairly compensate the plaintiff for his damages).  In jury cases, which are tried to 6 person juries, the judge conducts jury selection, makes evidentiary rulings and instructs the jury, which is the “finder of fact” that decides issues of liability and damages pursuant to the judges instructions on the law.

Bill has significant experience in handling civil litigation matters.  While a solo practitioner he frequently represented individuals, small business owners and hospitals in a wide variety of civil cases including breach of contract, landlord/tenant disputes and collections.  This included drafting and reviewing deeds, contracts and other legal documents.  After leaving the United States Attorney’s Office, Bill worked for one of the largest law firms in Texas representing some of the nation's largest corporations in toxic tort cases, pharmaceutical litigation, civil rights and general commercial litigation in state and federal courts across the United States.