Court dates for Montgomery and Counties affected by Hurricane Ike

Waking up to the sound of chainsaws as an alarm on a Sunday, I was reminded that the upcoming week will be a return to court for some. How do you know if you have court, or not? Does the courthouse have power and what about the court dates that were missed last week?

According to Judge Patrice McDonald, County Court Number Three, presiding Judge for Montgomery County, Texas, there are no jury trials for next week. But that doesn't excuse an accused citizen from appearing for the docket call. Even though, jurors have been excused and do not need to appear, if you have a case pending in any of the Montgomery County District or County Courts, you MUST APPEAR for the Monday, September 22, 2008 docket call. You will be given a reset at that appearance. Normal court settings should resume for the rest of the week, with the exception of jury trials.

For those of you with cases in Harris and surrounding counties, the courts have resumed their normal operating schedule. Be sure to contact your lawyer as this may change on a day-to-day basis.

For those of you in Galveston, DO NOT appear in court or even attempt to go down there. I am in touch with Mr. Kurt Sistrunk, the District Attorney, through email and they do not have the courthouse open, nor will it be open for another week and it will probably not be until the middle of October before the courthouse resumes full operations down there. Check the Galveston County website at http://www.co.galveston.tx.us/ for current information or check back here for updates. Don't try to call because they do not have full phone service, yet and calling will only serve to over burden a weak phone system that should really be used for emergencies only at this point. Call your lawyer, if you need information ad if your lawyer has been displaced and phones are not working, feel free to email me at kwcase@caselawpllc.com. I am in touch with most of the Galveston lawyers through their list-serve and can get messages to them.

Montgomery County, Texas has not rebounded from this, yet. The power is on at less than 50 percent of the county administrative buildings and I do not think they have taken steps to obtain generators. On Friday, upon checking, no generators were in place. That may change in the upcoming week.

My office was wrecked by a collapsed atrium that allowed flooding in. They tell me that water and electricity don't mix so even though we have power, we have not been allowed back in the building. Staff is enjoying the vacation. I am looking for new office space.

If you need to reach us, try the 24 hour line at 713-823-6091 or call my personal cell phone at 713-882-8826 in case of emergency. I hope everyone is well and suffered nothing more than the minor inconvenience of no power. It puts it into perspective when you talk to friends that have lost everything, literally.

Good luck to all in the upcoming week.