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Texas Supreme Court weighs whether DFPS "abandoned" parental-rights termination during trial
Summary
The court heard arguments over whether testimony by a designated DFPS caseworker that the agency was not seeking termination amounted to legal abandonment of the termination claim, or whether the department continued to litigate termination by developing evidence and through other witnesses.
May it please the court: attorneys debating a parental-rights case told the Texas Supreme Court that a single public employee''a designated caseworker''testified during a bench trial that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) was not seeking termination of a mother's parental rights. The petitioner argues that statement amounted to abandonment of the termination claim and that the trial court''s resulting termination judgment was unsupported by the pleadings. Respondent DFPS counters that the caseworker lacked authority to unilaterally abandon the department's pleaded claim and that the department continued to present termination evidence.
Why it matters: a ruling that a caseworker's testimony can constitute abandonment would affect how DFPS litigates in bench trials and could impose a duty on agency counsel to immediately correct or clarify witness statements;…
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