Following a recent report by the American Tort Reform Foundation labeling the Fifth Court of Appeals as a “judicial hellhole,” LPHS appellate partner David Coale authored a commentary for the Dallas Morning News challenging that characterization, arguing the Dallas-based court is sophisticated, effective, and balanced.

Mr. Coale writes, “That attention-grabbing claim has no foundation in facts and insults the hardworking public servants on that court. … There’s no “hellhole” to be found in the work of the Fifth Court. But as for unfounded demagoguery, Dante’s Inferno describes a hell in which the ‘wrathful and sullen’ must forever swim in the ‘black sulkiness’ of the River Styx. Inflammatory and unfounded rhetoric so qualifies.”

To read the complete commentary, visit the Dallas Morning News.