Purnell v. 1000 Main, LLC, 14-25-00622-CV, September 29, 2026.
On appeal from 189th District Court, Harris County, Texas
Synopsis
A timely summer vacation designation under Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region Rule 14(b) protects the attorney in charge from trial during the designated week—even when the trial setting predates the designation. Because counsel did not agree to the setting after designating the vacation week, the trial court abused its discretion by denying a continuance and dismissing the client’s claims with prejudice when counsel declined to proceed.
Relevance to Family Law
This holding applies directly to Texas family-law litigation within the Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region. A timely summer vacation designation can prevent a divorce trial, final conservatorship hearing, property-division trial, or other merits proceeding from going forward during the protected week, notwithstanding an earlier trial-setting order. The decision also establishes an important boundary on docket-management authority: when the applicable regional rule makes the protection mandatory, a court may not deny a properly invoked continuance merely because the case was preferentially set or the setting was entered before the vacation designation.
Family-law litigators should nevertheless distinguish a trial setting from genuinely urgent proceedings. Temporary restraining orders, protective orders, emergency conservatorship disputes, writ proceedings, and statutory expedited matters may implicate other rules, deadlines, or exceptions. Counsel should examine the precise regional rule, local rules, standing orders, and statutory framework governing the proceeding rather than assuming that every setting is automatically displaced.
Case Summary
Fact Summary
At a May 6 pretrial conference, the 189th District Court instructed the attorneys to review their calendars and selected July 21, 2025, as the preferential trial setting. Counsel for the plaintiff, Rosie Purnell, did not affirmatively agree that he was available. Instead, he expressed a preference for a nonsummer trial date. The court nevertheless set the case for July 21.
Later that same day, Purnell’s attorney filed a vacation designation with the district clerk covering the weeks of July 21 and July 28. The designation was filed by the May 15 deadline prescribed by Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region Rule 14(b). The trial court also issued written notice of the July 21 setting and required the parties to submit customary pretrial materials.
Approximately one month before trial, Purnell moved for a continuance based on the timely vacation designation. The defendants opposed the motion, principally contending that the parties had agreed to the July 21 setting. The trial court denied the continuance, and Purnell filed an additional objection stating that her attorney had not agreed to that date.
At the July 21 setting, counsel announced not ready and again invoked the vacation designation. The trial court overruled the objection. After the defendants requested dismissal based on Purnell’s failure to prepare required pretrial materials, the court again asked whether counsel was ready to proceed. When counsel responded that he was not, the trial court dismissed Purnell’s claims with prejudice.
Issues Decided
The Fourteenth Court of Appeals decided:
- Whether a timely summer vacation designation filed under Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region Rule 14(b) protects an attorney from a trial setting entered before the designation was filed.
- Whether counsel waived the rule’s protection by failing to object more expressly when the trial date was selected, appearing at the trial setting, or otherwise acting inconsistently with the designation.
- Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying the requested continuance and dismissing the client’s claims with prejudice when counsel declined to proceed during the protected vacation week.
Rules Applied
Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region Rule 14 permits an attorney to designate up to four vacation weeks during a calendar year. Subject to the rule’s terms, the attorney in charge may not be assigned to trial or required to participate in pretrial proceedings during those designated weeks.
Rule 14(b) governs summer vacation designations. To obtain protection for a week in June, July, or August, the attorney must file the designation with the district clerk by May 15. The rule expressly provides that a timely summer designation protects counsel from trial even if the trial judge signed the trial-setting order before the designation was filed. The Harris County civil district court rules contain substantially similar protection.
The appellate court reviewed the denial of the continuance for abuse of discretion. A trial court abuses its discretion when it disregards guiding rules or principles or fails to analyze and apply the law correctly. Interpretation of the applicable procedural rules presented a legal question subject to de novo review.
The court relied substantially on In re North American Refractories Co., 71 S.W.3d 391, 393–94 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2001, orig. proceeding). That decision held that once counsel properly invoked a materially similar vacation rule through a motion for continuance, the trial court had no discretion to disregard the rule’s mandatory language. Granting the continuance was a ministerial duty.
The court also considered authorities recognizing that vacation protection can be waived. In Siegler v. Williams, 658 S.W.2d 236, 239 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1983, no writ), co-counsel agreed to a preferential setting during lead counsel’s previously designated vacation week. Similarly, Bennett v. Coghlan, No. 01-04-00104-CV, 2007 WL 2332969, at *7 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Aug. 16, 2007, pet. denied) (mem. op.), recognized waiver when a party agreed to the setting after the vacation week had been designated.
Application
The dispositive fact was that counsel timely filed a summer vacation designation by May 15. Rule 14(b) expressly contemplates the sequence presented here: a court may first enter a trial setting, and counsel may later file a summer vacation designation that protects the designated week. The fact that the July 21 setting preceded the designation therefore did not diminish the rule’s effect.
Nor did the record establish waiver. Counsel did not affirmatively agree to the July 21 setting or represent that he was available on that date. His statement that he preferred a nonsummer month was not consent to the selected date. This distinguished the case from authorities in which an attorney agreed to a setting after filing a vacation designation.
Counsel also preserved reliance on the rule. He filed the designation on the same day the setting was announced, moved for a continuance approximately one month before trial, filed a further objection after the continuance was denied, and renewed the objection when the case was called. His appearance at the July 21 setting to announce not ready and obtain a ruling did not waive the previously asserted protection.
Once the timely designation and motion for continuance invoked Rule 14(b), the trial court lacked discretion to disregard its mandatory terms. The court’s general docket-management authority did not override the regional rule. Because counsel was entitled to protection from trial during the designated week, the resulting dismissal with prejudice could not stand.
Holding
A timely filed summer vacation designation under Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region Rule 14(b) protects the attorney from trial during the designated week even when the trial court entered the setting before the designation was filed. The chronology of the setting and designation does not defeat the protection because Rule 14(b) expressly addresses earlier trial-setting orders.
Purnell did not waive the protection. Her attorney neither agreed to the July 21 date nor represented that he was available. His appearance at the setting to preserve the objection and announce not ready was not the type of affirmative, post-designation agreement that supported waiver in prior cases.
The trial court abused its discretion by denying the continuance. Dismissing Purnell’s claims with prejudice when counsel declined to proceed during the protected week compounded that error. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and remanded the case for a new trial.
Practical Application
For family-law litigators, Purnell makes the filing date and the record critical. In a divorce or SAPCR, counsel may timely designate a July vacation week even though the court previously signed an order setting final trial during that week. If Rule 14(b) applies and its requirements are satisfied, the earlier setting does not take priority.
Counsel should not rely exclusively on the vacation designation appearing in the clerk’s file. Promptly notify the court coordinator and opposing counsel, move for a continuance or resetting, attach a file-marked copy of the designation, and quote the rule’s mandatory language. If relief is denied, secure a ruling and renew the objection on the record.
Avoid conduct that may support waiver. After filing a designation, counsel should not agree to a trial date within the protected week without expressly addressing the designation. If another attorney appears at a scheduling conference, that attorney should know which weeks have been designated and should avoid making an availability representation inconsistent with the designation.
The protection also should not be treated as a general suspension of the case. Continue complying with discovery obligations, disclosure deadlines, mediation orders, and pretrial deadlines falling outside the protected week unless separately modified. If a pretrial proceeding itself is scheduled during the designated week, identify that conflict expressly because Rule 14 addresses both trial assignments and covered pretrial proceedings.
In cases involving temporary orders, protective orders, habeas relief, emergency possession, or another expedited proceeding, determine whether a separate statute, rule, or exception affects the analysis. Purnell concerns enforcement of the regional vacation rule against a trial setting; it should not be cited as eliminating independent statutory duties applicable to emergency or accelerated family-law proceedings.
Checklists
Filing a Summer Vacation Designation
- Confirm that the attorney seeking protection is the attorney in charge under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 8.
- Identify the regional and local rules applicable to the court.
- Select no more than the number of vacation weeks permitted by the governing rule.
- File summer vacation designations with the district clerk by May 15.
- Identify each protected week clearly and unambiguously.
- Obtain and retain a file-marked copy.
- Serve all counsel and self-represented parties.
- Provide a courtesy copy to the court coordinator if permitted by local practice.
- Calendar the designation in every affected case.
Responding to a Conflicting Trial Setting
- Compare the trial date with the precise dates stated in the vacation designation.
- Determine whether the setting predates or postdates the designation.
- Review the rule governing summer designations; do not assume that an earlier setting controls.
- File a motion for continuance or motion to reset promptly.
- Attach the file-marked vacation designation.
- Quote the mandatory language of Rule 14(b).
- Explain that the rule expressly applies to trial orders signed before the designation.
- Request a written or on-the-record ruling.
- Propose alternative trial dates outside the protected week.
- Preserve the reporter’s record from any hearing on the motion.
Avoiding Waiver
- Do not agree to a setting within a previously designated vacation week unless the client and counsel intend to relinquish the protection.
- Do not represent that counsel is available during the designated week.
- State any scheduling objection expressly during the scheduling conference.
- Correct an inaccurate recital that the trial date was agreed.
- Ensure co-counsel and coverage counsel know about the designation.
- File a written objection if the notice of setting characterizes the date as agreed.
- Renew the objection when the case is called.
- Make clear that an appearance is for preservation and presentation of the objection, not consent to trial.
Protecting the Client After the Continuance Is Denied
- Obtain a clear ruling on the motion for continuance.
- Make an offer or record establishing the timely filing of the designation.
- Identify the applicable regional and local rules.
- Explain why the record does not show an affirmative post-designation agreement.
- Object to trial during the protected week.
- Object separately to dismissal or other merits-dispositive relief.
- Explain why dismissal cannot be predicated on counsel’s refusal to proceed during a rule-protected week.
- Preserve all relevant scheduling notices, motions, responses, orders, and hearing transcripts.
- Evaluate whether mandamus relief is available before an adverse final judgment occurs.
- Continue satisfying obligations not excused or modified by the vacation designation.
Handling Family-Law Proceedings
- Determine whether the setting is a final trial, temporary-orders hearing, enforcement proceeding, protective-order hearing, or emergency matter.
- Check for statutory deadlines or expedited procedures that may affect the vacation rule.
- Identify whether pretrial conferences, prove-ups, or mediation sessions fall within the designated week.
- Request modification of related deadlines when necessary; do not assume they move automatically.
- Consider whether substitute counsel can appropriately handle a discrete proceeding without prejudicing the client.
- Document proposed alternative dates for a divorce, SAPCR, modification, or enforcement trial.
- Preserve objections without allowing the scheduling dispute to obscure child-safety or other emergency issues.
Citation
Purnell v. 1000 Main, LLC, No. 14-25-00622-CV, __ S.W.3d __ (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Sept. 29, 2026, no pet. h.).
Full Opinion
Family Law Crossover
The crossover mechanism is a mandatory continuance or resetting based on a timely summer vacation designation. Under Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region Rule 14(b), the attorney in charge files the designation with the district clerk by May 15. Once properly invoked, the designation protects the attorney from trial during the selected summer week even if the court entered the trial-setting order first.
In a Texas family-law case, the issue may arise when a court signs an early scheduling order setting a divorce, conservatorship, modification, enforcement, or property-division trial for June, July, or August. Counsel may later file a timely summer designation covering that week and then move to continue or reset the proceeding. If the court denies relief, counsel should obtain a ruling, create a record demonstrating compliance with the rule, and avoid any affirmative agreement that could constitute waiver.
The procedural distinction is between an existing setting and a later agreement to proceed. Rule 14(b) expressly permits a timely summer designation to override an earlier setting, but an attorney may waive that protection by subsequently agreeing to trial during the designated period. Purnell therefore requires courts and counsel to examine both the filing chronology and the scheduling record before determining whether the vacation week remains protected.
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