texasrocker

That could be a MSJ hearing. Did you receive anything from the plaintiff? What law firm filed the lawsuit?

You say you "have court." Is it a hearing or trial or what? @fisthardcheese is there still time to initiate arbitration?

Two weeks is not much time and definitely too late to send discovery. Did you file your answer before the deadline?

Only in JP courts discovery must be pre-approved. In county and district courts you can send discovery as long as it is in line with the TRCP. "First discovery" means the plaintiff most likely embedded discovery in their original petition.

Exactly. They cannot do that anymore in JP courts without the court's prior approval but it is still common in law suits filed in county and district courts. If the defendant wants to do arbitration they can answer all of the discovery items with something like, "Objection, defendant elects private contractual arbitration." Wait and see what @fisthardcheese has to say about it.

@fisthardcheese

Absolutely not. Ask the clerk how they prefer you to go about requesting the court's approval to begin discovery.

For your answer use the same format as the Plaintiff's Original Petition that you were served with the court and case information on top of the page. DEFENDANT'S ORIGINAL ANSWER Comes now, <your name>, the Defendant in the above styled and numbered cause and files this Original Answer in this action and would respectfully show the following: I. GENERAL DENIAL Defendant generally denies each and every, all and singular, of the allegations set forth in the Plaintiff's Original Petition and demands that the Plaintiff proves same by the preponderance of credible evidence. II. PRAYER Wherefore Defendant requests judgment of the Court that Plaintiff takes nothing from the Defendant and the Defendant be granted any further relief that <he or she> is justly entitled to. (Your name, address and phone number) File it with the court immediately and send a copy to the attorney's office that filed the lawsuit.

You screwed yourself by assuming and by not even attempting to begin discovery. There is hardly anything that is going to be considered an unfair surprise if there was no discovery. The main problem is there is still no case law established for the vague Texas JP court "new rules" to hold up or strike down any individual judge's idea of how he can interpret them. Of course you could have been denied approval to begin discovery if you had asked but that in itself could have blazed the trail for a precedent.

Apparently there was no discovery conducted. What happened prior to all of this? Did you ask for the JP court's approval to begin discovery?

If the judge did not sign it then it was not granted. It is most likely a proposed order that was included with the motion in hopes of it being granted. You cannot wait until the day before your court date and expect to get any help. Besides being out of time, without knowing what court it is in, what law firm filed the suit, the amount sued for, what "evidence" they have etc. there is no way to formulate a defense.

Of course. Rausch Sturm Israel Enerson & Hornik is the biggest bunch of wimps ever. All they care about is default judgments. That is irrelevant in Texas as small claims courts were abolished in 2013.

There should be a Dallas or Houston address on the original petition or on an attachment to it for the attorneys that filed the lawsuit, Rausch, Sturm, Israel, Enerson & Hornik.

For your answer use the same format as the Plaintiff's Original Petition that you were served with the court and case information on top of the page. DEFENDANT'S ORIGINAL ANSWER Comes now, <your name>, the Defendant in the above styled and numbered cause and files this Original Answer in this action and would respectfully show the following: I. GENERAL DENIAL Defendant generally denies each and every, all and singular, of the allegations set forth in the Plaintiff's Original Petition and demands that the Plaintiff proves same by the preponderance of credible evidence. II. PRAYER Wherefore Defendant requests judgment of the Court that Plaintiff takes nothing from the Defendant and the Defendant be granted any further relief that <he or she> is justly entitled to. (Your name, address and phone number) File it with the court immediately and send a copy to the attorney's office that filed the lawsuit.

For your answer use the same format as the Plaintiff's Original Petition that you were served with the court and case information on top of the page. DEFENDANT'S ORIGINAL ANSWER Comes now, <your name>, the Defendant in the above styled and numbered cause and files this Original Answer in this action and would respectfully show the following: I. GENERAL DENIAL Defendant generally denies each and every, all and singular, of the allegations set forth in the Plaintiff's Original Petition and demands that the Plaintiff proves same by the preponderance of credible evidence. II. PRAYER Wherefore Defendant requests judgment of the Court that Plaintiff takes nothing from the Defendant and the Defendant be granted any further relief that <he or she> is justly entitled to. (Your name, address and phone number) File it with the court immediately and send a copy to the attorney's office that filed the lawsuit.