Bishop v. Lawson

In Bishop v. Lawson, 131 S.W.3d 571 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 2004, pet. denied), the Court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing Bishop's suit under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code sections 14.003 and 14.004 because he failed to list all the parties he had sued and the operative facts in all of his previously-filed claims. 131 S.W.3d at 575-76. There, Bishop did not follow the procedural rules for twelve of the twenty-one lawsuits listed in his affidavit. Id. at 575. For example, he did not include the complete disposition--"dismissed as frivolous and malicious"--for one of the suits but instead listed the disposition as "dismissed." Id. The appellees argued that Bishop's claims fell into a pattern of frivolous filings. Id. The Court agreed with the trial court's finding that Bishop had failed to comply with the requirements of chapter 14 and affirmed the trial court's dismissal. Id. at 576.