Nelson Willis v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

Whether a Notice of Nonsuit may be treated as controlling where the official state-court record establishes that the plaintiff had already introduced all evidence other than rebuttal evidence—the express cutoff imposed by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 162—and no court adjudicated Petitioner’s preserved challenge that the unrestricted right to nonsuit had expired before the Notice was filed.

Whether due process permits a Notice of Nonsuit filed after the Rule 162 cutoff to remain the controlling procedural premise throughout state-court proceedings, federal district-court proceedings, direct appeal, post-judgment proceedings, and mandamus review when the preserved challenge to that Notice is never adjudicated and reliance upon it prevents the litigation from reaching merits discovery.

Whether mandamus may be denied where no court has adjudicated Petitioner’s preserved claim that the federal dismissal rested upon the materially false representation that a state-court nonsuit was legally effective, even though the official docket reflected completion of the plaintiffs evidentiary submissions before the Notice was filed and compulsory process had thereafter issued and been served. Page 2 of 32