Petitioners' Brief on the Merits - Supreme Court of Texas

TABLE OF CONTENTS
IDENTITIES OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL ........................................................ i
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ iii
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ................................................................................... v
STATEMENT OF THE CASE................................................................................ 2
STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION........................................................................ 2
ISSUES PRESENTED............................................................................................. 3
STATEMENT OF FACTS ...................................................................................... 4
SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ...................................................................... 6
ARGUMENT & AUTHORITIES ........................................................................... 7
A. Standard for Judicial Estoppel. ..................................................................... 8
1. A party must have succeeded in a prior proceeding based
on the inconsistent representation...................................................... 9
2. A party must have acted intentionally or in bad faith, not
inadvertently. ................................................................................... 11
3. Disadvantage to opposing party....................................................... 12
4. Elements........................................................................................... 13
5. Judicial estoppel in the context of bankruptcy proceedings. ........... 13
B. There is a subjective component to the judicial estoppel analysis. ............ 16
C. Judicial Estoppel is not applicable to the present case because the
Fergusons’ omission on their Schedule B was an inadvertent mistake
and because the bankruptcy court did not judicially accept the
inadvertent omission. .................................................................................. 17
PETITIONERS’ BRIEF ON THE MERITS
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