Texas Can Use Blocked Investigation Tool, Fifth Circuit Finds

Texas can invoke a 100-plus year old tool to investigate businesses and organizations that a district court had blocked, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday.

The federal appeals court, somewhat reluctantly, revived the method, known as Request to Examine, after the Texas Supreme Court last month interpreted state law to let a served party seek judicial review before producing the state’s requested records.

Relying on case law available at the time, the lower court in December correctly ended the probing method on the grounds that it doesn’t explicitly provide for pre-compliance judicial review.

“The district ...