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The Texas Supreme Court has slapped down Tarrant County District Clerk Thomas Wilder's policy of collecting court costs from indigent litigants.
The high court also warned any judge who seeks to demand money from indigent parties.
"It is an abuse of discretion for any judge, including a family law judge, to order costs in spite of an uncontested affidavit of indigence," said the 8-0 opinion in Campbell v. Wilder. Justice Debra Lehrman didn't participate in the decision.
Tarrant County assistant district attorney Chris Ponder, who represented Wilder, and former Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, a pro bono appellate lawyer for the indigent litigants, each didn't return a call seeking comment before deadline.
Lee Difilippo, who represented the petitioners in the trial court, said that the opinion guarantees that indigent litigants will obtain their constitutional right to access the courts.
"I'm really proud of my clients. It's been a long haul for them and they are not used to being in litigation. Their effort will now have a tremendous effect on behalf of all indigent litigants across the whole state of Texas," said Difilippo, founder of the Difilippo Holistic Law Center in Austin, which assists pro se litigants who cannot afford lawyers to access the courts.
Difilippo said the opinion is important because court clerks in other counties have been doing the same thing as Wilder.
"It'll hopefully just stop these practices," she said.
