Graham Weston is turning up the heat on an Austin appeals court, urging judges to "promptly" rule on rehearing requests in his long-running lawsuit against San Antonio attorney Jason Davis and the firm Davis & Santos. In new filings, Weston says the delay at the appellate level has left his claims frozen for years, keeping his businesses from moving ahead with discovery and other work tied to a bitter dispute that grew out of his divorce.
Weston Says Appellate Delay Has Case Stuck in Neutral
Weston’s latest filing notes that motions for rehearing have been pending "for over a year" and that the interlocutory appeal itself has been sitting for nearly four years, leaving both sides unable to push the case forward, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The outlet reports that Davis asked the full appeals court to rehear a three-judge panel’s decision in February 2025, and Weston is pressing the court to rule so the case can move to the next phase. His filing casts the slow pace at the appeals court as the main roadblock to resolving the underlying claims.
What the Austin Panel Has Already Ruled
On Dec. 6, 2024, a three-judge panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin issued a memorandum opinion that upheld a trial judge’s refusal to dismiss Weston’s claims under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, finding the TCPA did not apply to his breach-of-fiduciary-duty and fraud allegations, according to the court’s opinion on Justia. The opinion explains that the panel viewed the heart of the dispute as alleged failures to disclose conflicts and breaches of loyalty, not protected petitioning activity or speech. That ruling kept Weston’s claims alive and pointed them back toward trial court procedures instead of cutting the case off at the appellate level.
Alleged Double-Dealing, Millions in Fees and the Firm’s Pushback
Weston’s complaint accuses Davis and Davis & Santos of secretly representing his then-wife in the divorce while also representing Weston and related ventures in earlier matters, and seeks disgorgement of more than $2.9 million that the parties say was paid to the firm from 2009 through 2021, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News. Davis and his attorneys have denied the allegations. In earlier coverage, the firm’s lawyer Amanda G. Taylor said the firm "intends to continue vigorously defending themselves for the work they did in loyally representing a long‑standing client." Davis and the firm were disqualified from parts of the divorce proceedings, and that disqualification has itself been the subject of separate appeals and motions.
Long Timeline, Uncertain Next Move
The underlying civil suit was filed in July 2021 after the trial court moved to disqualify Davis from representing Elizabeth Weston, and the appellate record shows Elizabeth first filed for divorce on Oct. 26, 2020. The 3rd Court of Appeals’ December 2024 memorandum explained why the TCPA dismissal effort failed and left the interlocutory appeal in place while the parties continue to battle over discovery, fees and potential damages, according to the court record on Justia. With rehearing requests still unresolved at the appeals court, the next order from Austin will decide whether Weston’s suit finally heads toward a full trial or remains stuck in another round of appellate scrutiny.
For now, the case is effectively parked at the Austin appeals court. A ruling could clear the path for trial-level work or stretch a dispute rooted in a high-profile family split even further. Weston’s filing highlights how civil fights that grow out of divorce and long-term business ties can drag on for years before anyone gets close to a final answer.
