Ralph D. Swearingin, Jr.
Justice Of The Peace · Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Place 1
High confidence· verified September 6, 2026
Justice Of The Peace · Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Place 1
What applies in this courtroom
70 verified requirements may apply in this courtroom, by layer: 10 published by Judge Ralph D. Swearingin, Jr. · 48 county-wide · 1 region-wide · 11 statewide — with 9 rule deadlines across those layers. Only the judge's own rules are specific to this courtroom; the other layers apply by court, county and state scope, and a court- or case-specific order can displace them.
The tabs below show the judge-and-division layer only. The Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack — every requirement, deadline table, ruling intelligence, live case-type scan, and source appendix in one cited document.
Your first 7 Judge Intelligence Reports are free with a free account — no payment card required.
Justice of the Peace — Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Place 1, Tarrant County
Appeals from this courtroom go to the Second Court of Appeals.
● LiveThat court's published bench (7): Bonnie Sudderth, Brian Walker, Dabney Bassel, Dana Womack, Elizabeth Kerr, J. Wade Birdwell, Mike Wallach
County-to-district assignment per Tex. Gov't Code sec. 22.201(c), live-fetched registry.
10 verified rules specific to this judge's division, grouped by requirement category. 70 total requirements apply in this courtroom across all layers — the Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack.
No judge-level deadline on record runs shorter than a statewide deadline with the same trigger. The sentinel compares quoted timing across every published rule scoped to this judge on each visit — a clean result today is re-earned tomorrow.
Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr.'s local rule for Justice Court Precinct One (effective Jan. 1, 2026; bilingual notice): every eviction plaintiff seeking a default judgment must give the clerk, in writing, the defendant's known e-mail address and mailing address at or before the time the judgment is signed (TRCP 510.16(b)); if the judge allows extra time, the documents must reach the court by 4:00 p.m. on the day of trial; otherwise the default request is denied and the case is dismissed for want of prosecution, without prejudice, on the next business day.
The Tarrant County Justice Courts' Local Rules for Discovery as adopted for Precinct One by Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr. (effective July 1, 2015; revised Apr. 30, 2026): pretrial discovery only by court order (TRCP 500.8), a general disclosure request no party may object to, a discovery period running from the signed order to 30 days before trial, limits of six deposition hours and fifteen interrogatories, fifteen requests for production and fifteen requests for admission per party, a duty to amend or supplement within 14 days and no later than 21 days before trial with exclusion of late material absent good cause or lack of surprise, a mandatory Certificate of Discovery Conference on every discovery motion, telephone or electronic discovery hearings on request, and 30-day post-judgment discovery objections.
Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr.'s local rule for Justice Court Precinct One (effective Mar. 15, 2021; bilingual English/Spanish notice): recording, taping or photographing by any means is strictly prohibited for any party participating in a court proceeding, remotely or in person, and for any party communicating with court staff at any time by any means; violators may be held in contempt.
Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr.'s local rule for Justice Court Precinct One (effective Apr. 30, 2026): eFile Texas filings of five pages or fewer per envelope carry no copy fee and may be filed through eFile Texas Self-Help; filings of more than five pages per envelope incur copy fees of $1 for the first page and $0.25 for each additional page and must be filed through eFile Texas, not eFile Texas Self-Help.
Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr.'s e-filing local rule for Justice Court Precinct One (in force since July 1, 2019; this edition modified Sept. 4, 2025 and dated Sept. 5, 2025): e-filing is the preferred method for all cases with limited exceptions; electronic court documents have been the official record since May 16, 2019; pro se litigants and attorneys are strongly encouraged to file evictions, small claims, debt claims and all later filings through eFile Texas Self-Help or eFile Texas; a litigant unable or electing not to e-file may request to file in person and the court decides case by case whether to grant an exception; a kiosk in the court office serves litigants without computer access; filings the systems cannot process are submitted in person.
Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr.'s local rule for Justice Court Precinct One (dated Feb. 1, 2021; effective Aug. 1, 2021): all communications between the court and litigants in every case must be sent through eFile Texas (preferred), e-mail or fax and must include a valid e-mail address; pro se litigants and attorneys alike are required to communicate electronically; court notices, copies and judgments issue from JP1court@tarrantcounty.com, and litigants must immediately report any change to their e-mail address.
Justice Court Precinct 1's fee schedule effective Jan. 1, 2026 (updated Nov. 4, 2025): $54 justice filing fee plus a $90 constable service fee per defendant for small claims, debt claims, evictions and repair-and-remedy suits ($144 total; $90 for each additional defendant); $5 writ fees with $180 constable fees for writs of execution, possession, attachment, sequestration, retrieval and re-entry; $64 appeal fee plus the county court's own fee; $22 jury fee; certified copies $2 and regular copies $1 for the first page; subpoenas $90 plus a $10 cash-tendering fee; and payment rules — filings and payments accepted until 4 p.m. except appeals, no temporary or personal checks, a 2.35% credit-card convenience fee, and criminal fines payable online or by phone only for adult defendants, with payment constituting a plea of nolo contendere.
Justice Court Precinct 1's posted procedures (page last modified Feb. 11, 2026): effective Mar. 2, 2026 the court follows a "30, 30, Prove Up" progression on the DWOP docket for served-but-unadjudicated cases and a "30, 30, 30" progression for non-service cases, dismissing for want of prosecution the business day after the third period lapses; all eviction hearings are in person and no remote-hearing requests are approved; since Mar. 1, 2023 all parties must check in at least 20 minutes before their scheduled time or be barred from the session (with default or dismissal risk); motions for continuance must be e-filed at least two days before the hearing, in writing and served, and requests with less than 24 hours' notice are not considered; the 2022 civil filing fee ($54) applies to motions for new trial and appeals; the 2021 electronic-communication and non-recording rules are restated.
No judge-scoped deadlines on this tab. Deadlines are extracted only when the source rule text states them — we never infer or calculate dates the rule does not explicitly contain. 9 rule deadlines apply in this courtroom across all layers — assembled with citations in the Full Premium Report.
Timing shown here is quoted from the rule text. Compute your actual date against the court's calendar and the rule itself — not legal advice.
No verified ruling summary yet. BenchPath generates ruling summaries from opinion and docket corpora (CourtListener where covered) and publishes them only after human review — fabricated judicial analytics are exactly what this platform refuses to ship.
The attributed-opinion corpus covers Florida's and California's appellate decisions today; a Texas opinion corpus is a separate build. Absence here is a coverage statement, never evidence about this judge.
Use the live case-law search below to see what exists for this judge today.
Answer three quick questions. The platform pulls Ralph D. Swearingin, Jr.'s full public case-law record from the source, newest first — your matter never narrows the pull; it directs the relevance ranking and the dual-AI analysis. Every hit comes back Bluebook-cited with the opinion's own words quoted verbatim. The scan takes the time precision takes.
Case-law search
CourtListener · free connector · liveCoverage note: CourtListener is strongest for federal courts and state appellate courts. Texas trial-court opinions are essentially absent from the source — an absence of results is a coverage gap, not evidence about this judge.
last checked October 6, 2026
last checked October 24, 2026
Research connectors
CourtListener
● liveFree Law Project
Free. Opinions, dockets, RECAP, judge metadata. Powering the case-law search on this page.
Westlaw
○ bring your licenseThomson Reuters
Bring your firm's license — enterprise connector queries your judge and related cases inside Westlaw. Phase 2.
LexisNexis
○ bring your licenseRELX
Bring your firm's license — enterprise connector for Lexis+ research tied to your matter. Phase 2.
BenchPath never scrapes licensed databases. Westlaw and LexisNexis connect only through your firm's own credentials and entitlements when the enterprise connectors ship.
Justice of the Peace — Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Place 1, Tarrant Countycurrent
date not recorded — present
assignment source →No source changes detected for this judge yet — when the underlying court pages move, it shows up here first.