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Jury Trial Begins in Mesothelioma Case Against J&J - Dallas-based Dean Omar Branham Shirley, which has brought several cases against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson across the country, commenced its jury trial in Spokane, Washington, Monday morning. Jurors heard from the parties over whether the alleged asbestos in J&J’s baby powder caused Verna Richards’ life-ending mesothelioma cancer. March 9, 2026Bexar County Jury Awards $175M to HouseCanary - San Antonio jurors deliberated for nearly three hours after a four-week trial in a trade secrets case that’s been litigated for a decade between HouseCanary and Amrock. The jury found Amrock misappropriated HouseCanary’s trade secrets and defrauded the company. March 9, 2026
Shell Sells Jiffy Lube to PE Firm for $1.3B - Pennzoil Quaker State, the lubricants business of Shell USA, announced Monday an agreement to sell Jiffy Lube International to an affiliate of middle-market private equity firm Monomoy Capital Partners for $1.3 billion. Kirkland & Ellis provided counsel to Monomoy. Travis Torrence is head of legal for Shell USA. March 9, 2026
CDT Roundup: Biopharma, Logistics and a $33B Take-Private Power Deal - For the week ended March 7, the CDT Roundup saw 13 deals with a total reported value of about $48.1 billion. Thanks to a $33.4 billion take-private deal for yet another power provider, that's better than the 11-deal $7.3 billion clocked the week prior. And it's far better than the seven-deal $2.2 billion week reported this time last year. That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup. March 8, 2026
DOJ: EOs Do Not Violate Susman Godfrey’s First Amendment Rights, Trump Has Legal Power to Punish Law Firms - President Trump has the constitutional authority to issue executive orders against Houston-based Susman Godfrey and three other corporate law firms because those firms "have taken actions that threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, and undermine bedrock American principles,” the U.S. Justice Department argued in court briefs filed Friday. “This is simply the President’s speech. Plaintiffs have no First Amendment right, and the Judiciary has no authority, to silence him,” DOJ wrote. But legal experts say what is missing from the DOJ brief is more important and critical to the litigation. March 7, 2026
Texas Business Court to Consider Stars’ Bid to End Dispute with Mavs - At Southern Methodist University, Judge Bill Whitehill heard arguments Friday afternoon on the Dallas Stars’ summary judgment motion. The lawsuit was filed in October 2024 by the Dallas Mavericks, claiming the hockey franchise was in violation of its agreement over its shared lease of the American Airlines Center. March 6, 2026
Centerpiece
Litigation Roundup: Susman Gets FCA Case Against Lockheed Martin Revived - In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit sides with Susman Godfrey and undoes the dismissal of a qui tam False Claims Act suit against Lockheed Martin, and a former financial advisor is convicted of defrauding three NBA players, including two who played for Dallas and Houston. March 9, 2026
AI Arms Race, Digital Infrastructure Revolution, Middle Market Producing M&A Super Cycle - The rapid expansion of AI is creating a “super cycle” in data centers, combining headline megadeals with a powerful but less visible middle‑market M&A surge in specialized infrastructure and services. Investors are racing to build and acquire hyperscale facilities, while private equity sponsors increasingly target mission‑critical providers in areas such as cooling, electrical, HVAC, plumbing and more to keep data centers humming around the clock. Legal advisors and their financial counterparts report increasingly sophisticated deal structures (and widely available capital) to support expansion and acquisitions. March 8, 2026
Expert Voices
A Review of February’s Business Court Decisions - The Business Court had a historic February. It presided over its first-ever jury trials, resulting in wins on both sides of the “v.” The Court also penned five opinions, including the first interpretation of its intellectual property jurisdiction. This month will be remembered as a culmination of the Court’s first chapter. March 5, 2026
AI After the Strikes: What Texas Lawyers Need to Know About Digital Replica Clauses - Following the post-strike AI provisions negotiated by SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, the entertainment industry is entering a new phase of grappling with artificial intelligence. Performers and writers demanded meaningful limits on the use of AI to replicate their voices, likenesses and performances and now the burden shifts to lawyers to operationalize them with clarity and foresight. Updating contract templates to include boilerplate AI clauses is the easy part; the real challenge is drafting for a technology that is moving faster than the law can keep up with. March 2, 2026
Stories You Might’ve Missed
Texas Courts Cold as Ice to Winter Storm Uri Victims - Winter Storm Uri brought single-digit temperatures and freezing precipitation to Texas in February 2021. Power lines snapped. Natural gas and power generators went silent. Pipelines froze. At least 246 people died. Thousands and thousands more suffered serious medical injuries. In all, 31,600 Texans and businesses sued energy companies for gross negligence. But five years later, not a single case has made it to trial. February 13, 2026
