In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit revives a software company’s breach of contract lawsuit against the Tarrant County College District, a sex discrimination lawsuit against UT Southwestern Medical Center is set for a bench trial, and Houston lawyers secure a $31 million jury verdict in Miami.
There’s also a new president-elect of the State Bar of Texas: G. David Smith of Rockwall, who garnered 52 percent of the vote to edge out Deborah L. Cordova of Edinburg for the job. Smith, who will take the helm of the organization in June 2026, is a founding partner of the law firm Smith & Lee Lawyers. He is a graduate of the University of Texas Permian Basin and holds a law degree from the Texas Tech University School of Law.
The Litigation Roundup is a weekly feature highlighting the work Texas lawyers are doing inside and outside the state. Have a development we should include next week? Please let us know at tlblitigation@texaslawbook.net.
Dallas County District Court
Bench Trial Set in ‘Real Housewives of Dallas’ Cast Member’s Suit
Dallas County District Judge Eric Moyé has scheduled a March bench trial in the sex discrimination lawsuit Dr. Tiffany Moon filed against the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Moon, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, is also a former cast member on Real Housewives of Dallas and has been a faculty member at the medical school since 2012.She also is the lead anesthesiologist for thoracic surgery at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
In a seven-page lawsuit filed in March, Dr. Moon alleges the medical school has denied her laboratory and research space for clinical trials. The lawsuit cites a 2020 memorandum opinion from the Dallas Court of Appeals in UT Southwestern Medical Center v. Vitetta that held providing a faculty member with lab and research space are part of the “terms and conditions” of employment.
“Upon information and belief, Dr. Moon was and is being denied research space because of her sex and in retaliation for having filed previous [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] Charge of Discrimination,” the lawsuit alleges.
Dr. Moon also cites the medical school’s decision to deny her promotion to full professor as an example of sex discrimination and retaliation.
Last month, UT Southwestern filed a general denial to the claims. A scheduling conference has been set for May 30.
Moon is represented by Walter L. Taylor of Taylor Law Firm in Colleyville.
UT Southwestern is represented by John Ramsey of the Texas attorney general’s office.
The case number is DC-25-04295.
Nueces County District Court
FedEx Freight Gets Complete Defense Win in $7.5M Dispute
Jurors in Nueces County recently determined Florida-based real estate company Zamindari Real Estate Investment One was not entitled to any damages in its lawsuit against FedEx Freight that had accused the company of failing to maintain a leased service center facility in Corpus Christi.
According to the lawsuit, Zamindari purchased the property in 2013 with FedEx Freight as the only tenant. Soon thereafter, the company claimed repairs were required on the building, sparking a dispute over who was responsible for the repairs.
An engineering consultant for FedEx attributed to damage to the facility’s shifting foundation as a result of soil moisture, which the company argued was not contemplated in the agreement.
FedEx Freight argued that it didn’t cause the damage, that it complied with the lease agreement and that Zamindari was responsible for addressing the repairs.
The jury unanimously agreed with FedEx Freight.
Nueces County District Judge Jack W. Pulcher presided over the case.
FedEx Freight is represented by Don Jones of Schouest, Bamdas, Soshea, BenMaier & Eastham and its own Rob Ratton and Shelby Walton.
Zamindari is represented by Mark Brodeur and Eva-Marie Leahey of Brodeur Law Firm.
The case number is 2019-DCV-6141-D.
Miami-Dade County Court
Houston Lawyers Secure $31M Verdict in Fatal Accident Case
The family of a 25-year-old man who was killed in June 2018 when a tire and wheel detached from a commercial box truck driving along Interstate 95 and slammed into his SUV has been awarded $31 million by a jury in Miami.
The verdict, announced Friday, came in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the fiancée of Josué Calá. The family was represented by Wes Ball of Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball in Houston, who said in a statement the lawsuit and verdict should “raise serious concerns about the lack of proper practices in the trucking industry.”
“This should be a wakeup call for the transportation companies, insurers and legislators that are colluding to weaken safety and liability standards and endanger every other driver on the road,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, Calá was driving near Fort Lauderdale when the incident occurred, killing him instantly and causing significant injuries to his passenger and fiancée, Julianna Charles.
Charles named eight defendants in the lawsuit. The jury, after deliberating for five hours, apportioned responsibility as follows: 30 percent liability for truck driver Francisco Romero and 35 percent liability each for delivery company XPO Logistics and Marcelo Munoz, who owns Marazul Enterprise.
Charles was also represented by Skip Lynch and Kyle Farrar of Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball.
Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available Tuesday.
The case number is 2020-011693-CA-01.
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
Italian Engineering Firm Gets $147M Win Against Argentina
In a decision issued April 28, a three-member tribunal found that WeBuild, an Italian civil engineering group, was entitled to $147 million in damages from the Republic of Argentina in a dispute over the construction of several roads, bridges and embankments, including a 608-meter main bridge.
WeBuild had alleged that the project was plagued by late payments, the implementation of an economic “Emergency Law” by Argentina in 2002 and the cancelation of a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.
The tribunal also awarded WeBuild $5.7 million in attorney fees.
WeBuild is represented by Robert J. Aguirre Luzi, Craig S. Miles, Eldy Roché, Arturo Casas, Juan Aguerre and Esteban Sánchez of King & Spalding in Houston.
Argentina is represented by Republic attorneys Santiago Videla, Juan Stampalija, Julio Comadira, Mariana Lozza and María Etchegorry.
The case number is ARB/15/39.
Fifth Court of Appeals, Dallas
Former Justice to Defend Lawyer at Hearing Over Cites to Nonexistent Cases
John G. Browning, who formerly served as a justice on the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, filed a notice with the court on Monday that he would be appearing at a hearing later this week as counsel for a lawyer who submitted a brief citing nonexistent cases.
Browning is currently of counsel at Ryan G. Cole Law in McKinney. He and Cole will be representing Heidi Rochon-Hafer at a May 8 hearing before the court.
Hafer is representing herself and her sister, Lauren Rochon-Eidsvig, in an appeal in a fraudulent transfer case. The sisters, according to court documents, received jewelry valued at more than $1 million by their parents, former Mary Kay Cosmetics Chairman John Rochon Sr. and Donna Rochon.
The parents owe JGB Collateral the balance of a $6.7 million judgment, according to court documents, and JGB filed suit to recover the valuables, alleging the transfer violated the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. The sisters have argued they’re entitled to keep the jewelry, which was a gift.
Hafer filed a brief that cited four cases purportedly supporting her position on gift law in Texas on May 16. JGB’s attorneys told the court in an Aug. 14 brief it should reject the sisters’ arguments because “they rely on cases that do not exist.”
Justice Nancy Kennedy issued an order April 10 giving Hafer 10 days to file with the court copies of the four cases in question.
In her four-page response filed April 20, Hafer said that “despite exhaustive research in every reporter, online database and regional archive available to appellants’ counsel, appellants’ counsel has been unable to locate the four authorities.”
She did not “keep a record of all the internet searches done” for the May brief, she explained, “and an attempt to recreate the general internet searches and FastCase searching now is not producing the source of these four cases.”
“Appellants’ counsel accepts full responsibility for the error and has implemented enhanced protocols — including mandatory double-check of all non-primary research — so that no comparable mistake will recur,” she wrote, explaining she was trying to provide the court with case law on what constitutes a valid gift in Texas and “was not attempting to sway the Court with fake cites for unsupported propositions.”
JGB Collateral is represented by Jeffrey S. Lowenstein, Gwen I. Walraven and David G. Webster of Bell Nunnally & Martin.
The case number is 05-24-00123-CV.
Texas Supreme Court
Google, Texas Seek 30-Day Pause in Consumer Protection Lawsuit Appeal
In a brief filed late last month with the Texas Supreme Court, Google and the state told the justices they are “engaged in productive settlement negotiations and require additional time to effectuate that resolution.”
The filing came in Texas’ bid to revive its consumer protection lawsuit against the tech giant that the Thirteenth Court of Appeals dismissed on jurisdictional grounds in January.
Texas, which filed suit in January 2022, has accused Google of violating state law when it made certain representations about how user location information and browsing history data is collected. The Corpus Christi court determined a lack of personal and specific jurisdiction doomed Texas’ lawsuits.
The state filed its petition for review with the Texas Supreme Court in February. Google had argued that Texas courts cannot exercise general or specific jurisdiction over it because it isn’t “at home” in Texas, noting that of the 169,000 people it employs worldwide, only 5,500 are in Texas.
Texas had argued that because one of the tech giant’s four data centers is located in Texas and because Texas accounts for 8.9 percent of Google’s U.S. revenue and 4 percent of its worldwide revenue, general jurisdiction exists.
Texas is represented by Kristina Williams, Joseph M. Graham Jr., Jeffrey S. Wolff, Marc B. Collier, Julie N. Searle, Josh Owings and Chris Cooke of Norton Rose Fulbright, Kevin D. Cullen of Cullen, Carsner, Seerden and Cullen, Ronald B. Walker of Walker Keeling, and Jacob Beach of the office of the attorney general.
Google is represented by Stephen E. McConnico, Steven J. Wingard, Robyn B. Hargrove, John W. Ellis, Bryan D. Lauer and Shelby Hart-Armstrong of Scott Douglass & McConnico, Jim Cole of Cole, Cole, Easley & Sciba and Benedict Y. Hur, Simona Agnolucci, Jonathan Patchen, Eduardo Santacana, Joshua Anderson and Harris Mateen of Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
The case number is 25-0172.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Tarrant County College District Contract Suit Revived
On Friday, a three-judge panel revived a lawsuit by higher education software company Anthology Inc. against the Tarrant County College District, finding it had been wrongfully dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
The ruling reverses U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman.
“The district court held that it lacked jurisdiction because the District was entitled to a state-law immunity from suit. That was erroneous,” the panel wrote. “States cannot limit the jurisdiction of federal courts. And because the District raised two defenses that actually do implicate jurisdiction, we vacate and remand for those to be considered first.”
According to the opinion, Anthology and TCCD entered into a 10-year contract in June 2022 under which Anthology would provide certain services in exchange for $42 million “as well as substantial annual fees.”
TCCD canceled the deal in October 2023 without cause under a contract provision that allowed for that move but required 60 days written notice and the payment of an early termination fee.
TCCD refused to pay the termination fee and demanded Anthology refund about $1.7 million it had already paid under the contract, according to the opinion, prompting Anthology to file this lawsuit.
Four immunity arguments were raised in the district court by TCCD: that Texas law granted it immunity from suit, that state sovereign immunity barred the lawsuit, that it is an arm of the state, which meant the court lacked diversity jurisdiction and that Anthology was statutorily barred from recovering damages under Texas law.
The panel had originally scheduled oral arguments to take place April 2, but in a docket entry from March 25 wrote “oral argument will not be required in this case.”
Judges Andrew S. Oldham, Edith H. Jones and Caroline Dineen King sat on the panel.
Anthology is represented by Robert Loeb, Rachel Shalev and Aravind Swaminathan of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Gregory Brassfield of Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schweggman.
TCCD is represented by Timothy Carson, Scott Fredricks, Tiereney Bowman, Michael Ackerman and Ryan Valdez of Cantey Hanger.
The case number is 24-10630.