Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A Tarrant County jury awarded a local family more than $21.6 million after finding that construction defects in their home exposed them to toxic sewer gas, mold and insects, in violation of the state Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The jury trial began on Oct. 5 in Judge Don Cosby’s courtroom in Fort Worth.
Opening statements began Thursday morning in a breach-of-contract jury trial between an oil and gas company and a clean-energy technology developer. Jury selection took all day Tuesday, and there were not enough jurors present to proceed Wednesday, delaying the two-week jury trial.
The Texas Supreme Court justices heard arguments from counsel Wednesday morning over whether an insurance policy covers personal-injury claims made by parties injured in a fatal 2013 ExxonMobil refinery explosion in Beaumont.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Texas Business Court Judge Andrea Bouressa discusses her favorite day on the bench and what has surprised her about serving. She also shares what she hopes will come next for the court as it continues to grow.
Texas Business Court Judge Bill Whitehill will preside over his first jury trial starting Tuesdaymorning with jury selection in a $100 million breach-of-contract case between two oil and gas companies. The case, in which Synergy Thermogen is accusing Blackbrush Oil & Gas of breach of contractby using its access to the company to delay progress and defraud investors, will take place inthe Merrill Hartman Courtroom of the George Allen Courts Building in Dallas since the business court has no courtroom space of its own.
The First Court of Appeals announced Friday that Justice Kristin Guiney, 51, died. Justice Guiney joined the court last year and previously presided over the 232nd and the 179th District Courts in Harris County. People who knew Justice Guiney say she will be remembered for her fairness.
President Donald Trump announced on social media Thursday his plans to nominate Phelps Dunbar partner G. Todd Butler to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, filling a vacancy created by Judge Leslie Southwick’s move to senior status. Butler, who is currently the managing partner at Phelps Dunbar’s Jackson, Mississippi, office, is a former clerk for Judge Southwick.
Dallas trial lawyers from Sbaiti & Company secure the dismissal of a civil RICO punitive class action in the Southern District of New York involving cryptocurrency memecoins. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon granted the defenses' motion to dismiss all claims with prejudice and denied leave for an amended complaint Wednesday.
Judge Leslie Southwick, an 18-year veteran of the Fifth Circuit, has announced he is taking senior status, opening a seat on the bench for President Donald Trump to make an appointment. Texas lawyers who've appeared before Judge Southwick, including Dykema's Chris Kratovil, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Anne Johnson and Lynn Pinker's David Coale, praised his fairness and civility on a bench often defined by sharp ideological divides.
A Dallas County jury deliberated for about two and a half hours before unanimously awarding more than $7.7 million to Arlington-based MCR Oil Tools last week, finding its longtime business partner Expro Holdings had breached a contract. The 20-year business relationship between the companies came to an end in 2023 when Expro chose not to renew its licensing agreement.
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