Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
This week, Dallas County Judge Sally Montgomery ordered the longtime owner and president of Home Marketing Services to pay $5.7 million for workplace sexual harassment. The findings of fact were handed down Monday. A six-day bench trial concluded last month.
A Kaufman County jury found the corporate outing at Cornerstone Ranch was not properly planned and led to Felissa Gamero being struck in the hand with a 9mm projectile and needing surgery.
A Southern District Court jury in Houston awarded $138 million to Carlo Civelli, who claimed Philippe Mulacek owed him money he loaned to him and broke agreements they made. The pair had worked together in a company, InterOil, which invested in properties in Papua New Guinea for potential oil and gas.
“It's been a long and hard-fought battle to get to this point,” said Munsch Hardt's Richard Schwartz, who represents Carlo Civelli.
Zechariah Yi is the fourth person to plead guilty in a bribery scheme that involved United States Postal Service contracts that awarded about a total of $15 million to three trucking companies. Yi’s sentencing is set for March 2026.
Toyota allegedly sold driver data to Progressive Insurance and other third parties, a class action claims. In a Tuesday order, Chief Judge Amos Mazzant ordered a stay pending arbitration in the case.
Farm and construction equipment manufacturer Bobcat claims competitor Caterpillar is infringing on five of its patents, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas. The company has also filed actions against Caterpillar in the U.S. International Trade Commission, German court, and the Unified Patent Court of the European Union.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a businessman faces sexual assault allegations, a Texas attorney is ordered to pay fees to Google, and one of the plaintiffs in the private-equity dentistry lawsuit in Dallas was found in contempt for violating the temporary injunction.
Stephanie D. Clouston and Matthew Durfee have joined Paul Hastings' Dallas office as the firm continues its Texas expansion.
A jury found Signature Systems Group had committed breach of contract and misappropriated the trade secrets of Spartan Composites, a company that manufactures industrial mats used at construction sites. Following a few hours of deliberation, the jury awarded the requested damages along with punitive damages.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Susman Godfrey partner Justin Nelson talks about settlements against Fox News and the AI company Anthropic, along with where he sees AI regulation headed. Nelson also discusses lessons learned in his career from clerking for U.S Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to running for Texas attorney general.
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