Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Asked & Answered is a standing feature The Texas Lawbook brings to readers every other week highlighting the work of leading Texas lawyers and offering insight into their lives outside the courtroom. In this edition, Dykema member Melanie Fry discusses the best advice she has received and the trends she sees in her appellate practice.
Taut testimony was heard from Dr. Phil McGraw Tuesday in the bankruptcy case of his Merit Street Media. He will continue testifying Thursday. The hearing that began Sept. 16 and has spanned several days is expected to end on Monday.
A Boston jury found a Massachusetts woman's mesothelioma death was caused by American Art Clay Company’s asbestos-laden products. This is the second multimillion-dollar verdict in three weeks for Dallas-based litigation boutique Iola, Gross & Forbes-King.
The trustee of a bankrupt financial services startup aimed at conservative customers that Winston & Strawn represented is suing the law firm and one of its partners for alleged malpractice. The trustee for GloriFi, seeking more than $1.7 billion in damages, claims Winston & Strawn schemed with the company’s founder, putting his interests over those of the business.
Winston & Strawn said it “will vigorously defend against these meritless claims, including the fanciful, billion-dollar lost value claim for a company that never opened its doors for business.”
Northern District Bankruptcy Judge Scott Everett heard from counsel representing Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media and Trinity Broadcasting Network Tuesday, who argued about whether the celebrity television psychologist acted in bad faith by filing for bankruptcy. The hearing on the motion to dismiss and partial summary judgment is expected to last through Thursday, and Dr. Phil is on the list of potential witnesses who will testify. (File photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Jackson Walker, which represented JCPenney during its 2020 bankruptcy proceedings, has agreed to pay the estate of the department store $1.4 million as a result of a romantic relationship between a former partner and a former Houston bankruptcy judge. This latest settlement proposal requires the court’s approval, but the U.S. Trustee’s Office remains opposed to individual settlements.
Signal Peak, a new Houston-based litigation financing firm, is being sued by its founders' former place of employment, Siltstone Capital, which has attempted to get a temporary restraining order. Texas Business Court Presiding Judge Grant Dorfman denied the request.
A former Texas Christian University student filed a lawsuit Wednesday with the Eastern District of Virginia claiming discrimination and gross malfeasance for how university officials handled her rape complaint. The anonymous student, going by Emily Doe, claims the university violated Title IX policies in how it handled her complaint.
Asked & Answered is a standing feature The Texas Lawbook will bring readers every other week, highlighting the work of leading Texas lawyers and offering insight into their lives outside the courtroom. In this edition, Jackson Walker partner Juan Alcala discusses representing Chevron and arguing before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Alcala recently joined Jackson Walker from Holland & Knight.
A former shipyard worker in Portland, Oregon, developed mesothelioma after working with John Crane gaskets and packing for over a decade. A jury last Friday found the company liable for the fatal cancer. The case was first tried earlier this summer but ended in a mistrial after four days of jury deliberations.
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