The annual Bench Bar Conference for the Northern District of Texas last week was a non-stop crush of candid judicial observations and advice litigators ignore at their risk. Here’s a sampling of what attendees heard.
Fifth Circuit Upholds $62.9M Arbitration Ruling Against Chinese Wind Farm Investor
In a sharply-worded decision, the appeals court tells a Chinese company it can’t avoid the consequences of an agreed-upon arbitration by simply ignoring it. The beneficiaries include Dallas-based alternative energy investors.
State Bar of Texas Disciplinary Actions
State Bar actions include actions against three judges, two of them from Houston, as well as a justice of the peace in Waco who is refusing to conduct same-sex marriages.
NRF Survey: Litigation To Rise in 2020
(UPDATED to include Texas responses). Litigation rose slightly in most dispute categories in 2019, but respondents in the annual Norton Rose Fulbright litigation survey say they are worried that economic turbulence in 2020 will provoke a rise in lawsuits over the coming year. The Lawbook has details.
Texas Private Equity M&A: 2007-19 By Sector
State Bar Discipline
In its December description of disciplinary actions, the State Bar of Texas reports that it has disbarred one lawyer, suspended 13 others and issued public admonitions against seven lawyers and two judges.
State Bar of Texas Discipline: 12 Lawyers
The State Bar of Texas has released its most recent report on disciplinary actions taken against Texas lawyers. Infractions range from possession of child pornography to forgery of court documents.
Corporate Deal Tracker M&A 2019
As of September 30, 2019
A Rough Ruff Hearing
A Dallas County probate judge cut a short hearing shorter Tuesday, asking for written arguments in the dispute over a new trustee for the Ruff Management Trust. Allen Pusey reports that the abbreviated, chaotic hearing seemed emblematic of the rancor that has embroiled a Dallas family in their long-running fight for control of a relatively modest family fortune.
Fifth Circuit Slaps Down TCPA Use in Federal Court
The ruling ends substantial confusion in Texas federal courtrooms, where use of the Anti-SLAPP defense varied from judge to judge and court to court. Allen Pusey has the story.