Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Word this week that a $5.5 billion bank merger was scrubbed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic may only be the beginning of the bad news from the Corporate Deal Tracker. 'Buckle up' is the lesson gleaned from this week's belated report. Be sure to see a note about that and the absence — for the moment — of our friend and colleague, Claire Poole.
The 8-0 decision Friday by the Texas Supreme Court allows congregants who seceded from The Episcopal Church in 2006 to take church property with them. The Lawbook has the details.
Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first state official known to be infected with the novel coronavirus. Justice Lehrmann confirmed the diagnosis in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.
From the beginning the whole process took only a smidge over 94 minutes. But jury selection in the first actual (sort of) virtual trial was as smooth and efficient as 30 faces from 30 different places mashed onto a screen can be. The Lawbook watched and was impressed.
UPDATED: The Texas Office of Court Administration has announced that the website that serves the Texas judiciary has been the victim of a ransomware attack. Updated to include comments to The Lawbook by Chief Justice Nathan Hecht.
The court rejected the effort by a group of protestors to curb the coronavirus curbs by filing directly to the state's highest court. In rejecting In Re Salon a La Mode, et al. the court showed sympathy for both sides, but ordered them to begin their legal protest with the lower courts.
The State Bar of Texas reported disciplinary actions against 15 lawyers, two of them judges. A judge from San Antonio was disciplined for her Facebook posts about lawyers in her court and an Austin lawyer, previously suspended for a marijuana charge in Arizona, was disbarred for defrauding a client's account and generally neglecting another client's litigation.
Her lawsuit says a Collin County real estate firm fired Dallas lawyer Amy Reggio for complying with the county-wide shelter-in-place order.
Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries Inc. agreed to a $60 million settlement of one of the stockholder lawsuits filed in Delaware that emanated from an outbreak of listeriosis traced to its ice cream. Investors have claimed they were blind-sided by the financial fallout that resulted from allegations that the company failed to maintain food production safety standards.
Dallas-based Varsity Brands has sealed last year's $3.1 million Alabama jury verdict with a final win at the Supreme Court of Alabama. The court let stand a judgment against Jostens for luring 47 school clients by hiring two salesmen bearing key trade secrets from a Varsity Brands subsidiary.
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