Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Texas Supreme Court, using the state constitution and a case involving eyebrow threaders, expanded the rights of Texans to be free of “unreasonably burdensome” economic regulations. In adopting a new standard of review for measuring business regulations, lawyers involved in the case say the court delivered a ruling to match the state’s vaunted reputation as a frontier of economic freedom.
Attorneys representing royalty owners in the explosion of litigation against energy companies are encouraged by a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that interpreted a drilling lease as clearly excluding post-production costs from royalties. In a closely watched lease dispute, a sharply divided court agreed with the family that Chesapeake entities had improperly deducted post-production costs from royalties paid on gas wells located on 948 mineral acres in the Barnett Shale.
Information provided voluntarily by businesses to federal prosecutors as part of a foreign corruption investigation is covered by absolute privilege – even if those details contain false allegations that would otherwise be considered defamatory, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The justices are weighing whether companies such as Waco-based Life Partners that sell investments in the secondary life insurance market should be required to provide potential investors more information about how they calculate policyholder's life expectancy.
The court will hear arguments in two cases involving Life Partners Inc., a Waco company that pioneered the secondary market for life insurance in 1991.
Video of a Parker County man igniting his water well in flames could help define the reach of a 2011 Texas law designed to protect citizens engaged in public discourse from retaliatory lawsuits. The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a case of first impression involving the Texas Citizens Participation Act, which was designed to allow trial courts to quickly dismiss so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, filed by businesses attempting to use the courts to intimidate and silence their public critics. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
At issue in the Texas Supreme Court is whether companies that cooperate with criminal investigations for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act should be immune from defamation suits filed by employees who are implicated in internal probes. National business groups say the decision could have major negative consequences.
With IOLTA revenues still in the toilet, advocates of legal aid have been forced to seek funding from conservative Texas politicians who once demonized the effort as supporting a liberal agenda. But last week, the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Access to Justice leaders celebrated their success in depoliticizing the issue, which has meant that tens of thousands of low-income Texas could get necessary legal representation.
Seven members of the Texas Supreme Court spent a couple hours at this past weekend’s Texas Tribune Festival answering questions important to many appellate law practitioners. The justices discussed recent 5-4 splits on important business cases, why the court spends so much time correcting errors, how they approach confusing contract language and the factors that determine whether they accept a case.
BP and Transocean take their bitter, protracted half-billion-dollar battle over who pays for pollution-related liabilities arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to the Texas Supreme Court this week. The federal court in New Orleans overseeing the Deepwater Horizon case asked the Texas high court to decide a simple but critical issue: Is BP covered by Transocean’s insurance policy?
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