Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Krista Torralva covers pro bono, public service, and diversity matters in the Texas legal market.
Krista Torralva covers pro bono, public service, and diversity for the Texas Lawbook Foundation and The Texas Lawbook. Previously, she covered courts for The Dallas Morning News. Krista has spent the bulk of her decade-plus-long career covering criminal courts in Texas and Florida. Her reporting includes the high profile federal terrorism trial against the Pulse nightclub shooter’s widow in Orlando, which ended in a rare acquittal. Her civil courts coverage has included the long-winding Texas voter ID lawsuit, legal battles over local Covid-19 mandates and school board disputes. Krista's work has been recognized by the State Bar of Texas' Gavel Awards, the Texas Association Press Managing Editors, the National Headliner Awards program and various local chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists.
The daughter of a Naval officer, Krista grew up traveling every few years but calls Corpus Christi home and talks about the Texas Gulf Coast every chance she gets. She lives in Dallas’ North Oak Cliff with her husband, Fares Sabawi.
Krista graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Houston-based SBSB Eastham has opened its Dallas location with six new partners who joined from Hartline Barger. The group will focus on construction defect litigation, personal injury defense and employment and labor law.
Spencer Fane has bolstered its litigation and dispute resolution practice group with three new partners and two of counsel attorneys in Houston. The Kansas City-based firm, which has been growing its Texas presence since it entered the state in 2018, now has 117 attorneys here.
A federal jury in New Jersey found in favor of former sales representatives turned whistleblowers who claimed Janssen Products promoted HIV drugs off-label. All told, the verdict could result in Janssen facing more than $1 billion, one of the largest False Claims Act verdicts, partner Pete Marketos said.
A federal jury in Dallas decided Michaels Stores did not infringe on a small business’ paint-by-numbers art kit or engage in unfair competition. Dallas lawyers with Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr took the case less than three months before the trial began.
A settlement has been reached in the state’s first trial alleging Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder contained cancer-causing asbestos. Also on Tuesday, 43 states including Texas, reached a $700 million settlement with J&J, ending claims that the company was deceptively marketing its talc powder products as safe.
WWHGD tapped Houston attorney Chaz Klaes to spearhead its Texas expansion. Klaes brought eight lawyers with him from Donato, Brown, Pool & Moehlmann.
Houston-based pulmonologist Dr. Steven Haber testified for about 14 hours over two days in Texas’ first Johnson & Johnson baby powder trial. The case is also the state’s first talc trial, lawyers said.
The Texas Lawbook's Krista Torralva has the latest details from inside the courtroom.
The latest trial accusing the cosmetic giant J&J of manufacturing products that caused consumer’s cancer got underway in Dallas on Wednesday. A Texas man says his mesothelioma was caused by the talc mineral used in the company’s baby powder.
Dean Omar Branham Shirley represented an Oregon mother of three who said her mesothelioma diagnosis came after years of using J&J’s baby powder. The company is facing lawsuits across the country from plaintiffs who claim J&J knew cancer-causing asbestos was turning up in its baby powder for decades but didn’t warn consumers or the FDA.
Thanks to joint efforts by the Dallas County Democratic and Republican parties, voting hours were extended after severe weather that knocked out more than 100 polling locations. Lawyer Robert Tobey, representing the Democrats, and GOP chair Jennifer Stoddard-Hajdu, a lawyer herself, worked together and later consolidated cases with the sheriff who hired Carter Arnett to also extend voting hours. The parties got an assist from the Dallas County district attorney’s office, which represented the Elections Department.
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