Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a recent ruling from a federal judge in Texas gives more clarity to oil and gas operators regarding the application of old contracts to modern drilling practices, and former Fifth Circuit Judge Gregg Costa gets a win in a gun rights case where he was appointed as amicus counsel to defend the Texas Penal Code.
In an oil and gas delivery contract dispute where Energy Transfer is seeking $432.7 million in damages, the parties gathered at the Embassy Suites in downtown Houston Monday for a bench trial that will take place before Business Court Judge Grant Dorfman over the next few weeks.
Soon after the jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court rendered its verdict on liability and assessed $3 million in compensatory damages, the panel assessed $3 million in the punitive damages phase of the trial. Jurors heard about four weeks of testimony in the landmark case.
Since about 5 p.m. Tuesday — Day 1 of a three-day hearing on approval of nine settlements with former bankruptcy clients totaling roughly $4 million — Jackson Walker’s counsel and the U.S. Trustee had been working, at the judge’s direction, on reaching a compromise on the settlement language.
At the heart of the matter was the effect and scope of the language in the settlement agreements.
On the 867th day since the U.S. Trustee moved to vacate fees awarded to Jackson Walker in bankruptcy proceedings in 34 cases involving former Houston bankruptcy judge David Jones and a former firm partner, the parties met in federal court in downtown Houston for the start of a three-day hearing.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Texas Supreme Court undoes a jury’s $26 million damages award in a fight involving a contract to deliver fracking water in North Dakota and Texas’ attorney general claims victory in a short-lived Oklahoma border dispute.
While Robert Morris, the convicted child sex offender and former pastor of Gateway Church, is sitting in a jail cell in Osage County, Oklahoma, the wake of his crime continues to ripple as the high-stakes litigation involving the megachurch and its elders is spreading and unfolding in courts across North Texas.
Morris, the church, its elders and congregants and Gateway’s insurance company are mired in lawsuits playing out in state and federal courts. Claims range from defamation to dishonesty about the allocation of tithe money to a dispute over retirement payments to Morris.
The Texas Lawbook's Michelle Casady takes you inside the morass of civil litigation.
Caroline M. Hill, a 21-year-old student at Vanderbilt University, is seeking access to the books and records for the Lyda Hunt-Margaret Trust. Her lawsuit alleges she is a contingent beneficiary of the trust, which should contain at least $15 million but has instead been “looted” and “dissolved.” Disputes involving members of the Hill family and the trusts that hold the family’s fortune are not new.
The jury returned its verdict March 5, finding Downhole Well Solutions' tools infringed three patents held by Impulse and that the infringement was willful. The jury rejected arguments that the patents were invalid. Impulse’s lead lawyer, John Keville of Sheppard, told The Lawbook the jury awarded the damages he requested “to the penny.”
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit sides with Susman Godfrey and undoes the dismissal of a qui tam False Claims Act suit against Lockheed Martin, and a former financial advisor is convicted of defrauding three NBA players, including two who played for Dallas and Houston.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
