Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Camp Mystic and the family that runs the Christian girls summer camp have been accused of putting “profit over safety” by the families of seven campers and two counselors who died in the July 4 flood.
Three separate lawsuits were filed Monday in Travis County district court.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann has been tapped to represent a trading card company that accuses Irving-based Panini America of using its market dominance to stifle competition and create a monopoly in the industry, and Jackson Walker is hit with a new lawsuit over the scandal involving its former bankruptcy partner and a sitting judge.
At a hearing in Fort Worth in early September, Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor heard testimony from some of the wives, parents, brothers and daughters of the 346 people killed in two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes who pleaded with him to reject the government’s request to dismiss the criminal case against the manufacturer. In Thursday’s order dismissing the case, the judge ruled that the government “has not acted with bad faith, has given more than mere conclusory reasons for its dismissal, and has satisfied its obligations under the [Crime Victim’s Rights Act].”
The flurry of activity in the GWG bankruptcy case comes just days after the former chief executive officer of the company’s subsidiary, Beneficient, Brad Heppner, was indicted by federal authorities in New York on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, falsification of records and making false statements to auditors. The bankruptcy case will be assigned to a different judge in the Southern District of Texas, Chief Judge Alia Moses has determined.
Two defamation lawsuits filed against critics of FBI Director Kash Patel are unfolding in federal court in Texas. In the Western District of Texas, Patel’s girlfriend has sued a former FBI special agent for allegedly defamatory statements made on a podcast, while in the Southern District of Texas, Patel himself has sued the former assistant director of counterintelligence for the FBI for comments he made during an MSNBC appearance. The defendants have enlisted Dorsey & Whitney, Dykema, Jackson Walker, Fletcher Held and First Amendment pros from SMU to fight the litigation. Binnall Law Group in Alexandria, Virginia, is representing the plaintiffs.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court files an amicus brief in the case where the governor is attempting to remove from office a Democrat who broke quorum in an attempt to block redistricting efforts, and a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wades into a circuit split involving the National Labor Relations Board’s ability to award full compensatory damages.
Travis County’s newest district court judge issued an order this week in a nearly 2-year-old dispute, stemming from a soured joint venture that was formed to buy and sell a luxury home in Austin, while granting and denying certain motions from both parties.
But the real news in the three-page order entered Wednesday in Brandon Becker v. UpEquity Title came in the final three paragraphs, where Travis County District Judge Cory Liu, appointed to the bench by Gov. Greg Abbott in March, took to task the Travis County central docket system.
The firm, which launched in Houston in 1993, was patient about opening a second office. John Zavitsanos said the amount of intellectual property work the firm is handling made Dallas a clear location for expansion. (Photo by Sharon Ferranti/The Texas Lawbook)
In the sports showdown consuming Dallas, it will be Winstead PC representing the Dallas Stars in the litigation against the Jackson Walker-represented Dallas Mavericks.
To lead the high-profile breach of contract lawsuit the Dallas Mavericks ownership filed against the Dallas Stars ownership Tuesday, the basketball club’s General Counsel and Chief Ethics Officer Sekou Lewis has tapped the law firm Jackson Walker. Partners Charles “Chip” Babcock, Chris Bankler and associate Sarah Starr are representing the Dallas Sports Group and Radical Arena in the litigation against DSE Hockey Club.
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