Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Michelle Casady is based in Houston and covers litigation and appeals — including trials, breaking news and industry trends — for The Texas Lawbook.
Michelle Casady has been a reporter in Texas since January 2009. She's covered crime at The Bryan-College Station Eagle, courts at the San Antonio Express-News and civil litigation for Law360. In July 2022, she joined The Texas Lawbook.
Her reporting has included covering arrests, trials, plea deals and settlements, executions, natural and manmade disasters, colorful characters and various oddities.
She lives in Houston with her husband Matt, a sweet dog Hurricane Harvey brought into their lives, and a confident cat who keeps everyone in line. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Tech University and was a 2018 fellow of the Loyola Marymount University Journalist Law School.
You can reach Michelle at michelle.casady@texaslawbook.net or (713) 614-7929.
Arnold & Itkin and Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing are locked in a fight over whether AZA can continue representing Transocean in multidistrict litigation, or if an alleged conflict of interest and an alleged attempt to taint the jury pool mandate the firm’s disqualification. AZA argues there is no basis for disqualification.
The CEO of 4M Pharmaceuticals, Mohamed Mokbel, is facing 15 charges related to his alleged role in a Medicare fraud scheme that prosecutors said involved call centers in Egypt and the Philippines, targeted elderly individuals and resulted in a $160 million fraud on the government. Mokbel’s attorneys told jurors Tuesday their client was operating within the bounds of the law with his business plan, which involved payments to a third-party lead generator.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we’ve got updates in legal disputes involving hip hop and rap artists Cardi B and T.I., EOG Resources wins a $15.6 million verdict in a dispute with a Webb County ranch owner, and private equity firm Welsh Carson gets dismissed from an antitrust lawsuit.
In the week since U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur recused himself from all disputes involving Jackson Walker and the U.S. Trustee — related to the firm’s failure to disclose a former bankruptcy partner had a romantic relationship with a sitting bankruptcy judge — they have been officially reassigned to other bankruptcy judges sitting in the Southern District of Texas, court records show.
In 13 days, Arnold & Itkin has filed two motions to disqualify Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing from representing Transocean in the multidistrict litigation stemming from alleged injuries suffered by offshore workers during 2020’s Hurricane Zeta. The most recent motion alleges a former law clerk for Arnold & Itkin “improperly took confidential and proprietary information” with her when she went to work for her current employer, AZA.
Justice Jimmy Blacklock, who, prior to his appointment to the Texas Supreme Court in 2018, formerly served as the general counsel to Gov. Greg Abbott and before that as an attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, did not hold back on his view that briefing from Texas was insufficient to secure the relief that was sought. The five-page concurrence issued Thursday stands out both for its tone and because of its author.
In a one-sentence order issued Wednesday, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request from PlainsCapital Bank to move its appeal from the Fifth court of Appeals in Dallas to the newly created Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin. The bank had argued the state’s high court should grant the permissive transfer because the case is “extraordinarily important to the business community.”
BP Energy Company has filed a lawsuit in the Texas business courts accusing Dallas oilman Brad Cox of breaching a $270 million guaranty agreement related to a loan given to MLCJR LLC, a business owned by Cox.
It is one of less than a dozen cases filed in the business courts since they opened Sept. 1 and is by far seeking more damages than any of the other cases filed in those courts.
A brief, two-sentence order issued by the new appellate court on Tuesday afternoon dealt a blow to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempts to force the State Fair of Texas to allow firearms on premises during the 24 days the fair is open to the public.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Texas touts what could be a first-of-its-kind settlement with an artificial intelligence company accused of misleading customers about the reliability of the product, The Wall Street Journal secures a ruling upholding the strength of its subscription agreements, and the full Fifth Circuit agrees to rehear a case involving a Houston personal injury law firm and a former associate.
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