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.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, investigators with the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office accuse a Houston-area man of running a Ponzi-like scheme that defrauded about 150 investors out of $12.3 million, and the fight between Texas and Discord heats up.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Texas follows up on its state court lawsuit against proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services with a lawsuit against Glass, Lewis & Co. in Collin County, and Gray Reed secures a complete defense win for a homebuilder client in a Tarrant County jury trial.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday determined 5-4 that Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 52.006(b)(2), which applies a $25 million cap on bonds posted to appeal, applies per judgment debtor.
Round Two of a fight between the state of Texas and proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services is now underway before Round One has ended, after a new lawsuit was filed by the state in Collin County this week.
The unanimous jury verdict was returned after three days of trial just before 8 p.m. Wednesday. Steffan Robert Mick, a 29-year-old married father of two, was killed in January 2025 when an OPG Logistics 18-wheeler turned in front of him on a farm-to-market road near Midland.
Lawyers from Dallas-based Simon Greenstone Panatier recently secured a $10.2 million jury verdict for a mesothelioma client in Minneapolis.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap has determined Collision Communications, a patent holder that secured a $445.5 million infringement verdict against Samsung Electronics last year, failed to show it was also entitled to a permanent injunction to prohibit ongoing infringement.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Justice Evan Young, in a concurrence, says the services of a pro bono lawyer sure would help a pro se litigant trying to amend her son’s inaccurate death certificate and American Airlines will have to face some claims arising from a 14-year-old’s in-flight death after the Fifth Circuit partially reversed a summary judgment win.
Houston personal injury lawyer Michelle Teresa Acosta had sued San Antonio divorce lawyer Allan Roy Manka after she said he “grabbed” and “squeezed” her butt in the lobby of the Wilson County Courthouse in Floresville in June 2019. A jury agreed, and awarded her $5 million in compensatory damages. This week, that award was left intact by the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio.
In March, Harris County District Judge Tanya Garrison entered final judgment, in accordance with a jury’s verdict, in favor of Frederick Schrader. And on April 30, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim in California entered findings of fact siding with Schrader Cellars, too. Lawyer Robert Roach has already filed notice he’d be appealing the Harris County judgment.
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