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Michelle Casady

Michelle Casady is based in Houston and covers litigation and appeals — including trials, breaking news and industry trends — for The Texas Lawbook.

Michelle Casady

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.

Houston Appellate Court Undoes New Trial Order Predicated on Juror’s Talk of $1,000+ Hourly Fee

The opinion from the First Court of Appeals clarified what constitutes an “outside influence” on the jury. It came in a case where Harris County District Judge Sonya L. Aston presided over a jury trial and, post-verdict, heard a juror say she had explained to other jurors that when she worked as a paralegal at a “large, prestigious law firm” in downtown Houston, the attorneys there charged more than $1,000 an hour.

Michelle Casady

Texas Business Court First: Jury Trial Underway in Houston in $200M Crude Terminal Dispute

The dispute pits the lawyer Albert Theodore “Ted” Powers against three members of the Berry family, who, through their businesses, is one of the largest private employers in Corpus Christi. Its origins can be traced back to an idea Lawrence Berry had in 2018 to build a world-class crude export terminal outside of Corpus Christi that could receive oil from the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale. The product could be stored in Aransas Pass and then loaded onto tanker ships from Harbor Island before being shipped anywhere in the world.

Michelle Casady

Dallas Judge Sues Commissioner Price for Defamation

Commissioner John Wiley Price is facing a lawsuit seeking up to $1 million in damages for alleged defamation of Dallas County District Judge Vonda Bailey. Judge Bailey’s lawsuit points to comments Price made during Commissioners Court meetings last year regarding her clearance rate and attendance as the basis of her claims.

Michelle Casady

EDTX Jury Hands Out $66.8M Damages Award in Patent Case

Earlier this month, a jury in East Texas determined that BOE Technology Group owes $66.8 million in damages for infringing three patents owned by Longitude Licensing that cover semiconductor devices and methods for configuring pixel electrode orientations in LCD displays that are used in computers, monitors and televisions.  

Michelle Casady

Harris County Judge Lauren Reeder Succeeds in Keeping Challenger Off Ballot

The race for the 234th District Court bench in Harris County has gotten ugly.

Incumbent Judge Lauren Reeder and challenger Kim McTorry both allege the other played a role in trying to coerce them into dropping out of the race. The allegations range from threats to expose a brief decade-old affair to offers of a $50,000 bribe.

At the conclusion of a hearing that stretched across two days, Senior Judge Christi Kennedy, who was sitting on the case by assignment, determined Thursday night that McTorry's petition was invalid and ordered that she not appear on the March primary ballot.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Acer Hits AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile with Infringement Claims

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, an East Texas scammer who prosecutors said lied about representing the late Major League Baseball player Pete Rose and about owning cannabis dispensaries in Las Vegas is sentenced to prison, and the decision of a Collin County jury in a dispute between a landlord and a tenant over a rat infestation is undone by a Dallas appellate court.

Michelle Casady

Atlas Unplugged: In Houston Lawyer’s Collection, the Past Unfolds

In his corner office in downtown Houston, history hangs from every wall.

You don’t just see the maps. Centuries call out, empires rise (and fall) with each step you take in Joseph Ahmad’s office, where the past is still very much alive.

The collection of maps bleeds out into the hallways of the skyscraper floors that the law firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing occupies, jockeying for wall space alongside other works of art.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Lawyer Who Leaked Accused Priest’s Name to Reporter Can’t Shake $400K Sanction

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a divided Fifth Circuit panel revives an excessive force lawsuit against a Lake Worth officer stemming from a 2021 fatal shooting, with the judges sharply criticizing each other in their opinions, and a husband and wife in Fort Worth admit guilt in a custom home building scam that defrauded 40 victims out of about $4.8 million. 

Michelle Casady

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