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.
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.
Two auto insurance companies operating in Texas are facing a putative class action lawsuit accusing them of targeting low-income residents, collecting premiums and then “disappearing” when insureds make a claim. Houston personal injury law firm Kherkher Garcia filed the lawsuit in Harris County District Court Tuesday evening on behalf of “hundreds and possibly thousands of Texas insureds” who have policies with AmTex Auto Insurance and Redpoint County Mutual Insurance Company.
MARSHALL — A lawyer for Samsung argued during the hearing that the injunction Collision Communications seeks in the patent infringement case would prevent his client from importing “well above 75 percent of products” the electronics giant produces, including all phones and tablets. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap took the motion under advisement and told the parties he would issue his decision as soon as practicable.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Google gears up to defend against patent infringement claims in Midland, the battle between the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars won't be going to a jury trial, a $17 million Ponzi scheme architect from Houston goes to prison, and the Texas Supreme Court sides with a lawyer fending off claims from a dissatisfied client.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dealt a blow to the maker of a nicotine pouch product, finding that the company’s VELO pouches are subject to the same duty levied on cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff. But the court did leave one door open for RJR Vapor.
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