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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.

Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Undoes Transfer of Chamber, CFPB Suit; Souki Owes $100M

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, split panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit hit pause on the transfer of a lawsuit challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s plan to cap credit card late fees and nix a nearly $240,000 sanction against the former CEO of Highland Capital Management. In lower courts, Texas reaches a $6.6 million settlement over a 2019 petrochemical fire and Charif Souki is found by a bankruptcy judge to owe at least $100 million to his creditors.

Michelle Casady

Fifth Circuit Hears Mining Companies’ Bid to Undo Pecan Farm’s Jury Win

Just east of Austin, Martin Marietta Materials and TXI Operations operate a sand and gravel mine on the banks of the Colorado River. Their neighbor across the river, on the northern bank, is Good River Farms, a 377-acre pecan farm containing about 8,000 trees that has been owned and operated by the Wimberly family since 1959. This lawsuit was spawned from a major rain event — described as a 120-year flood — that hit the area on Oct. 30, 2015.

Michelle Casady

Fifth Circuit Zeroes in on ‘Act of State Doctrine’ in Fight Between Heirs, Museum Over Painting

A doctrine intended to keep courts from second-guessing official actions of foreign governments was front-and-center during oral arguments Tuesday before a Fifth Circuit panel tasked with deciding whether to revive a lawsuit brought by a family that alleges a work of art sold under duress to a Nazi art dealer in the 1930s belongs to them and not the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Judge Finds BP Violated ERISA; Fifth Circuit Stays Chamber’s Fight with CFPB

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a judge in Houston sides with a group of former BP employees in an ERISA suit, the Fifth Circuit expedites oral arguments in a dispute between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over plans to cap credit card late fees and Parkland Health prevails on appeal in an employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.

Michelle Casady

Houston Justices: Sexual Assault Isn’t Health Care Liability Claim

Dr. Azul Shirazali Jaffer is being sued by Michelle Maestas in Fort Bend County district court for allegedly sexually assaulting her as she woke up in the recovery room in October 2022 following a breast augmentation procedure. A Houston appellate court this week agreed with the Fort Bend County district judge who declined to dismiss the suit in July 2023.

Michelle Casady

Insurer Wins Deposition Fight Against Doctor Facing Suit

In an opinion issued March 20, a three-justice panel of the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio determined Barbara C. Barnett will not have to sit for a deposition in a lawsuit where insurer Texas Medical Liability Trust argues it should not have to cover the cost of defending a fraud lawsuit Barnett filed against her former oncologist, Dr. David J. Friedman. The ruling reversed a Bexar County district judge’s ruling that Barnett could be deposed.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Match Group Hires Sidley to Defend Class Action; Judge O’Connor Recuses in CFPB Challenge

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Jerry Jones gets a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman claiming to be his daughter dismissed after the plaintiff’s failed attempt to amend the claims, the ExxonMobil Oil Corporation gets its win in a coverage dispute with AIG affirmed by a Dallas appellate court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit calls out a federal judge in McAllen for denying a motion to dismiss a retaliation lawsuit with “no analysis period.”

Michelle Casady

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