Harris County District Judge Elaine Palmer has ordered attorneys Michael D. Sydow and Chidi D. Anunobi to take 10 hours of legal ethics education classes each year for the next five years after finding they filed for a lawsuit for an improper purpose on behalf of their litigation management company client, Iron Oak. The lawsuit was brought in an attempt to collect $10 million from inventors Michael E. Porter and John T. Preston and their company Continuum Energy Technologies.
Litigation Roundup: Texas Co. Gets $37.5M in Patent Trial, Southwest Airlines Beats Back 2 Class Actions
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a jury in the Eastern District of Texas finds a Chinese company infringed eight patents held by Texas-based Atlas Global Technologies, the Fifth Circuit rejects the University of North Texas’ bid to end a professor’s First Amendment retaliation claim and a fired Texas prison guard who represented himself on appeal prevails in a discrimination case.
La Michoacana Meat Market’s Quest to See Biz Partner’s Books Continues in Arbitration
The dispute between the largest Hispanic grocery store chain in Texas and the business partner that supplies its meat will be settled through arbitration after a failed attempt by La Michoacana to get a district court to grant it access to the books and records of Amigos Meat Distributors. Judge Tanya Garrison, who sent the case to arbitration, told the parties at a hearing last month “I feel like this is a fight between my kids in the backseat. ‘He touched me first.’ And they’re saying ‘nuh-uh.’”
Fifth Circuit to IBM in $1.6B BMC Appeal: What Do You Want Us to Do?
U.S. District Judge Gray Miller, who presided over a bench trial, determined in May 2022 that IBM committed fraud in a dispute involving IBM’s removal of BMC’s mainframe products from their largest mutual client, AT&T. The case was argued before the Fifth Circuit Sept. 5.
Litigation Roundup: Dallas Luxury Apartment Co. Sued over Mistaken Eviction, Fifth Circuit Revives False Arrest Claim Against Texas Police Chief
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the University of Houston gets a retaliation lawsuit tossed on appeal, a group of investors in a Dallas-area chain of hot chicken restaurants settles its suit with a hospitality group and the Fifth Circuit sides with the National Labor Relations Board in a suit involving fired plant workers.
Litigation Roundup: Wells Fargo Asks for Arbitration in Discrimination Class Action, Jerry Jones Assault Case to Proceed
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Southwest Airlines attorneys are denied a stay of a sanctions order that they undergo religious liberty training, the Texas Supreme Court rejects Jerry Jones’ request to end an assault suit brought by a woman he allegedly forcibly kissed at AT&T Stadium and the Fifth Circuit revives a suit against the Food and Drug Administration over tweets about ivermectin.
Litigation Roundup: Ex-CEO, CFO Sued Over Business’ $12M ‘Downfall,’ Texas Gets Private Company’s Nuclear Storage Permit Vacated
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Texas wins an appeal to vacate the license of a company wanting to store spent nuclear fuel in the Permian Basin, a team of Haynes Boone attorneys in Dallas defended a $6.6 million award for Pizza Hut in a fight with a former franchisee, and a former general counsel and staff attorney for Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans get a second chance to bring a pay discrimination suit.
Fifth Circuit Judge Ho Sounds Off on ‘Officials Abusing our Criminal Justice System to Punish Political Adversaries’
In a dissent from a denial of rehearing en banc, Judge James C. Ho pointed to two other recently decided cases to illustrate his argument that First Amendment protections are being eroded for those who live in the Fifth Circuit’s jurisdiction. He decried circuit precedent that has kept free speech cases from making it to trial.
Update: Simon Greenstone Panatier Bilked Out of $1.48M by Former Controller
After initially entering a not guilty plea last year, Christiane Kathleen Irwin on Tuesday pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud. The government accused her of inflating her $140,000 salary at Simon Greenstone Panatier when she submitted biweekly payroll, taking home an extra $1.48 million over three years.
Litigation Roundup: Southwest Attorneys Get Pause on ‘Religious Liberty’ Training, SCOTX Sets Oral Arguments in Harris County Election Administration Fight
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Southwest Airlines’ attorneys get a temporary stay of an order that they undergo religious liberty training, the Texas Supreme Court declines to grant Harris County emergency relief in its lawsuit over a new law that abolishes the county’s office of election administration, and the full Fifth Circuit revived a lawsuit brought by female Dallas County jailers alleging sex discrimination.