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, we share the announcement that a new magistrate judge will be serving in the Northern District of Texas, and share details about both the federal government’s antitrust lawsuit against Richardson-based RealPage and the punishment doled out to a former controller for Simon Greenstone Panatier who bilked the plaintiff’s firm out of nearly $1.5 million.
With about a week to go before the state’s new Fifteenth Court of Appeals goes live, the Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling Friday morning, unanimously rejecting a constitutional challenge to the creation of the court.
On Wednesday, Jackson Walker ripped apart the racketeering and fraud lawsuit former Bouchard Transportation Company CEO Morton Bouchard III had lodged against it in February after the secret romance between former bankruptcy judge David Jones and former Jackson Walker bankruptcy partner Elizabeth Freeman came to light. “Mr. Bouchard’s response fails to solve the standing and pleading defects that plague the fiction his counsel has labeled as a complaint,” the firm told the court, doubling down on arguments it first made in May when it sought dismissal of the lawsuit.
On Wednesday morning, a redacted version of a transcript from a recent show cause hearing — in the litigation to determine whether Jackson Walker should be forced to return about $13 million in legal fees earned in bankruptcy cases before former Judge David Jones — was made publicly available.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a unanimous panel opinion Monday rejecting Judge Madeleine Connor’s bid to have Chapter 11 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code declared unconstitutional. Judge Connor, who was added to the list of vexatious litigants after filing a flurry of pro se lawsuits against her neighbors, is barred from filing more pro se litigation without first seeking permission from the local administrative judge. She argued that barrier to the courts violated her First Amendment right to petition. The Fifth Circuit disagreed.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Texas Attorney General’s Office — fresh off securing a $1.4B settlement with Meta in a similar lawsuit — has filed a data privacy suit against General Motors, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor recuses from one X Corp. lawsuit but hangs on to another, and we offer an update on the lawsuits CenterPoint is facing from customers in the wake of Hurricane Beryl and which firms have been tapped to defend the utility company.
Nine days after Southern District of Texas Chief Bankruptcy Judge Eduardo Rodriguez conducted a show cause hearing in a sealed courtroom, he has determined that his former colleague, David Jones, acted in bad faith when he consented to an interview with lawyers from Jackson Walker and Rusty Hardin’s firm. The ruling comes in a case where Judge Rodriguez must determine whether Jackson Walker should be forced to return about $13 million in legal fees earned in bankruptcy cases before former Judge David Jones.
Stephen J. Huschka joined Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr this month as a shareholder in its Dallas litigation group. Previously, he was a shareholder at Kessler Collins in Dallas.
Earlier this month, Kansas resident Kelli Most filed a motion for en banc reconsideration with the court. She argued that dismissal of her lawsuit against Team Industrial Services — which came after the Sugar Land-based company had unsuccessfully attempted pretrial to get the appellate court to move the suit out of Texas courts — on grounds that Texas was an inconvenient forum is “literally unprecedented.”
Elizabeth "Liz" Ryan, who had been a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges for three-and-a-half years, cited Gibson’s “explosive” and “impressive” growth in Texas as part of the reason she was excited to join the firm. “Even with this growth, Gibson Dunn has maintained a collaborative atmosphere, collegiality, renowned client service, and unparalleled litigation results,” she said in a news release. “Having repeatedly co-counseled with outstanding Gibson Dunn attorneys throughout my practice, I’m now honored to join their ranks.”
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