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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.

Justices Eye Scienter in State’s $16M Medicaid Fraud Win

The main issue in the case involves whether the state proved scienter — that Dr. Richard Malouf knew he was in violation of the law when he filed forms for reimbursement 1,842 times representing he had performed certain services that were actually performed by trainees at his All Smiles Dental Clinic — which is required for the judgment to stand. After Texas was granted the early win by Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy, Malouf appealed and a three-justice panel affirmed the holding in October 2022. He took his fight to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2023, and in November the court agreed to hear the case.

Michelle Casady

SCOTX Takes 3 Cop Crash Suits This Term

Each term, watchers of the Texas Supreme Court are likely to see the court grant review in a handful of cases interpreting oil and gas leases, or cases requiring them to delineate what constitutes a medical malpractice claim. But this term, the court has taken an interest in something slightly different: three cases involving police crashes and the immunity that typically shields officers from related litigation.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Electric Co-op Draws $100M Injury Suit; ‘Red Flags’ Doom $20.8M Recovery

In this week’s edition of Litigation Roundup, the Dallas appellate court undoes a $20.8 million award in a fight between a landlord and a grocery company after finding “red flags” during the negotiation process were ignored, a federal jury convicts a software company CEO of bilking investors out of at least $25 million and prosecutors go after a business mogul who they say hasn’t paid taxes since 1992.

Michelle Casady

Judge Higginbotham Drills Down on ‘Impermissible Gloss’ of Court’s ‘Moment of Threat Doctrine’ in Qualified Immunity Case

Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham authored the panel opinion and a concurrence, saying the court was bound to follow its own precedent in this case while also calling on the Fifth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court to “revisit the doctrine” that is “deployed daily across this country” in police shooting cases. The case involves the shooting death of Ashtian Barnes, who was stopped for having outstanding toll violations — a non-arrestable offense — and was killed by Officer Roberto Felix Jr. when he attempted to drive away.

Michelle Casady

Takings Fight Between Texas, Landowners Now in SCOTUS’ Hands

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a case where a group of about 75 Texas landowners are fighting to revive their lawsuit against the state seeking compensation for the repeated flooding of their property that they say is the result of a public highway project. The case came to the high court after a Fifth Circuit panel sided with the state and the court declined to rehear the case en banc over the dissent of five judges. The question the justices are tasked with answering in this case is: “May a person whose property is taken without compensation seek redress under the self-executing Takings Clause even if the legislature has not affirmatively provided them with a cause of action?”

Michelle Casady

Eversheds Energy Litigation Team Jumps to Baker McKenzie

David Baay, Jack Massey, Kelsey Machado, Ian Shelton and Matthew Rawlinson were announced as the newest members of the firm’s Houston office Wednesday. Colin Murray, the firm’s North America CEO, said in a statement that the additions were part of strategic growth plans based on the potential of the Houston market.

Michelle Casady

Steptoe Acquires Smyser Kaplan & Veselka ‘Lock, Stock and Barrel’

Craig Smyser, who cofounded SKV in 1995, said his firm had been approached several times over the years by national and international firms looking to expand into Texas. There’s one reason in particular why the negotiations with Steptoe, which began in May, ended with this merger: Steptoe was willing to take on every member of the SKV team.

“It’s an amazing law firm with a lot of magic,” Gwen Renigar, Steptoe's chair, said in an interview with The Lawbook. "The magic they had is magic I did not want to disturb."

Michelle Casady

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