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.
A Dallas County district court judge has issued a standing order barring a Frisco attorney from handling cases in her courtroom — a move the judge said was necessary to ensure “the impartial and efficient administration of justice,” but the attorney says the order constitutes oppression.
A case that began 11 years ago with a fatal crash on an icy stretch of highway near Odessa was ended Friday by the Texas Supreme Court when the justices issued an opinion wiping out a more than $100 million verdict against trucking company Werner Enterprises and its driver.
After receiving some guidance from the Texas Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has determined that a former law professor at Southern Methodist University will get another chance to bring defamation claims against some of her former colleagues.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Federal Trade Commission sees a $37.5 million judgment in its favor trimmed down to $12.2 million by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth sides with a landowner in a condemnation dispute involving golf course operations.
The Texas Supreme Court delivered some bad news for The Boeing Company on Friday morning when it issued an opinion clearing the way for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association to sue the company for damages caused by its alleged misrepresentations about the airworthiness of the 737 MAX. Even with the court’s ruling, the union could face an uphill climb to prove and collect any damages in the case.
The families’ request was lodged Wednesday in the criminal fraud case the government brought against Boeing in January 2021 in the wake of two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. The families filed their briefs after the government, on May 29, filed a motion to dismiss and informed the court it had entered a non-prosecution agreement with the aerospace manufacturing company.
This week, the first contested final judgment in a case before the Texas Business Court was entered. Proponents of the new court argued it would provide an avenue for parties to obtain quick decisions in complex business disputes and Monday’s final judgment, issued just shy of eight months after the case was filed in the business court, seems to support that.
E. Lawrence “Larry” Vincent joined the firm after nine years at Burns Charest. During his time there, he was the co-lead attorney in a successful representation of a group of Houston homeowners alleging government mismanagement of reservoirs lead to flooding of their properties during Hurricane Harvey.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, an attorney who cited made-up cases to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas gets sanctioned, American Airlines is sued by a former pilot who alleges he was shortchanged on disability benefits, and the Texas Supreme Court answers a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in one of the final weeks of its term.
At the end of a roughly two-hour hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved a $50.5 million settlement with directors and officers of GWG, a $30 million settlement with the law firm Mayer Brown, an $8.5 million settlement with Texas accounting firm Whitley Penn and a $2.3 million settlement with brothers Jon R. and Steven F. Sabes, the original founders of GWG.
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