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 week’s edition of Litigation Roundup, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against a Texas company it accuses of perpetrating a $155 million Ponzi scheme affecting more than 500 investors, a fracking project funder alleges fraud in a $1.8 million deal, and the Texas Supreme Court clarifies the requirements to bring a Texas Whistleblower Act claim.
The case went through two rounds of oral arguments at the state’s high court, saw the voluntary recusal of two justices and the appointment by the governor of two intermediate appellate justices to the case. The ruling will allow Texas to bring its lawsuit against the German automakers alleging they violated state environmental laws via the emissions-cheating software scandal perpetrated by the companies.
The Texas Lawbook recently spoke to labor and employment lawyers in Texas about the proposal and what it would mean for both their employer clients and the litigation landscape statewide should the rule go into effect. The comment period, which was extended for an additional month because of the number of comments received, closed April 19 and garnered 26,814 responses.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a widow asks the Texas Supreme Court to decide that she owns space artifacts that belonged to her astronaut husband, the high court clarifies the contours of when insurers can avoid liability under life insurance policies and a huge win for an Austin company gets undone by a federal judge in Michigan.
The announcement of his move to the firm’s Austin office came Monday, the day his retirement from the Western District of Texas became official. He served on the federal bench for more than 20 years.
An ad hoc committee of lawyers who represent about 55,000 talc claimants alleging Johnson & Johnson products caused their cancer have told a bankruptcy judge in New Jersey that they support the company’s plan to establish an $8.9 billion trust to pay out the claims. Many well-known plaintiffs firms from Texas have joined the committee, but one has stayed quiet: Mark Lanier.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a request from a handful of major oil companies seeking to move climate-related lawsuits filed in state court to federal court and a Dallas County jury recently found that Robert L. Winspear and his business colleague defrauded a finance lender.
A team of lawyers from McKool Smith and Irell & Manella secured a $303 million patent infringement verdict on Friday in U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s courtroom after convincing the jury that Samsung willfully infringed Netlist’s patents related to computer memory technology. The same day, in a trial before U.S. District Judge Alan Albright, a jury sided with Textron Innovations, finding that SZ DJI Technology owes $279 million for infringing two patents related to drones.
Oncor has maintained that James Stacey Taylor’s claims are barred because of his “contributory negligence” and that it enjoys statutory indemnity for any liability under state law. Taylor’s attorney, Sean Breen of Howry Breen & Herman, told The Lawbook he presented the case to the jury as a tragic accident that wouldn’t have happened but for Oncor’s practice of “putting profits over safety.”
The settlement brings an end to a federal lawsuit lodged by six former employees of the office in November. Additional terms of the settlement requires three plaintiffs who still were employed by the DA’s office to resign and bars all plaintiffs from seeking future employment with the county. Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis and First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye remain in their positions.
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