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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.

Houston Judge Beats the Buzzer on Facing Contempt Proceedings

According to a time-stamped copy of a letter Harris County District Judge Ursula Hall sent to the First Court of Appeals Monday, she avoided by one hour and 44 minutes what the justices had threatened would be the “immediate initiation” of contempt proceedings for her lengthy delay in ruling on two pending motions in a foreclosure dispute. When the court issued a writ of mandamus to Judge Hall Sept. 25, she had failed to rule on a motion for summary judgment for three years, five months and 18 days.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Paxton Back in Action, Sues Yelp; SEC Says Austin Promoter Duped Investors

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Ken Paxton returns to office and sues Yelp over disclaimers the company affixed to listings for “pregnancy resource centers,” the SEC accuses an Austin oil and gas promotor of defrauding investors out of $5 million and Dallas law firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry is tapped to bring a trade secrets lawsuit for a financial technology client in Chicago.

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Hogan Lovells to Defend Against FTC’s Texas Anesthesiology Monopoly Suit, Houston Jury Awards Defendant $32.5M in Construction Dispute

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the former general counsel of the Houston Housing Authority has her qui tam False Claims Act suit partially revived by the Fifth Circuit, an allegedly undisclosed personal relationship between a magistrate judge and a plaintiff attorney who secured a $124.5 million award in her court gets a second look, and a former CEO of a software company loses his bid to keep a $20 million suit in Texas courts.

Michelle Casady

Houston Judge Orders Ethics Training, $525K Sanction Against 2 Attorneys

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.

Michelle Casady

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.

Michelle Casady

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.’”

Michelle Casady

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.

Michelle Casady

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.

Michelle Casady

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