Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
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.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup: Uvalde police officers lawyer up in the suit over the Robb Elementary shooting; Fifth Circuit determines discussion of “The Texas Hammer,” during jury selection didn’t taint the outcome of a trial and Pappas Restaurants’ fight over losing a $470 million contract heats up.
A new five-part Showtime series about the criminal trial of the Branch Davidians who survived the siege in Waco 30 years ago begins streaming today. Houston defense attorney Dan Cogdell, who won an acquittal for his client Clive Doyle, is played by the actor Giovanni Ribisi. The Texas Lawbook had a chance to chat with Cogdell about both experiences,the real and the cinematic.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Citgo Petroleum hires defense attorneys in a $100 million Citgo 6 lawsuit, a litigation funder says a Philadelphia firm owes $13.4 million and a former county attorney gets indicted on public corruption charges.
Arun Agarwal and his company AAVN own 10 patents for a process that turns cotton and cotton-polyester blend materials into luxury, high-thread-count bedsheets. In the latest battle to protect his intellectual property, Winstead attorney Cory Johnson won dismissal of a federal suit in North Carolina where a competitor was trying to invalidate all 10 patents.
Chief Justice Nathan Hecht spoke for almost 40 minutes Wednesday, supporting a variety of proposals that he said would increase court efficiencies, the caliber of judges and access to justice. "If the justice system were a business, and its customers had any choice, it would be in bankruptcy," Hecht said.
If approved by the court, the settlement would bring an end to litigation brought by more than 75 plaintiffs in the wake of the shooting that left 26 dead.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, an intermediate appellate court split widens regarding gross negligence claims, sanctions requested by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in a fight over unpaid attorney fees are upheld on appeal, and a federal judge undoes one Texas county’s book bans.
The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases in September where two former students argued their alma maters had denied due process and acted outside the scope of their authority in rescinding their doctorate degrees years after graduation. The majority of the Texas Supreme Court held that despite scant precedent, the law allows universities to take that action regardless of when the alleged academic misconduct underpinning the decision is discovered.
In the face of varied and robust opposition to the proposal to create a new, statewide appellate court with exclusive jurisdiction over disputes involving the state or a state agency, lawmakers last week voted to send the bill to the full senate for a vote. Texas for Lawsuit Reform has championed the bill as an opportunity to establish a court with specialized expertise to hear matters of statewide importance.
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