Ryan General Counsel John Smith said the Dallas-based tax services provider sued USA Today and parent company Gannett Co. because the media company published allegedly defamatory articles about Ryan’s business practices but never disclosed in its articles that Gannett employed Ryan to identify potential tax savings and then failed to pay for its services. Ryan, in the lawsuit filed Monday in Montgomery County, accuses the national newspaper chain of defamation, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, suit on a sworn account and fraud.
KRCL: Four Lawyers, a Fax Machine and 30 years of Extraordinary Texas Success and Now Succession
Raymond Kane, Gordon Russell, Joe Coleman and Mike Logan started KRCL in 1992 to flee financial bad habits of their old firm. Thirty years later, the firm they built is entrenched in the Texas middle market of corporate law firms, ranking 46th statewide in revenues in the upcoming 2021 Texas Lawbook 50. But the four partners discovered much more than success. They and their firm used fiscal restraint and commitment to long-term client service to find peace and friendship. At the twilight of their careers, they still love the practice of law and each other.
Fort Worth Fintech Firm Settles Massive Litigation for $33M
Fort Worth technology-based financial lender Elevate Credit has agreed to pay $33 million as part of a proposed settlement agreement related to a web of litigation across the United States, which alleged a decade-long scheme of predatory lending and subsequent corporate transactional legal maneuvering that victimized more than a million low-income people.
Updated: Four UDF Execs Indicted & Lawyered Up; Kyle Bass’ Lawyer Speaks Up
A lawyer for one of the four executives of Grapevine-based United Development Funding who have been indicted on federal securities fraud and wire fraud told The Texas Lawbook that the allegations are baseless and vexatious and the result of “the egregiousness of the government’s misconduct” in the case. But a lawyer for Dallas hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, who initially raised the allegations that UDF was a Ponzi scheme in 2015, talked exclusively to The Lawbook about the case. The Lawbook has the in-depth and updated details of the criminal and civil cases in the Northern District of Texas and Dallas County, as well as news of a sealed lawsuit filed in the Eastern District by UDF against the federal authorities investigating them.
Violate My Patents? See You in Texas
Covid-19 be damned, Texas is the place to legally protect your intellectual property. Waco, the birthplace of Dr Pepper, the death place of two-dozen ancient Mammuthuss, the scene of the Branch Davidian and Twin Peaks biker gang tragedies is now the undisputed patent litigation capital of the world. Some Dallas law firms expect to open branch offices in Waco in 2021. Plus, Judge Alan Albright discusses the Waco jury pool and Zoom trials.
UPDATED: Federal Jury Trials Shut Down Across Texas due to COVID-19
The Marshall Division of the EDTX is the latest federal court to shut down jury trials due to the coronavirus. Federal courthouses in Texarkana and Sherman have been closed through Dec. 4. Judges in the Northern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas have postponed most or even all in-person jury trials for the remainder of 2020. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Prominent Austin and Dallas Plaintiffs’ Law Firms Merge
The firms announced Tuesday that their two shops are merging to create a 10-lawyer plaintiff’s practice that will have offices in Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth.
Federal Prosecutors Charge Creditors Co-Chair in Neiman Bankruptcy with Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Department have charged Marble Ridge Capital founder Daniel Kamensky with violating federal securities laws for allegedly perpetrating a fraud in his role as co-chair of the unsecured creditors committee in the Neiman Marcus bankruptcy proceedings taking place in Houston.
First Post-COVID-19 Shutdown Jury Trial Underway in Dallas Federal Court
Fourteen North Texans filed into the 15th floor courtroom of Judge Barbara Lynn this morning to begin the first jury trial to be conducted in Texas – and only the third federal jury trial in the entire U.S. – since courts shutdown at the end of March due to the COVID-19 crisis. But it is not like any jury trial Texas has ever seen before.
The Securities Offerings Rush of 2015 Goes Bust
Oil and gas companies – many of them financially distressed – rushed to the capital markets during the first six months of this year. New data compiled by The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker and Bloomberg News shows that Texas and Oklahoma companies raised an astounding $127 billion through 179 securities and debt offerings.
Then suddenly, it all stopped. The number of debt offerings since July 1 plummeted. This artcle explains why and the impact it will have.