Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Two former top federal prosecutors in Texas landed a $36 million jury verdict in a False Claims Act case in Alabama Friday. Treble damages in the qui tam case, which involved the sale of helicopters to the U.S. Army, could reach more than $100 million. Litigation Writer Natalie Posgate has the names and details.
A federal judge in Fort Worth has deferred until Oct. 8 a temporary injunction hearing in which six United Airlines employees seek to block the airline from terminating or placing them on unpaid leave in light of the employees’ resistance to the airline’s mandatory Covid vaccine policy, which they rejected for religious and medical reasons. A hearing was supposed to take place Friday afternoon, but the parties worked out an agreement instead. The Lawbook has the latest on the case, the names of the lawyers involved and comments from both sides of a case that is attracting national attention.
Gibbs & Bruns lawyers this week secured a $12 million judgment on behalf of a client who co-founded EnVen Energy Corp. and has been embroiled in a dispute with the company over his contractual severance benefits. In addition to the dollar amount obtained, the case has personal significance for a member of the trial team.
Several corporate law firms are getting involved in the litigation surfacing that challenges Texas' new voting law, which Gov. Abbott signed into law Tuesday. Natalie Posgate has the names and the firms.
A philanthropist and founding partner of Provost Umphrey, Umphrey scored a couple billion-dollar judgments asbestos victims in the 1980s 1990s and then led the Texas litigation team that secured a $15.3 billion settlement in 1998 against the cigarette makers.
While patent litigation tends to steal the headlines, another area of intellectual property law is also gaining traction. Over the last five years, a steady growth in trade secrets cases has been interrupted only during the pandemic. The Lawbook's Natalie Posgate taps the data and the views of a broad range of experts on the forces behind the surge.
One of the most closely-watched trials of the summer, Epic Games v. Apple, is likely heading toward resolution in the coming weeks. The case is regarded by many as one of the most significant antitrust challenges in recent years. But regardless of the outcome, the case has already attracted attention for the vital role played by diverse women in the trial itself. The Lawbook's Natalie Posgate profiles two of those women who describe what they both see as a major breakthrough for women litigators.
Plano-based property management software company ResMan is fixing to have a lot of zeroes in its bank account, assuming its courtroom opponents don't appeal a final judgment entered against them Thursday. Natalie Posgate explains.
Joshua Russ is a former East Texas federal prosecutor who dared to investigate Walmart over its alleged role in the opioid crisis. Instead, he ended up fighting his own bosses. In a series of exclusive interviews with The Texas Lawbook, he speaks for the first time about his investigation into the world's largest corporation, about facing allegations of unethical conduct brought against him by lawyers for the retail giant and about his decision to resign and file a formal whistleblower complaint against the federal agency he once dreamed of serving.
Lynn Pinker is the latest litigation boutique to match the big law-induced associate pay hike started by Davis Polk earlier this summer.
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