A federal appeals court panel, in a 2-1 decision Friday, upheld the Texas law that prohibited large social media companies, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, from deleting a user’s comments and content even if the media platforms believe the content is harmful or extreme. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit ruled the 2021 law, known as HB 20, “chills no speech whatsoever. To the extent it chills anything, it chills censorship.” The dissent said the U.S. Supreme Court will have the last word.
Bankruptcy Judge ‘Conditionally Approves’ Brazos Disclosure Agreement After Intense Hearing
Over the objection of a single power generator and distributor, U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge David Jones of Houston gave “conditional approval” of a multibillion-dollar preliminary settlement agreement – aka a “disclosure statement” – in the Brazos Electric Power Cooperative bankruptcy case. The 74-minute hearing was intense at times because of an exchange with a lawyer for South Texas Electric Coop, but Judge Jones said Brazos’ “very complicated” 172-page proposed agreement “strikes a very nice balance.”
Brazos Electric Bankruptcy Heads to Finish Line
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative is expected to file a final plan within days with a Houston judge that will map the Central Texas power supplier’s road out of bankruptcy and toward financial stability, according to lawyers involved in the litigation. The proposed plan reduces the amount that Waco-based Brazos owes ERCOT by hundreds of millions of dollars, requires Brazos to sell three of its power plants, creates a fund for low-income residents struggling with high electric bills and raises more than $1.5 billion in financing, according to court documents filed in the case.
Cineworld Hires Kirkland, Jackson Walker, Alix Partners for Chapter 11
The UK-based movie theater chain has filed for bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of Texas. The case has been assigned to Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur in Houston.
Fifth Circuit Judge Joins Gibson Dunn
Federal appellate judges almost never resign; and they never ever go back to practicing law. Gregg Costa, the Houston federal prosecutor who sent billionaire financial fraudster Allen Stanford to prison in 2012 and then was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by President Obama, is doing both. Costa is giving up his black robe and the lifetime job security of a federal judgeship to join the Houston office of Gibson Dunn as co-lead of the firm’s global litigation and trial practice.
Costa is moving his Houston office seven blocks. His new Gibson Dunn office at is about one-tenth the size of his 3,000-square-foot suite at the federal courthouse, but he is getting a bit of a compensation boost. The Texas Lawbook talked with Costa exclusively and has the details.
Texas Supreme Court Accepts ERCOT’s Appeal over Immunity
The Supreme Court of Texas agreed late Friday to hear the two cases brought by electric power companies against the Electric Reliability Council of Texas that involved billions of dollars individually and could impact tens of billions of dollars at stake in thousands of lawsuits related to Winter Storm Uri. The two cases, which are unrelated to each other, are likely to be argued jointly because the same questions are at the heart of both matters: Is ERCOT a division of state government and is it immune from civil lawsuits?
Fifth Circuit Judge Gregg Costa’s Exit Interview: ‘A Monumental Loss’ for the Courts
As Gregg Costa neared graduation at Dartmouth College in 1994, he faced a choice: Follow his dream and go directly to law school or take a couple gap years and get a job. He chose the latter. The decision changed his life forever. Last week, Costa stepped down as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to return to private practice, stunning nearly everyone in the legal community and left lawyers and judges asking why a 50-year-old just one step away from the U.S. Supreme Court would give up a lifetime appointment.
In an exclusive interview with The Texas Lawbook, Costa said there were a handful of reasons. At 50, he believed he needed a change. The makeup of the Fifth Circuit left the more moderate Costa in the minority on issue after issue. But Costa’s decision to leave the Fifth Circuit – like many of his biggest career choices – can be traced back to Sunflower, Mississippi, an impoverished town of 1,100 and his two years of teaching third and fourth graders.
Photo: Sharon Ferranti
Remembering Harold Kleinman, ‘A Giant of the Legal Profession’ and a Lion of the Texas Bar
Harold Kleinman, a pioneer of the modern-day corporate M&A law practice in Texas, lawyer to some of the state’s biggest businesses and a founding father of Texas Access to Justice, died Friday. He was 91.
For five decades, Kleinman was a lawyer and leader at Thompson & Knight, guiding the firm through extraordinary growth and turning it into a powerhouse in the energy sector. Bar associations, community groups, Jewish organizations and businesses honored Kleinman with award after award. In fact, the State Bar of Texas and Texas Access to Justice named its top honor for commitment to the legal profession the Harold F. Kleinman Award. “I was just a lawyer who represented clients and believed everyone deserved a fair shake under the law,” Kleinman told The Texas Lawbook in 2015. The Lawbook looks at the life and career of one of the greatest corporate lawyers in Texas history.
Porter Hedges Adds Co-Managing Partner
Rob Reedy, who has served as Porter Hedges’ managing partner for 13 years, told The Texas Lawbook that the decision is part of the firm’s leadership succession planning process.
SMU Dedman Law’s Innovative Corporate Counsel Externship Program Shines, Thanks to Loyal GC Alums
During the past decade, 700 SMU Dedman law students have done externships at 100 corporate legal departments including Microsoft, Keurig Dr Pepper, Interstate Batteries, Liberty Mutual and Vistra Corp. “The program puts students in real-life situations where they have educational opportunities unobtainable in the classroom,” SMU Dedman assistant dean Stephen Yeager, creator of the externship initiative. An extern with Keurig Dr Pepper witnessed how different flavored drinks were developed. Fluor Corporation let law students visit construction sites. Mary Kay allowed its Russian-born extern to work on a project involving Russian data privacy laws. The Texas Lawbook interviewed a half-dozen SMU alumni who did externships and are now in-house counsel.