Once a year or so, the U.S. Supreme Court appoints a lawyer to advocate a legal position that none of the active parties in the case favor but that needs to be addressed. The justices did just that Thursday.
SCOTX Considers Bounds of Public Information Act
In the litigation initiated by self-described government watchdog group American Oversight, the Texas Supreme Court is being asked to determine whether trial courts have jurisdiction to order the governor and attorney general to release information under the Public Information Act. American Oversight turned to the courts to get access to communications surrounding two events: the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol and the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
Texas Supreme Court Aggressively Quizzes Lawyers in Winter Storm Uri Litigation
The thousands of wrongful death, personal injury and property damage claims against Oncor Electric Delivery and CenterPoint Energy should be dismissed because the electric utilities were following the rules and orders of Texas regulators when they decided where to implement power blackouts, a lawyer for the electric transmission and distribution utilities argued Wednesday at the Texas Supreme Court. But the attorney for the 15,000 individuals and small businesses suing the companies told the justices that it was the companies — not regulators — that decided not to heed a decade of warnings to be better prepared for such a catastrophic storm and because they provided power to “favored customers” or communities over others — conduct that lawyers say led to the deaths of 246 people. For 45 minutes Wednesday, the state’s highest court questioned lawyers on both sides of the dispute about whether the entire litigation should be dismissed or whether it should proceed toward trial. (2021 file photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Tenaris Wants Negligence Verdict in Flooding Case Undone
The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday morning was told there isn’t enough evidence that the construction of a pipe manufacturing plant in rural Matagorda County was the cause of flooding that damaged several neighboring homes during Hurricane Harvey.
When it Comes to Ann Saucer, Never Doth the Lady Protest Too Much
Ann Saucer will stand before the Texas Supreme Court Wednesday morning to argue the largest and possibly most important civil litigation dispute the state’s highest court has handled this decade. The Dallas appellate law expert represents 15,000 individuals and small business owners who are asking the Texas justices to allow their Winter Storm Uri-related claims for wrongful death, personal injury and property damage against the largest electric transmission and distribution utilities in Texas to move forward to trial. Combined, the plaintiffs seek billions of dollars in damages from the energy companies.
Litigation Roundup: DOL’s ESG Investing Rule Survives Post-Loper Bright
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Texas Supreme Court answers two certified questions from the Fifth Circuit, and a plaintiff who saw her $222 million jury award canceled abandons her appeal.
Winter Storm Uri — Four Years Later, Zero Jury Trials for 30,000 Victims of Historic Storm
The ground had not yet thawed four years ago when the Texas courts were slammed with an avalanche of lawsuits. More than 30,000 individuals and small businesses filed wrongful death, personal injury and property damage lawsuits against ERCOT and the energy companies accusing them of gross negligence that caused much of the power blackouts. A separate class action accused energy companies and financial institutions of using Winter Storm Uri to manipulate prices and generate billions of dollars in profits. Four years later, not a single witness deposition has been taken and not a single case has been set for trial. And a growing number of legal experts predict that none of those cases will ever be heard by a jury of Texas citizens.
New SCOTX Justice Sullivan Once Ran Afoul of the Fifth Circuit for Tone of Rehearing Petition
As an assistant attorney general, James P. Sullivan saw his petition in a habeas case struck for its tone and lack of respect. He says he apologized and learned from the incident. Gov. Abbott in January elevated Sullivan from his general counsel to the Supreme Court. Relatively unknown in the Texas legal community, Sullivan’s judicial application sheds some light on his judicial philosophy. Most of his litigation experience was in federal court, the document shows, with only 20 percent in state appellate courts.
Litigation Roundup: Defamation Case Against Houston Boutique Firm Gets Tossed
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we have details on the outcome of a discrimination lawsuit brought by a Black attorney in Houston who alleges he was kicked out of a bar at the Post Oak Hotel for wearing a “[Mark] Lanier 6.0 Trial Academy Master Class” hat, Whirlpool gets a $25 million trademark infringement win in the Eastern District of Texas, and the Texas Supreme Court passes on hearing a case involving the Judicial Branch Certification Commission’s regulation of licensed court reporters.
Transocean Injury Plaintiffs Ask Justices to Remove AZA as Defense Counsel
Plaintiffs firm Arnold & Itkin has appealed a Harris County trial judge’s decision that allowed the law firm Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing to stay on as defense counsel to Transocean in multidistrict litigation stemming from offshore workers’ injuries, arguing the ruling was “in error” and “an abuse of discretion.”