Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Some were surprised by Gov. Greg Abbott’s selection of Jimmy Blacklock as Texas Supreme Court Chief justice, but his eyes were always on big questions about the role of the constitution and development of the law. His leadership is likely to continue the court’s conservative rulings.
In an 18-page ruling issued Thursday, Chief Justice Jaime Tijerina and Justices Clarissa Silva and Lionel Aron Peña Jr. held that the lawsuit — alleging Google violated state law when it made certain representations about how user location information and browsing history data is collected — cannot proceed in Texas courts.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we preview a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Landry’s that’s slated for trial this week, another trial in the 26-year dispute between David Clapper and American Realty Investors is averted, and the Fifth Circuit sends a malpractice lawsuit against Beck Redden to state court.
Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock has been on the court since 2018 and has been elevated to fill the chief justice position left vacant by Nathan Hecht’s retirement. Hecht had helmed the court since 2013. Also on Monday, the governor named James P. Sullivan as the newest member of the Texas Supreme Court. Both men formerly served as general counsel to the governor.
Rulings in the two latest cases and a third decided in May set up a demanding standard for when police officers can be sued over injuries and deaths caused while pursuing suspects or responding to calls for help. Although the circumstances varied, the court said none of the cases met the emergency exception to governmental immunity.
While the court’s original order lifting the injunction, issued Monday, was signed by the three judges who issued it — Judges Carl E. Stewart, Catharina Haynes and Stephen A. Higginson — the subsequent order putting the nationwide injunction back in place, issued Thursday, was not signed, but entered instead by the clerk of the court at the direction of the court.
Four years after devastating power outages resulted in death and destruction, justices will hear arguments in February on the utility companies’ mandamus effort to end claims by more than 15,000 plaintiffs. The utilities say they had no duty under the exigent circumstances to supply power to any particular customers for any particular duration.
Judge Andrew S. Oldham and the majority focused their decision on a requirement in the Securities Exchange Act dictating that the SEC must first find that any proposed regulation “is related to the purposes of the Exchange Act” before approving it. Judge Stephen A. Higginson focused his dissent on the “limited reviewing role” Congress carved out for the SEC as it relates to its ability to approve rules proposed by “self-regulatory organizations” like Nasdaq.
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