The Texas Lawbook

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Appellate

Travis County District Judge Can’t Shake ‘Vexatious Litigant’ Title

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a unanimous panel opinion Monday rejecting Judge Madeleine Connor’s bid to have Chapter 11 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code declared unconstitutional. Judge Connor, who was added to the list of vexatious litigants after filing a flurry of pro se lawsuits against her neighbors, is barred from filing more pro se litigation without first seeking permission from the local administrative judge. She argued that barrier to the courts violated her First Amendment right to petition. The Fifth Circuit disagreed.

Michelle Casady

Brister Readies for Curtain Rise on Fifteenth COA

Scott A. Brister is winding down his appellate practice as he prepares to once again don a black robe. Brister, who has served at all levels of the Texas court system, on Sept. 1 will step into his new role as chief justice of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. He will be joined on the first and only intermediate appellate court given statewide jurisdiction by Scott K. Field, a Williamson County district judge and former Third Court of Appeals jurist, and April L. Farris of the First Court of Appeals. The trio will need their combined 30 years of judicial experience as they navigate some 70 state-related cases and prepare to develop jurisprudence for the new business trial courts. (Photo by Laura Skelding)

Janet Elliott

Plaintiff, Amici Urge En Banc Reconsideration in ‘Literally Unprecedented’ Axing of $222M Wrongful Death Verdict

Earlier this month, Kansas resident Kelli Most filed a motion for en banc reconsideration with the court. She argued that dismissal of her lawsuit against Team Industrial Services — which came after the Sugar Land-based company had unsuccessfully attempted pretrial to get the appellate court to move the suit out of Texas courts — on grounds that Texas was an inconvenient forum is “literally unprecedented.”

Michelle Casady

Amici Weigh in on Constitutional Challenge to New Fifteenth COA

Three amicus briefs — from Disability Rights Texas, the Texas Business Law Foundation and Texans for Lawsuit Reform — have been filed in the case. While the groups seek different outcomes, Disability Rights Texas and Texans for Lawsuit Reform agree on one issue: the Texas Supreme Court should take the case and issue a decision on the constitutionality issue.

Michelle Casady

Two Texas Lawyers May Face Discipline for Roles in Claiming Lewis Brisbois Name

Attorney Susan C. Norman registered a domestic limited liability partnership under the California-based law firm’s name after discovering the firm’s foreign limited liability partnership registration had lapsed on the Texas secretary of state website, and Bradley B. Beers filed an assumed name certificate. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found the lawyers’ conduct “unbecoming of the profession,” and a U.S. district judge said he wasn’t sure whether he was obligated to refer the lawyers to the Texas State Bar for investigation.

Krista Torralva

FERC Authorization for Two South Texas LNG Projects Halted by Court

Authorizations for the Texas LNG Brownsville and Rio Grande LNG facilities were vacated by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and returned for a second time to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for further environmental scrutiny. The court said FERC was "arbitrary and capricious" in efforts to side-step environmental justice requirements in the approval process.

Allen Pusey

Appellate Panel Says Houston Rodeo Can Keep Payments to Concert Performers Secret

Dolcefino Communications, a for-hire investigative firm run by former longtime Houston television news reporter Wayne Dolcefino, had argued the specific dollar amounts the nonprofit paid to each performer during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo had to be disclosed in response to his open records request. The First Court of Appeals panel determined otherwise in this case of first impression.

Michelle Casady

Fifth Circuit’s FCC Ruling Ripe for SCOTUS Review

The Fifth Circuit majority zeroed in on the “double-layered delegation” of the authority to set the tax rate for the universal service fund, which is used to subsidize phone and internet services for rural and low-income areas, as well as schools, hospitals and libraries, across the country. With the holding, the conservative Fifth Circuit did what the Sixth, Eleventh and D.C. circuits had declined to do in cases brought by the conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research against the FCC raising this same issue.

Michelle Casady

Boeing Asks Texas Supreme Court for Rehearing in SWAPA Case

Doubling down on an argument that was central in its original petition to the court, The Boeing Company told the Texas Supreme Court in a motion for rehearing filed Wednesday that without intervention, Texas will remain “a national outlier on conflict preemption under the federal Railway Labor Act.” The aerospace company is hoping to bring an end to a lawsuit brought by the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association alleging Boeing’s false representations about the airworthiness of the 737 MAX aircraft cost it millions of dollars.

Michelle Casady

Supreme Court of Texas: Which Appeals Courts Fared Best?

The Texas Supreme Court reviewed 96 cases from the state's 14 intermediate appellate courts this past term. Overall, the distribution of outcomes varied, with some courts experiencing a higher rate of affirmations while others saw more reversals or mixed decisions. The Lawbook examined the performance of the appeals courts by the state's highest judicial authority.

Michelle Casady

How One Word in TCPA Puts Pro Bono Litigants at a Disadvantage

One little word within the text of the Texas Citizens Participation Act effectively disincentivizes First Amendment lawyers from taking libel and defamation cases on a pro bono basis. Two lawyers who have won dismissal of such lawsuits brought against their pro bono clients spoke to The Lawbook about prospects for a legislative fix this upcoming session.

Michelle Casady

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