Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Friday morning the Texas Supreme Court determined that Robert Cox and a group of nine other cotton farmers presented insufficient evidence to proceed with their lawsuit alleging Helena Chemical Company’s negligent aerial application of Sendero damaged their crops. A trial court had tossed the suit on summary judgment, but the Eastland Court of Appeals partially revived it, teeing up the high court battle.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Marriott gets rolling, Dell Technologies gets a win in a $450 million patent infringement lawsuit and the Fifth Circuit agrees Landry’s is on the hook for data breach damages.
On Friday the Texas Supreme Court granted a petition for review from USA Lending Group that aims to revive a legal malpractice lawsuit it filed against Winstead PC regarding the firm’s in a lawsuit against a former employee. USA Lending sued Winstead after its attorneys failed to request damages in a motion for default judgment, which the company alleges cost it about $1.2 million. The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether the Texas Citizens Participation Act applies to the case.
The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case for the second time Tuesday, this time with two justices from the intermediate appellate court stepping in for two high court justices who recused themselves. The major issue in the dispute is whether Texas courts have jurisdiction to hear the state’s case against Volkswagen Germany and Audi Germany.
This summer, Bradley Toben will return to the faculty, where he first began teaching law courses in 1983, following his tenure as the longest-serving dean of any American Bar Association-accredited law school in the country.
Retail electric provider Just Energy has asked the Austin Court of Appeals to allow it to join a lawsuit brought by a half-dozen other Texas power suppliers challenging the legality of Texas Public Utility Commission orders increasing the price of electricity during Winter Storm Uri in 2021 by 650 percent.
A three-judge panel of a federal appellate court has rejected a last-ditch effort by three banks to postpone an upcoming trial in which victims in the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme are seeking billions of dollars in damages. The four most powerful words from the lips of a United States district judge are simply, ‘Call your first witness,’ and the veteran presiding judge will so state in a few short days,” the Fifth Circuit stated in the three-page decision.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a federal judge finds more flaws in the No Surprises Act, a Houston attorney is found guilty of obstruction of justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton agrees to apologize and pay-up to settle Whistleblower suit.
The state’s high court, minus three justices who recused themselves from the case, heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case that’s being closely watched by the insurance industry, economic and trial lawyer interest groups and law professors. The case presents the court with an opportunity to clarify the proper standard of review for noneconomic damages awards.
After eight years on the Dallas Court of Appeals, former justice David Schenck is practicing law at his old law firm. In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Schenck said Dykema was the only firm he seriously considered.
Currently, judges and justices in Texas are required by the state’s constitution to retire at age 75 in most instances. A legislator from Angleton has authored a resolution that would give voters an opportunity to amend the constitution and do away with that requirement.
Allied Aviation and Ulysses Cruz filed a brief this week with the First Court of Appeals in Houston explaining they are close to finalizing a mediated settlement in the personal injury lawsuit and seeking an abatement of the appeal.
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