Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Texas Supreme Court said the wrongful death case was improperly cast as a premises liability claim. The plaintiff will lose her day in court by failing to meet a deadline for submitting an expert report required for health care liability claims. The assisted living industry was watching closely.
In a 7-2 ruling issued Friday morning, the last day of the court’s term, the justices denied a request from the former owner of the Houston Astros, Drayton McLane, to bring an early end to a lawsuit brought by the team’s current owner, Jim Crane, alleging lies and deceptions caused him to overpay for the team in 2011. The ruling means Crane will have a chance to proceed with a trial in Harris County where he is seeking to recoup the entire $332 million he paid for a stake in the Houston Regional Sports Network that was part of his $615 million purchase of the Major League Baseball team.
Cindy V. Tisdale, a partner at Goranson Bain Ausley in Granbury, was sworn in June 22 as the new president of the State Bar of Texas. Tisdale, who practices family law, answered questions from The Lawbook about why she sought to lead the organization and what her goals are.
Bracewell partner W. Stephen Benesh was sworn in as president-elect of the State Bar of Texas June 22 during the annual meeting in Austin. He answered questions from The Lawbook about why he wanted to take a leadership role and what his goals are.
A sharply divided Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is a government agency and is entitled to sovereign immunity from civil lawsuits. In a highly anticipated decision, the state’s highest court for civil litigation ruled that “because ERCOT performs a ‘uniquely governmental’ function as part of a ‘larger governmental system’, it is an organ of government.”
The decision to declare ERCOT a state agency and grant it immunity directly impacts thousands of wrongful death, personal injury and property damage lawsuits brought by victims of Winter Storm Uri and currently pending in a multidistrict litigation in Harris County District Court. ERCOT is a defendant in nearly all of those cases.
The Lawbook has pulled together some highlights of past battles won, lost and settled between the four Houston lawyers leading the prosecution and defense in Ken Paxton’s Senate impeachment trial. Dick DeGuerin, Rusty Hardin, Dan Cogdell and Tony Buzbee have all handled blockbuster trials in their legal careers, but here we explore instances where they were involved in the same case.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a Texas federal judge threatens to toss a minority investor suit against Blackstone Inc., a Houston boutique notches a PTAB win against Apple, and the Texas Supreme Court agrees to hear a suit stemming from the handling of a fen-phen settlement.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a federal judge in Houston correctly rejected Ramey LLP's claims against Amegy Bank’s parent company, Zions Bancorporation, regarding the bank’s decision to freeze and seize $249,300 related to Ramey’s forgivable loan request under the Paycheck Protection Program.
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