Appellate Archives - Page 36 of 72

HP’s Hartz: ‘People Were Going to Jail. We Knew We had a Great Case’

For a decade, HP battled a Taiwanese-based CD-ROM maker in courts from Texas to California over allegations of price fixing. HP senior counsel Brad Hartz and his team worked several thousand hours on objections, motions to dismiss, depositions and intense fights over discovery. HP’s outside counsel, Beck Redden, worked another 5,000 hours. It all paid off on June 5, 2020, when a federal appeals court handed Hartz and Beck Redden a $438 million victory. This is the behind the scenes story of one of the biggest judgments upheld by the Fifth Circuit in a decade and the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year.

Photo (credit Dylan Aguilar): Brad Hartz (center right) with attorneys from Beck Redden

January 7, 2022 Mark Curriden

First Up Before SCOTUS in New Year: Scott Keller

Scott Keller, the former Texas solicitor general and a new kid among private practitioners on the appellate block in Washington, will be first up before the U.S. Supreme Court in the new year when he urges the court to halt the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for companies with 100 or more employees. The argument, tomorrow, is a rare Friday session for the Supreme Court.

January 6, 2022 Tony Mauro

Sarah Weddington, Advocate in the Landmark Case Roe v. Wade, Dies in Austin at 76

Austin attorney Sarah Weddington’s death Sunday left a legion of colleagues and admirers following her abortion-rights legacy from her world-shaking win in Roe v. Wade.

December 28, 2021 Tony Mauro

Fifth Circuit Backs DOJ in Walmart Appeal of East Texas Case

A three-judge panel Wednesday unanimously affirmed an EDTX decision dismissing a case brought by Walmart challenging a federal investigation into widespread irregularities in the distribution of opioids through Walmart pharmacies in Texas and other states. Litigation writer Natalie Posgate has details.

December 23, 2021 Natalie Posgate

Fifth Circuit to RealPage: Go Phish

A federal appeals court Wednesday held that the Richardson-based property management-software company, a recent victim of a phishing expedition, cannot recover $6 million in stolen funds from its insurer, which affirmed a lower-court ruling that reached the same conclusion.

December 22, 2021 Natalie Posgate

Dismissal of Winter-Storm Claim Against ERCOT Sidesteps Immunity Question

A state appellate court rejected San Antonio’s claim of exorbitant pricing by ERCOT during Winter Storm Uri, but did not address the key question of whether the operator of the Texas power grid has sovereign immunity from lawsuits.

December 17, 2021 Bruce Tomaso

SCOTUS Grants Review in Texas Dispute Over Sovereign Immunity

In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to take a Texas sovereign-immunity case that originated from one of the state appellate courts rather than from the Texas Supreme Court.

December 16, 2021 Tony Mauro

Former Dallas Appellate Justice Joins Thompson Coburn

With the move, Douglas Lang will co-chair the St. Louis-based firm’s national appellate practice.

December 15, 2021 Osler McCarthy

The Latest ‘Bar Wars’ Wrinkles: a Final Judgment and a Cert Petition

As lawyers who oppose mandatory membership in the Texas State Bar ask the U.S. Supreme Court for review of a Fifth Circuit decision, the trial judge in the case has issued a final judgment that may allow the bar to proceed with its plans to comply with the circuit’s holding.

December 7, 2021 Tony Mauro

Q&A with Osler McCarthy about Osler, the Texas Supreme Court and the Future of The Texas Lawbook

Osler McCarthy joined The Texas Lawbook last week as the publication’s managing editor and head of appellate law coverage. The Lawbook sat down with McCarthy last week for a Q&A about his decisions to be a journalist and lawyer, including his thoughts about two decades as the Texas Supreme Court’s staff attorney for public information and now his decision to return to journalism.

December 6, 2021 Mark Curriden