Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could lay out the rules for deciding how to read a drilling lease’s force majeure clause. The case involves a driller’s response to unforeseen circumstances and its miscalculation of a deadline.
The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether Jim Crane can proceed with his lawsuit over the allegedly inflated price he paid for the stake in a regional sports network. Two lower courts have denied bids by the team's former owner and Comcast to end the lawsuit. Michelle Casady tuned into oral arguments Tuesday as the Houston Astros prepare for Game 1 of the World Series.
Dallas District Judge Tonya Parker announced Monday that she intends to seek election to an upcoming opening on the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas.
Judge Parker, a widely respected trial judge who consistently ranks among the top three judges for judicial temperament and legal knowledge by Dallas Bar Association members, sent an email to supporters stating that she has been “seriously considering a run for court of appeals” for some time.
Seven federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, have rejected arguments that federal financial regulators should not be funded by assessments made outside the usual budgeting process. The reasoning was those fundings are done pursuant to acts of Congress.
The Fifth Circuit in Community Financial Services Association of America v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw matters otherwise and cited several drafters of the Constitution, including the ubiquitous Alexander Hamilton.
Ed Sullivan and Sam Kaplan (pictured center) have been friends for 30 years, beginning when they met at the University of Texas as undergraduates. Later they both decided to become lawyers.
Their friendship continued but never as intensely as it did this year, while working together on a case that would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, argued Oct. 12, was Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, a dispute about whether highly paid employees are eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is an important issue for the oil and gas industry. The case was brought by Michael Hewitt, a “tool-pusher” on an offshore oil rig. Other amicus briefs indicated that the outcome of the case could affect a range of organizations including nursing.
In an order issued Wednesday, the court vacated a panel’s Aug. 3 ruling that ended the lawsuit and set the case for rehearing before the entire court. The three-judge panel that issued the original ruling siding with Dallas County called for en banc review in the opinion, lamenting that court precedent mandated dismissal of the suit challenging a gender-based scheduling policy.
The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Oct. 26 in the case that asks it to decide whether a group of cotton farmers suing Helena Chemical Co. for crop damage allegedly caused by the aerial application of an herbicide have presented enough evidence to survive a no-evidence motion for summary judgment. In amicus briefs recently filed, the Chamber and the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association each warned the court of dire consequences that could flow from its ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied review — and habeas relief — for the killer in a notorious 2004 Sherman case who murdered his estranged wife, turning down his argument that he was denied effective assistance of counsel after his trial counsel failed to strike any of three jurors who stated religious objections to interracial marriage or mixed-race children. The habeas corpus effort lingered on the Supreme Court’s docket for more than a year from when it was filed in September 2021 and drew amicus support by leading Texas jurists and ex-PepsiCo general counsel and former deputy U.S. attorney general Larry Thompson.
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