Houston Law Firm Adds Former Texas Supreme Court Justice to Name
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman joined the Houston law firm of Wright Close & Barger in 2022 as a partner. Now, the firm is adding her name to the shingle.
Hunton AK Adds New Leader of Appellate Practice
Longtime appellate practitioner joins Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Austin office to lead the firm’s state appellate practice. Ryan Clinton brings experience from the Texas Attorney General’s Office and private practice.
A Statistical Review of the 2024–2025 SCOTX Term
The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in 63 cases and issued decisions in 62 of those cases during the past term. Those cases ranged from the typical cases the state's highest court hears each year — petitions for review arising from the state courts of appeals, a handful of certified questions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a few mandamus petitions — to a few cases in less common procedural postures, like an appeal from the Board of Disciplinary Appeals and a direct appeal from a trial court. One of the first questions clients often ask when seeking to reverse or defend a decision at the Texas Supreme Court is, “What are my odds?”
Hicks Johnson Hires New Leader of its Appellate Practice
Andrew Gould started a new job Monday as the leader of Hicks Johnson’s appellate practice in Houston.
Fifth Circuit Panel Says National Labor Relations Board’s Structure is Likely Unconstitutional
Three federal district courts in Texas saw their judgments affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Tuesday. The Fifth Circuit determined the district courts did not abuse their discretion in granting preliminary injunctions for SpaceX, Energy Transfer and Findhelp halting administrative proceedings before the NLRB while they pursue constitutional challenges to the agency’s structure.
Fifth Circuit Splits in Property Rights Case, Reverses Southern District’s Judgment
An apartment complex damaged by Hurricane Harvey sees a reversal in a constitutional takings case that the city of Houston shouldn’t have denied its request for a repair permit. The case returns to the Southern District for further proceedings to compensate the apartment complex.
Texas ER Docs Win Fifth Circuit Reversal Against the Blues
Fifty-six Texas emergency medical physician groups will get to pursue legal claims that two dozen Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans underpaid them for treating patients. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that a Texas federal judge wrongly dismissed hundreds and hundreds of claims for tens of millions of dollars by ER doctors from Texarkana to Port Arthur and from Collin County to Odessa.
Oil, One Lawyer and Only 64 Souls: Fifth Circuit Weighs in on Loving County’s War of Neighbors
A West Texas justice of the peace, sheriff and constable walked into a Fifth Circuit courtroom. No joke. This is the story of six residents of Loving County — together, they account for about one-tenth of the county’s total population — who took their decade-long political dispute over allegations of voter intimidation, jury fraud, “lawfare” and even cattle rustling and turned it into a billion-dollar civil rights litigation. Such is life in Loving County, population 64, but only one lawyer. (2021 file photo by David Goldman/AP)
Haynes Boone Welcomes Two-Time SCOTUS Clerk to Appellate Practice Groups
Michael Qian clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Ketanji Brown Jackson before serving as counselor to the attorney general of the United States. His addition boosts the firm’s Supreme Court team.
Trade Secrets Case Offers a Roadmap on Preemption, Jury Charges
The lawyer who represents a dozen former DNOW employees said a recent opinion by the Fourteenth Court of Appeals reversed a significant trial award and reshapes the legal landscape in Texas for trade secret and fiduciary duty claims. The appeal resulted in more than $2 million in attorneys’ fees and costs for the ex-employees, who were accused of conspiring to steal DNOW’s trade secrets.
WhereverTV is Headed Back to Trial in its Infringement Claims Against Comcast
WhereverTV accused Comcast of infringing a patent covering its interactive program guide and was trying the case before a jury in April 2023. But before the jury heard closing arguments or began deliberations, a federal judge in Florida agreed with Comcast that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, ending the case. Now, the Federal Circuit Court has remanded the case for a second jury trial.
In Landmark Decision, SCOTX Holds that Produced Water Belongs to the Mineral Estate Lessee
The decision provides clarity for upstream and midstream entities, landowners and environmental tech startups grappling with the emerging value of what was once considered merely a wasteful byproduct — produced water — but now, through technological advances in recycling and mineral extraction, has the potential to become a new source of significant revenue.