Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Just six days after telling parties in a separate appeal that the court could not locate a handful of cases cited by the appellant, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas on Wednesday told a man representing himself in a child custody case that it couldn’t locate eight cases he cited.
Justice Boyd issued a statement that he’ll be leaving the bench “near the end” of the court’s term this summer. “I am honored and blessed to have served on the Texas Supreme Court these past 12 years,” he said. “I’m especially grateful to gov. Rick Perry for appointing me to the court in 2012, to the many Texans who have encouraged, supported, and voted for me though two statewide elections, to my many court and campaign colleagues and coworkers for their friendship and inspiration, and to my wife Jackie and our children for reminding me daily of life’s most important blessings.”
CirclesX Recovery, which describes itself as a software and data analytics company, argues MDL Judge Sylvia Matthews granted a motion to dismiss its lawsuit accusing some of the biggest energy companies of manipulating the natural gas market ahead of the 2021 winter storm, “without any analysis or explanation as to how or in what respect Appellant failed to plead its claims.”
Roger S. Braugh Sr. played both quarterback and defensive back for the Southern Methodist University football team from 1960 until 1962. He died in March 2019 and an autopsy performed at Boston University showed the cause was stage IV CTE. A Dallas County judge dismissed the suit after agreeing with the NCAA that the two-year deadline to bring the lawsuit had lapsed.
The Texas Citizens Participation Act has helped media defendants and public advocates fight meritless lawsuits aimed at intimidating them into silence. Now, legislators are reviewing the anti-SLAPP law’s automatic stay of trial proceedings during an interlocutory appeal of a motion to dismiss. Critics of the 2011 law say it is too broadly written, allowing unscrupulous defendants to delay cases that have nothing to do with free speech. The high-stakes battle is playing out at the Capitol where supporters from across the political landscape face off against powerful business interests — with observers wondering if a compromise is possible.
A fourth-year associate in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher made his first oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday when he defended a ruling by a lower court that neither the U.S. Justice Department nor the defendant in the case believe was correct.
The crux of the case is whether the Railway Labor Act preempts the claims brought by SWAPA. Boeing says it does because deciding the case requires interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement between Southwest Airlines and its pilots. SWAPA says the RLA does not preempt its suit because the act only applies to claims between airline carriers and employees, and Boeing is not either of those.
Advances in technologies to treat water produced from oil and gas fracking operations has made what was a worthless by-product into a potentially valuable resource. It’s now worth fighting for, as evidenced by arguments in the closely watched case of Cactus Water Services v. Cog Operating.
© Copyright 2025 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
