Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In what has become a monthly ritual, the state’s highest court issued its 18th emergency order related to the COVID-19 pandemic that essentially extends its previous emergency order from May 26 for another month, except in a few specific circumstances. The ban on civil and criminal jury trials, as well as civil case filing deadlines, have been extended into September.
In a big win for private insurance companies, the Texas Supreme Court said more than $50 million in disputed air ambulance fees were covered by Texas Workers Compensation standards, not federal aviation rules.
Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht says domestic abuse cases are “up quite a bit” during the past 15 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are not enough lawyers doing pro bono to help abused women and children. The chief justice’s comments came during a webcast conducted by the Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, which celebrated the 2020 Women’s Advocacy Awards.
An appeals court in Missouri handed 20 women, including two from Texas, a partial but still major $2.11 billion victory Tuesday by upholding a jury’s verdict against a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson for making and selling asbestos-containing talcum powder products that led to the women being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Almost 10 years after it began, the Texas Supreme Court has ended a contentious legal battle over a business partnership breakup. While the reasoning behind tossing a multimillion-dollar judgment was simple, the justices found themselves debating over a lesser-included issue about who can recover damages on behalf of a partnership.
Houston pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners will have to renegotiate with a Brazoria County landowner who sought $3.4 million for a pipeline easement across his property, the Texas First Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman has served on three different courts in six years. His cases and issues run the gamut. Central to his judicial philosophy is to acknowledge what he doesn’t know. In a wide-ranging interview with Haynes and Boone appellate lawyer Chris Knight, Judge Pittman told his story and shared his judicial preferences.
Daniel Geyser, a former assistant solicitor general for the State of Texas, has become one of the most active Texas lawyers before the nation's high court.
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