TX Solicitor Keller Joins Baker Botts, Kyle Hawkins is Replacement
Scott Keller, the solicitor general for Texas for the past three-and-one-half years, is joining Baker Botts as a partner in its appellate law section.
Fifth Circuit: Birds of a Feather are Trademarked Together
Monty Python’s famous “Dead Parrot” sketch involved John Cleese and Michael Palin debating whether a dead bird sold by a pet store was, in fact, deceased. In that same spirit, the recent Fifth Circuit case...
DBJ: U.S. government appeals AT&T, Time Warner decision
According to legal filings submitted Thursday, the government is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after it lost the case last month that sought to block the tie-up of the two companies.
SCOTX: State Not Immune From Anti-‘SLAPP’ Penalties
AUSTIN – (July 2) – In a 5-3 decision, the Texas Supreme Court Friday ruled against an effort to remove from office a county hospital district trustee who wanted to zero out the district’s tax rate. The state not only failed to establish a case for the trustee’s removal, it might owe attorney’s fees under the state’s “anti-SLAPP” statute. The Texas Lawbook has the story.
Appeals Court Reverses Right of First Refusal Mineral Rights Issue
A Texarkana appeals court has issued an opinion that favors a Dallas E&P company in a mineral rights dispute in East Texas and provides clarity on right of first refusal clauses in oil and gas leases.
SCOTX Delivers Blows To Xerox, Dentists in Medicaid Fraud Cases
The Texas Supreme Court Friday delivered a one-two punch to a group of dentists and a state contractor who were pointing fingers at each other over allegations of massive fraud in the state’s Medicaid orthodontic program.
SCOTX: Did Someone Interfere with your Inheritance? Too Bad.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday that there is no cause of action in Texas for intentional interference with inheritance, a ruling that will not allow the heirs of a wealthy oilman to invalidate a will change that gave a bulk of their inheritance to charities.
SCOTX Trashes Laredo’s Plastic-Bag-Ban Ordinance
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the City of Laredo’s plastic-bag-ban ordinance is invalid and cannot be enforced because it directly conflicts with a superseding state law passed in 2015.
State Bar Litigation Section to Recognize Dallas Court of Appeals Chief Justice Carolyn Wright as Texas Legal Legend
The Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas will induct Chief Justice Wright as a Texas Legal Legend at the State Bar’s Annual Meeting in Houston on June 21.
SCOTX: Context Presumes Intent In Murphy Exploration Lease Case
SCOTX last week ruled in yet another dispute pitting the plain language of oil and gas leases against the variable technology of the industry. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the Fourth Court of Appeals erred when it imputed a more stringent requirement for the placement an offset well in the Eagle Ford Shale than either the actual lease or the realities of horizontal drilling allowed. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Appellate Law Expert Moves into Spouse’s Old Office at Gibson Dunn
(June 4) – When James Ho left the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in January to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, he left a huge vacancy in the firm's appellate practice. Turns out the firm didn't have to look that far to replace him. Meet the other half of a couple some call "legal royalty" in Texas appellate law.
SCOTX: New Leases End Old Leases – Unless They Don’t
(May 31) – The Texas Supreme Court tried to simplify its earlier rulings on oil and gas titles with a remarkably simple principle: a new lease supplants an old lease unless the new lease says it doesn’t. The ruling is bad news for TRO-X L.P., who sought to collect from Anadarko on a “back-in” option in a lease long-since transferred. The Texas Lawbook has the details.