Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Medical and business groups warn that the future of doctor-owned hospitals hangs in the balance as the Texas Supreme Court considers whether a hospital partnership could be vicariously liable for a physician-partner’s alleged negligence.
The Fifth Circuit recently reversed the dismissal on the pleadings of a products liability claim, noting the difficulties faced by plaintiffs who lack access to critical information in the defendants’ files.
The Supreme Court of Texas in two cases this month limited municipal immunity for cities engaged in discretionary activity. The court ruled in a third case that city officers must act within their legal authority for immunity to apply. The unanimous decisions are expected to impact pending cases, including a $19 million gas lease fight between the City of Dallas and Trinity East Energy.
The Supreme Court of Texas recently upheld a 55-cent-per-pack tax on the makers of discount cigarettes, finding the Legislature had a rational basis to distinguish between small manufacturers and Big Tobacco companies that settled with the state in 1998.
Royal Brin’s first job as a lawyer was at the U.S. base in Guadalcanal during World War II. After the war ended, he started working at Strasburger & Price in Dallas. The firm had less than 10 lawyers. Last month, Brin celebrated his 70th year at Strasburger. He’s advanced from being a courthouse runner to defending insurance companies in personal injury and death cases to developing a specialty in appellate law. Today, he is considered by many as one of the deans of the state’s appellate bar. The 96-year-old Dallas native still shows up to work every day and regularly attends the appellate group’s meetings. But there is another craft that Brin has mastered and practiced longer than the law – magic.
A federal appeals court reinstated a million-dollar jury verdict for a severely disabled Keller Independent School District student who had been abused by a former special education teacher. In doing so, the Fifth Circuit provided litigants and judges a much clearer road-map about when parents or other parties may bring civil claims on behalf of minors who are unable to competently make legal decisions on their own.
A $19 million mineral lease fight between the city of Dallas and Trinity East Energy could be impacted by a pair of appeals pending before the Texas Supreme Court that question a municipality’s immunity from breach of contract suits.
Major news organizations want the Supreme Court of Texas to maintain strong libel defense protections for journalists who report on government investigations. The media outlets, including The Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle, say journalists should be able to report on factual information obtained from government reports or official proceedings without fear of being sued for failure to include information not contained in the report and unknown to them.
The three sitting Texas Supreme Court justices – Paul Green, Eva Guzman and Debra Lehrmann – won their Republican primary races Tuesday. Two of the races were closer than court watchers predicted.
Justice Scalia believed that words matter. Words of the Constitution matter. The framers chose them, the Congress endorsed them, and the states ratified them. They were discussed and debated in communities and through the media across the country. Those words, we decided, are what the government should be. Words matter.
The Supreme Court of Texas upheld its ruling from last year when the majority interpreted a drilling lease as clearly excluding post-production costs from royalties.
A series of emails and phone calls from a Canadian company to Texas concerning a hotly contested stock purchase are the focus of arguments in a $100 million contract-interference dispute under consideration by the Texas Supreme Court. The justices are e court is weighing whether ERG Resources, a Houston independent oil and gas operator, has the right to proceed in Texas courts with its claims against its Canadian rival for assets in Colombia.
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