Court reporter Jo Ann Holmgren and her firm, Preferred Legal Services, are seeking a court finding that the Judicial Branch Certification Commission failed to do its job when it dismissed a complaint of alleged violations of court reporting laws by a digital recording company. The Third Court of Appeals rejected the JBCC’s appeal and remanded the case to the trial court.
Voting Underway on State Bar’s Proposed Rule Changes
Most of the proposed rules on the State Bar of Texas rules vote ballot are similar to American Bar Association rules and modernize Texas laws, an expert said. The voting period closes April 30.
U.S. Fifth Circuit Rejects Environmental Complaints Against Offshore Oil Transfer Platform
In a decision filed Thursday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit upheld the federal permitting for the Sea Port Oil Terminal project, a massive crude pipeline network and storage facility to be located off the Texas coast. The appeals court refused a demand by environmental groups that the U.S. Maritime Administration revisit the environmental impact of the project for its potential harm to the ecological balance in the Gulf of Mexico and the possible extinction of the endangered Rice’s whale.
Fifth Circuit Hears Mining Companies’ Bid to Undo Pecan Farm’s Jury Win
Just east of Austin, Martin Marietta Materials and TXI Operations operate a sand and gravel mine on the banks of the Colorado River. Their neighbor across the river, on the northern bank, is Good River Farms, a 377-acre pecan farm containing about 8,000 trees that has been owned and operated by the Wimberly family since 1959. This lawsuit was spawned from a major rain event — described as a 120-year flood — that hit the area on Oct. 30, 2015.