Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Dallas-based Dean Omar Branham Shirley on Monday secured a $1.5 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson and other defendants in a jury trial in Baltimore, a figure which includes a whopping $1 billion in punitive damages assessed only against Johnson & Johnson.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a group of wildfire survivors, represented by Susman Godfrey, are awarded $62 million in damages by a jury in Oregon, federal indictments against the former executives of Dallas-based Tricolor are unsealed and the founder and CEO of an aerospace company in McKinney is accused by former executives he hired of firing them after they refused to commit a $1 million “theft.”
Johnson & Johnson owes a 37-year-old mother of three $65.5 million in damages for causing her mesothelioma, a jury in Minnesota determined Friday afternoon.
Anna Jean Houghton Carley, who was diagnosed with terminal peritoneal mesothelioma in February, alleged exposure to Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder throughout her childhood exposed her to asbestos and contributed to her developing mesothelioma.
Ben Braly of Dean Omar Branham Shirley, who represented Carley at trial, said the case wasn’t just about compensation, but about “truth and accountability.”
In the four separate lawsuits filed in Travis County District Court by families whose daughters were killed in the July 4 flooding of the Guadalupe River that swept through Camp Mystic, the defendants are arguing the cases should not proceed in Austin.
Instead, the cases should be litigated in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic sits and where “all relevant events in this lawsuit took place,” recently filed motions argue.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Haynes Boone counsel Catherine Robb talks about media defamation cases and what drew her to a First Amendment practice. Robb also discusses her family’s legacy and what she hopes hers is.
Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced he was suing Southwestern Public Service Company, which does business as Xcel Energy, for allegedly causing 2024’s Smokehouse Creek Fire. The fire, which killed three and caused more than $1 billion in damages, was the largest wildfire in recorded Texas history. (File photo by Julio Cortez/The Associated Press)
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, on the same day a patent holder who won a $445.5 million verdict against Samsung Electronics asked the court for a permanent injunction that would bar the company from selling its infringing phone, the tech giant asked the court for a new trial.
Two Texas corporate giants — Keurig Dr Pepper and Energy Transfer — are the finalists for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. The senior counsel for both companies are alumni of the same Dallas litigation boutique and the lead outside lawyers are alums of the same law firm but are now trial partners at two of the largest and wealthiest corporate law firms in the world.
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