Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Chief Judge Jennifer Elrod of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has filed an official complaint claiming there is probable cause that U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of Dallas “treated other judges and judicial employees in a demonstrably egregious and hostile manner” and that she “created a hostile work environment” for those who work with her, according to Bloomberg Law.
Adam Sanderson was in a patent trial in Chicago in 2016 when opposing counsel pulled him aside. He had a potential big case but also a conflict and offered to introduce Sanderson to his client. Today, a decade later, Sanderson won a $213 million federal jury verdict for those clients in a patent case against Comcast.
A recent Lawbook piece cited trial experts predicting juries would become AI’s de facto regulators as litigation surges. History says otherwise — pointing to how Congress and state legislatures moved to shield gun makers and businesses from similar waves of lawsuits before they ever reached juries.
A Tarrant County jury awarded a local family more than $21.6 million after finding that construction defects in their home exposed them to toxic sewer gas, mold and insects, in violation of the state Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The jury trial began on Oct. 5 in Judge Don Cosby’s courtroom in Fort Worth.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office closes out a case involving an alleged $91 million Ponzi scheme, a Dallas jury sides with Jani-King in a franchisee dispute, ExxonMobil investors are granted class certification in a securities suit and a Fifth Circuit panel affirms Pioneer Natural Resources’ force majeure win in a Winter Storm Uri dispute.
Four of the Texas Business Court’s September opinions asked a threshold question: Can the court hear this case at all? The answers show a court leaning on its own growing body of precedent and a strictly textual reading of its jurisdiction statute. September also brought a Rule 91a fight over an expelled LLC member and a venture capitalist’s claim to a share of a multibillion-dollar sale that ran into his own release.
The chief judge of the Northern District of Texas has issued two separate “special orders” that remove all civil and criminal cases from the docket of U.S. District Judge Ada Brown, who is a highly respected jurist and believed to be the only Native American woman federal judge in Texas. Neither of the special orders provides an explanation.
For Texas litigators and corporate counsel, overcoming hesitation toward mandatory arbitration requires leveraging contractual design — either by expanding judicial review under the Texas Arbitration Act or using private appellate panels to eliminate unreviewable legal error.
Opening statements began Thursday morning in a breach-of-contract jury trial between an oil and gas company and a clean-energy technology developer. Jury selection took all day Tuesday, and there were not enough jurors present to proceed Wednesday, delaying the two-week jury trial.
Ryan Higgins elaborated on his move in the following Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, where he talks about how he is integrating artificial intelligence into his practice, looks ahead to AI agent litigation, and shares a Rusty story.
The Texas Supreme Court justices heard arguments from counsel Wednesday morning over whether an insurance policy covers personal-injury claims made by parties injured in a fatal 2013 ExxonMobil refinery explosion in Beaumont.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Texas Business Court Judge Andrea Bouressa discusses her favorite day on the bench and what has surprised her about serving. She also shares what she hopes will come next for the court as it continues to grow.
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