Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Gibbs & Bruns partner Caitlin Halpern recalls a first trial that came together in 48 hours and a parole win that ended in a hurricane. She also talks about the rise of the Texas Business Court and the pop playlist that gets her ready for the trial.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Angela Colmenero as federal judge for the Southern District of Texas Wednesday with a 50-47 vote, succeeding Judge Lee H. Rosenthal. The Senate also confirmed Kasdin Mitchell as federal judge for the Northern District of Texas Friday with a 49-45 vote. She is succeeding Judge Barbara Lynn.
A Tarrant County jury unanimously awarded the state of Washington $24 million in damages in a fraudulent transfer and veil piercing case against two affiliated Frisco-based wealth advisory businesses.
Houston has the courts, the law and the infrastructure to compete as a seat for international arbitration, but few people outside Texas seem to know it. A recent CLE session dug into what's holding the city back, and what a working group is now doing about it, from a modernized arbitration statute to a data-backed appeal to general counsel.
A year after Tricolor collapsed into bankruptcy, the SEC’s new fraud case is the latest multimillion-dollar turn in the problems faced by the subprime auto lender that have left it in liquidation and at the center of criminal fraud charges against its former executives.
After a nearly weeklong trial, a Marshall jury found a group of Chinese tech companies owe $27 million for infringing four patents related to creating and selling 3D printers. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap presided over the trial.
A fight between two former business partners who made tens of millions of dollars together building a futures prop firm in Austin before the relationship soured and spilled into separate fights in state and federal court in Texas recently ended in rare fashion. The plaintiff, Leo Riot, who in December 2024 had accused Darrell Martin and John Skelton, his former partners at Apex Trader Funding, of defrauding him, breaching contracts and misappropriating his intellectual property issued a public statement in August conceding none of his claims were true.
A Fort Worth jury found Trinity Valley School liable for defamation and retaliation and awarded its former human resources director more than $10 million in damages earlier this month. Carrie Skains sued her former employer in December 2024 for sex discrimination, retaliation and defamatory statements that claimed she kept information about a teacher who exposed himself to children in order to protect him.
Texas is a massive hub for energy systems. While current industry efforts target a rapidly growing and changing economy, it continues to rely on infrastructure that is years, and in some cases decades, old. When aging infrastructure fails, the consequences can be severe, leading to personal injuries and even death. For the legal industry, this creates a question: When aging infrastructure fails, who bears the legal responsibility?
Buena Vista Lyons, an employment litigation principal, has joined Jackson Lewis in Dallas from FordHarrison.
Space Exploration Technologies filed suit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Grimes County over a public records request.
The suit filed Tuesday before Travis County Judge Aurora Martinez Jones focuses on four Texas Public Information Act requests. SpaceX claims one request was withdrawn before a ruling was issued, and another request did not include any documents regarding the company.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Johnston Tobey Baruch managing shareholder Chad Baruch shares his experience representing hip-hop artists in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court and highlights a surge in Texas mandamus practice. He also shares his top brief-writing tips and pet peeves.
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