Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
After four years of heavy litigating, lawyers at Bracewell, Yetter Coleman and Quinn Emanuel are preparing for battle. An upcoming trial between the lawyers' clients, IBM and KKR-owned BMC, will involve mainframe software, a lucrative project for AT&T and a nine-figure damages model.
In a surprise move for the typically employer-friendly state, Texas laws on sexual harassment officially became more protective of employees than federal law on Sept. 1. The “new Texas Sexual Harassment Law” expands liability for sexual harassment to employers of all sizes, and to individual managers, who may now be held personally liable for failing to remedy sexual harassment. The new statutes also heightened the standards on employers to take action and extends the deadline to file charges of discrimination based on sexual harassment.
A federal jury in U.S. District Court Judge Alan Albright's court ruled this week that Texas-based Profectus Technology failed to prove that Google infringed on Profectus’s patent for a “digital picture display frame,” an internet visual interface, in developing the Google Nest Hub.
A federal district court in Houston has followed the recommendation of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones to dismiss all remaining litigation between French bank Natixis Funding Corp. and GenOn Mid-Atlantic over a $130 million credit arrangement gone south for two coal-fired power plants in Maryland.
After 12 years of litigation, a federal judge rules Susman’s client, the Dutch energy company Vitol, is entitled to keep the money it received for supplying fuel oil to Puerto Rico’s state-run electric utility between 2005 and 2009.
Two former top federal prosecutors in Texas landed a $36 million jury verdict in a False Claims Act case in Alabama Friday. Treble damages in the qui tam case, which involved the sale of helicopters to the U.S. Army, could reach more than $100 million. Litigation Writer Natalie Posgate has the names and details.
ERCOT, operator of the Texas electric grid, says it was just following orders when it charged Brazos Electric Power Coop roughly $2 billion for power and related services provided during the deadly storm in February – a staggering bill that drove Brazos, the state’s largest and oldest electric cooperative, into bankruptcy. The Texas Lawbook has the story.
A federal judge in Fort Worth has deferred until Oct. 8 a temporary injunction hearing in which six United Airlines employees seek to block the airline from terminating or placing them on unpaid leave in light of the employees’ resistance to the airline’s mandatory Covid vaccine policy, which they rejected for religious and medical reasons. A hearing was supposed to take place Friday afternoon, but the parties worked out an agreement instead. The Lawbook has the latest on the case, the names of the lawyers involved and comments from both sides of a case that is attracting national attention.
There is a severe jury trial backlog that needs to be tackled. Many of us are back to school and back to work. Courts have the ability to manage safety protocols in the courtroom. So why are we having so much trouble?
Gibbs & Bruns lawyers this week secured a $12 million judgment on behalf of a client who co-founded EnVen Energy Corp. and has been embroiled in a dispute with the company over his contractual severance benefits. In addition to the dollar amount obtained, the case has personal significance for a member of the trial team.
With the addition of Toles and his team, Munsch Hardt counts 25 new hires this year. Toles said he was drawn to Munsch's commitment to Texas and the opportunity to expand his practice in areas he has been growing the last few years.
Several corporate law firms are getting involved in the litigation surfacing that challenges Texas' new voting law, which Gov. Abbott signed into law Tuesday. Natalie Posgate has the names and the firms.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
