Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The lawsuit has been settled that had the National Rifle Association in its sights and led to an investigation of the gun-advocacy group. The suit filed in Texas, now settled, was bitter. At one point, lawyers for ad agency Ackerman McQueen — Michael Gruber and Brian Mason of Dorsey & Whitney — sought state sanctions against Bill Brewer, the NRA attorney, which ultimately the Texas Supreme Court dismissed.
BMC’s attorney tells the court: BMC “always relied on the plain meaning” of its contracts with IBM and the language “speaks for itself.” But IBM’s lead lawyer countered that BMC breached the non-displacement contract when it did not inform IBM that AT&T had purchased special rights in its own contract with BMC that allowed IBM, as its outsourcer, to displace BMC software in AT&T’s systems without paying extra. “At best, BMC could (and did) try to leverage payments from IBM.”
IT giants BMC and IBM map their cases for U.S. District Judge Gray Miller today in a bench trial alleging fraud and trade-secrets misappropriation. Although BMC begins trial with a breach-of-contract finding already in the bag, Judge Miller made clear in a February order that BMC still has much to prove before it’s considered a win. Opening statements wrapped up just before lunch Monday afternoon and when the parties returned, BMC called its first witness, BMC VP Raul Ah Chu.
Anne Johnson has accomplished much in her legal career. The UK-born lawyer has won numerous difficult appeals, served on Haynes and Boone’s management committee and tried a multi-month case while six months pregnant. On Tuesday, Johnson made a move in her career that is both a big transition and another accomplishment: She joined a boutique law firm as a name partner.
The Lawbook details Johnson’s life and career and the magnitude of her lateral move.
Texas companies’ reprieve from litigation due to the Covid-19 pandemic is over. A new study of corporate general counsel in Texas finds that the number of lawsuits filed against larger businesses jumped 75 percent in 2021 over the previous year and that the fear of additional litigation in 2022 has increased, too. The good news for lawyers at Texas law firms is that companies returned to pre-Covid levels of hiring outside counsel to handle their litigation battles in 2021.
The allegations in the case involved the financing for the former Wade Park project located along the “$5 Billion Mile,” a one-mile stretch of land in Frisco that’s home to The Star headquarters and training center for the Dallas Cowboys, Toyota Stadium, and various high-end, mixed-use developments such as Frisco Station and The Gate.
In a civil suit in state court in Fort Worth, lawyer Rob Miller says the company, Consilio, went far beyond an agreement for discovery in a case involving one of his clients.
After 27 years at Haynes and Boone, prominent appellate lawyer Anne Johnson is joining forces with respected Dallas trial lawyer Jeff Tillotson. The move puts Johnson’s name on the door as well as another lawyer at the firm. The Texas Lawbook has the scoop.
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