Norton Rose Fulbright Wins Verdict for Shell in Dispute Over Crude Oil Sales
A state district court jury in Houston rejects a multimillion-dollar tortious-interference claim by an oil company represented by Rusty Hardin.
More Insurance Companies Sue ERCOT, Energy Providers over Billions in Winter Storm Property Damage
ERCOT is having a very bad two weeks in court. And things just got worse for power providers in Texas, too. Nine London-based insurance companies joined a massive lawsuit this week brought by scores of the world’s largest property insurance companies seeking to force the ERCOT and three dozen Texas electric providers to reimburse them for billions of dollars in damages related to Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
Jurors Take One Hour to Toss $26M Life Insurance Claims
After eight days of trial, a Houston federal court jury dispatched life-insurance claims by a woman accused of faking her husband's death, answering two essential questions: Did she prove her husband was dead (no) and did the insurance companies prove he misrepresented in his application for the insurance (yes).
Kirkland and Bell Nunnally Win Jury Trial for AMLI Residential in $38M Dispute
Kirkland & Ellis partner Jeremy Fielding and AMLI Chair Gregory Mutz, a Vietnam War infantry lieutenant turned lawyer turned real estate developer, stood side by side last Wednesday as a Houston jury delivered its verdict. AMLI stood accused of lying, breach of contract and destroying evidence related to the $57 million sale in 2012 of a Houston luxury apartment complex. The verdict, both men say, brought them to tears.
Widow: $26 Million Life Insurance Was Surprise
Blanca Monica Villareal, accused in a civil suit of faking her husband’s death in Mexico City to swindle insurers Transamerica and Prudential, claimed that she knew nothing about his finances. Testifying in Spanish, she told Houston jurors she couldn’t read the insurance policies and didn’t know what they were when she found them, because they were in English.
Mikal Watts Grills Investigator Who Concluded $26M Life-Insurance Claim Was for Mexico City Man Still Alive
If a Mexico City businessman faked his death in 2016 to steal $26 million from two U.S. life-insurance giants, he’s done a remarkable job of lying low since, the lawyer
Investigator to Jury in $26M Life-Insurance Case: Two People Identified the Insured as Alive More than a Year After His ‘Death’
A private investigator testified Wednesday that two people at a Mexico City office where he was searching for the supposedly dead Eduardo Rosendi, flashing Rosendi’s photo, told him the man in the photo worked there as an accountant – and one had seen him earlier that day. The investigator was a critical witness in the third day of a federal trial in which a $26 million insurance payout is in the balance – if Rosendi is not dead. But Mikal C. Watts, the beneficiary's attorney, should get his chance at cross-examination Thursday.
Employment Suits Drop in Texas As Pandemic Drags On
Federal wage-and-hour suits have been steadily declining since the first half of 2020, when suits rose 19% from pre-pandemic days. And federal employment-discrimination lawsuits filed in Texas under Title VII were also down. Many factors may be at work, including the pandemic, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the backlog of government agencies that oversee the litigation.