Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
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.
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