In a lawsuit filed in state court, a Dallas-based financial services firm alleged that it was being defrauded by a small subcontractor doing business with a major building services firm. But what began as a relatively straight-forward lawsuit involving an executive kickback scheme has morphed into a RICO suit alleging that a Fortune 500 company has been routinely flouting immigration and tax laws. Natalie Posgate recounts the saga in The Texas Lawbook.
Hopper-1, JP Morgan-0 in Post-$8B Probate Verdict Rulings
A Dallas probate judge on Wednesday ordered J.P. Morgan Chase Bank to pay $5.5 million in attorneys’ fees to the widow of an American Airlines executive for an $8 billion jury verdict she and her stepchildren won against the bank last fall.
Carter Arnett Clears Nonprofit of $224 Million Antitrust Claim in SA Trial
A federal jury in San Antonio has ruled that a local allergy testing and immunotherapy provider take nothing on $224 million worth of antitrust claims it had brought against a patient advocacy nonprofit group.
Texas Lawbook Exclusive: New Federal Judge Karen Gren Scholer’s ‘Crazy Busy’ Three Weeks
As the first new U.S. District judge in North Texas in more than a decade, Karen Scholer has undertaken a fevered pace her first 18 days on the bench. She’s hired two law clerks, been assigned 300 civil cases, conducted 55 status conferences and set two lawsuits for trial. In an exclusive Texas Lawbook interview, Judge Scholer discusses the nomination and vetting processes, the “judicial emergency” facing the federal courts in Texas and her first three weeks on the job.
Dallas Lawyers, Including AT&T GC McAtee, Take Center Stage in Historic Antitrust Trial
This week, a potentially epic and landmark trial gets underway in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., pitting the mighty power of the United States government against telecommunications giant AT&T of Dallas. A handful of Texas lawyers, including several AT&T in-house counsel and partners in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, are playing prominent roles in the litigation. The Texas Lawbook has details.
Larry Anders’ Firm Sues Transamerica in Dallas Federal Court
Life insurance giant Transamerica has had its share of legal troubles over the past few years after getting hit with class action lawsuits for sharply raising premiums on tens of thousands of policyholders. Now, Transamerica will have to lawyer up in Dallas since its major general agency, Summit Alliance Financial, has just filed suit against the Iowa-based insurer.
Judge Denies Motion to Seal Toyota Docs
A Dallas judge has refused to seal a cache of purloined documents in a defective products case involving carmaker Toyota. Since the documents are readily available online, sealing them would have no practical legal effect, the judge reasoned. Read more about this and several new developments in the Toyota case in The Texas Lawbook.
Toyota Lawyer-Turned-Whistleblower Central to Discovery Battle in Texas Case
A fierce and dramatic discovery battle with national litigation implications heads back to a Dallas civil courtroom this week. The case pits Frank Branson, one of the toughest trial lawyers to practice in Texas, against Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker in a wrongful lawsuit.
The facts of the underlying dispute have taken a backseat to claims that Toyota is purposely concealing documents that are relevant to the case and refusing to allow its executives to testify about its safety databases. Branson’s team is asking a Dallas judge to unseal documents, leaked by Toyota in-house lawyer-turned-whistleblower, demonstrating the automaker’s previous patterns of concealing crucial evidence in other cases.
Patent Board Allows McKool Client Challenge of Immunex
The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board refused to deny a challenge by a French pharmaceutical to a patent held by Seattle-based Immunex. The ruling sets the stage for a full-scale challenge to a patent on drug treatment for allergies, rhinitis and other immune system problems. Natalie Posgate has the details in The Texas Lawbook.
UDF Investigation Heads for Conclusion As Bass ‘SLAPPs’ Back
Far from crumbling in the face of a lawsuit that accuses him of pushing fake news for profit, Kyle Bass is doubling down on his accusers, United Development Funding. In a recent filing, Bass declares that he and his company, Hayman Capital Management, had a responsibility to turn in UDF to the SEC and the FBI. That Hayman made $60 million in the process is hardly the point, Bass says. And in the coming weeks, the SEC and the FBI may have a lot to say about it. Natalie Posgate has the story in The Texas Lawbook.