Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Judge Dale Tillery of the 134th District Court is easily the busiest civil trial judge in Dallas County. But it's not easy being the busiest. It involves relentless punctuality, the occasional 3 a.m. hearing and a willingness to eschew lunch. Natalie Posgate profiles the judge who presided over Reavis v. Toyota.
As a young man, I accompanied my dad to a bank to get a loan in hopes of opening an auto body shop. The loan officer denied us service, threw our completed paperwork at us and told we would never receive a loan from that bank or buy that business. That banker made certain that we knew we were not welcome in his world. And that is a major reason I’m a lawyer today. My story is the story of many.
Dallas District Judge Dale Tillery on Friday ordered Toyota Motor Corp. to pay a Dallas family $213 million – the bulk of a $242 million jury verdict from August that found the automaker liable for a 2016 rear-end accident that left two small children with permanent brain damage. Toyota says it will ask for a new trial. The Lawbook has the details.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed a 2017 jury verdict that awarded $3 million to a member of the Saudi royal family in a breach of contract dispute. The ruling benefits Prince Mansour Bin Abdullah Al-Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Details here of the ruling.
The Federal Trade Commission on Friday dismissed its remaining claims against DIRECTV in the middle of a bench trial that once had $4 billion at stake. The dismissal is the denouement to an opinion issued by a federal judge in California in August that arguably killed the case for the FTC.
The Houston trial firm’s newly-minted partners are all women.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director Andrei Iancu spoke at the SMU Dedman School of Law Friday during its Tsai Leadership Lecture series. The Texas Lawbook's Natalie Posgate had the opportunity to sit down with Director Iancu for a few minutes after the program. Check here to find out what he said.
The Fifth Circuit ruled late Thursday that Lexington Insurance Co. was not required to indemnify famed trial lawyer John O’Quinn, who died in 2009, and his law firm for the costs of settling a case that accused him of improperly charging his clients for millions and millions of dollars in expenses that had nothing to do with the litigation.
For nine years Burlington Resources deducted post-production costs from royalties paid to Amber Harvest for development in the Eagle Ford. Then came the 2015 Chesapeake v. Hyder decision, and now Amber Harvest is asking SCOTX to make Burlington reimburse them. Janet Elliott details their arguments before the court.
A San Marcos manufacturing client of K&L Gates filed a legal malpractice suit Tuesday, alleging that the firm represented their lenders against them in a debt dispute. The suit identifies two former K&L Gates lawyers in the conflict, one of them now a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Austin lawyer James C. Harrington will be inducted as a Texas Legal Legend on Oct. 31.
A Houston jury has awarded a take-nothing defense verdict to three brothers who were accused by two of their other siblings of fraud, securities violations and breach of fiduciary duty of their family business. The case involved money – approximately $30 million – but defense lawyers say the dispute, like many family court battles, went deeper.
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