Businesses & GCs Need to Address Same-Sex Marriage Decision Quickly

Minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage Friday, lawyers across Texas say their phones starting ringing with business clients asking a simple question: What do they need to do now? The unanimous answer, according to legal experts, is they need to do a lot and they need to do it fast or possibly pay the consequences. The good news for Texas businesses is that the changes they need to make are neither complicated nor expensive.

June 29, 2015 Mark Curriden

Oil & Gas Lawyers: Royalty Owners Can Win Against E&P Operators

Attorneys representing royalty owners in the explosion of litigation against energy companies are encouraged by a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that interpreted a drilling lease as clearly excluding post-production costs from royalties. In a closely watched lease dispute, a sharply divided court agreed with the family that Chesapeake entities had improperly deducted post-production costs from royalties paid on gas wells located on 948 mineral acres in the Barnett Shale.

June 24, 2015 Janet Elliott

SCOTX Provides Clearer Guidance for Workplace Injury Cases

The Supreme Court of Texas issued a potentially precedent-setting decision that may have significant future implications for both workers at Texas businesses and the employers.

June 17, 2015 Natalie Posgate

Texas’ Eastern District Moves May Curb Recent Trend of Early Challenges by Patent Suit Defendants

Patent holders asserting their rights in front of U.S. District Judge Gilstrap likely will applaud a new rule that allows cases to move forward with some discovery and claim construction before having patent validity issues addressed by the court. This article provides a complete analysis.

June 11, 2015 Mark Curriden

Dallas Litigator Leads Big 12 and Conference USA Win over Former Student-Athletes

Polsinelli partner Leane Capps scored a huge victory last week for two major college sports conferences when a federal judge in Tennessee rejected claims by 10 former college basketball and football players who argue they deserve compensation for the use of their images and likenesses. Capps represents the two Irvin-based leagues in two separate but very similar cases - one in Tennessee and the second in California. Billions of dollars are at stake in the litigation.

June 7, 2015 Mark Curriden

New Litigation Boutique Burns Charest Scores Big Settlement

Dallas trial lawyer Warren Burns’ four-year-long contentious antitrust and commodities litigation against two London-based energy companies and a handful of their officials has resulted in a $16.5 million settlement. The lawsuit accused Parnon Energy Inc., Arcadia Petroleum Ltd and a handful of specific individuals of artificially manipulating the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) and oil futures.

June 7, 2015 Mark Curriden

Skadden Scores $69M Judgment Morning of Trial for JP Morgan

The $69 million final judgment, secured Tuesday, was for JPMorgan Chase Bank. The win was the end – or at the very least, a significant jump toward the finish line – of a 13-year legal battle with Plano-based DataTreasury Corp.

June 5, 2015 Natalie Posgate

Supreme Court Sends ‘Bodacious Bar-B-Q’ Patent Case back to East Texas for Round Three

Commil USA v. Cisco Systems is definitely not the run-of-the-mill dry, unemotional patent infringement case. But any litigation that is known as the “Bodacious Bar-B-Q case” must be fascinating. The U.S. Supreme Court officially memorialized the case in the annals of legal history last week. Now the induced infringement case is headed back to East Texas for a third jury trial. More than $100 million will be at stake. This article examines the history of the case and the Supreme Court's decision.

June 1, 2015 Jeff Bounds

SCOTUS Awards Gruber Hurst Client Precedent-setting Victory

In 2005, a Chicago man filed a lawsuit against Plano-based Wellness International, a maker of nutritional products. For a decade, the case alleging fraud bounced around. Nearly every court that review the case tossed it for lack of evidence. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court may have finally ended the litigation by issuing a precedent-setting decision stating that federal bankruptcy judges are able to decide legal issues outside of their normal authority if the parties in the case consent. This article examines the decision and the history behind it.

May 26, 2015 Mark Curriden

Texas Businesses Oppose ‘Crazy, Wacky Bill’ Protecting Insurance Companies from Property Owners

Texas legislators are on the verge of passing a new law that could encourage out-of-state insurance companies to sue Texas property owners for making coverage claims regarding damage caused by severe weather. Business leaders opposing the legislation, which legal experts say places expensive and time-consuming burdens on business and individual property owners who want to legally challenge their insurance carriers for wrongly denying their claims, flooded state legislators with letters, emails and phone calls this week in an effort to kill the proposed law, which is expected to come up for a final vote before the legislative session ends Tuesday.

May 22, 2015 Mark Curriden

GT Scores Take-Nothing Defense, Attorneys’ Fees in Spy Pen Case

Can a ballpoint pen change the fate in your case? Two Dallas Greenberg Traurig lawyers proved to a local jury last week that it can indeed – especially if the pen is really a hidden camera.

May 21, 2015 Natalie Posgate

Survey: Texas GCs See Contract and Environmental Litigation as Growing Business Threats

Lawsuits over contract disputes and regulatory battles with the government are larger litigation threats to Texas-based businesses – especially oil and gas companies – than are class action litigation from consumers and employees, according to a new study by the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

May 18, 2015 Mark Curriden