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Commercial Litigation

Asked & Answered with V&E’s Quentin Smith: Morehouse, Michigan and MDL — the Making of a Texas Litigator

Asked & Answered is a new standing feature The Texas Lawbook will bring readers twice a month, highlighting the work of leading Texas lawyers and offering insight into their lives outside the courtroom. In this edition, Alexa Shrake sits down with Vinson & Elkins partner Quentin Smith, who discussed securing an $80 million breach of contract verdict for Huntsman Chemicals in Louisiana and representing Oncor Electric in litigation stemming from Winter Storm Uri — as well as the only brand of jelly beans worthy of the war room.

Alexa Shrake

Texas ER Docs Win Fifth Circuit Reversal Against the Blues

Fifty-six Texas emergency medical physician groups will get to pursue legal claims that two dozen Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans underpaid them for treating patients. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that a Texas federal judge wrongly dismissed hundreds and hundreds of claims for tens of millions of dollars by ER doctors from Texarkana to Port Arthur and from Collin County to Odessa.

Mark Curriden

Discretionary Denials 2.0 — The Litigator’s IPR Playbook Under the New PTAB Regime

In March, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued its “Interim Process for PTAB Workload Management” memorandum — quickly dubbed the “Workload Memo.” The memo resurrects and expands the PTAB’s discretion to deny institution for reasons that have little to do with the prior art. By July 31, the acting director had already logged 109 discretionary-denial decisions, signaling a tectonic shift. For petitioners who count on IPRs to stall infringement suits — and patent owners who must decide where to fight — the new regime demands a strategic overhaul. This article distills what has changed, why it matters and how litigators should adapt.

Jeffrey A. Andrews

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