AZA Prevails in $11 Million Jury Verdict
A Harris County jury awarded Houston-based Function One Consulting Group LLC $11.4 million Thursday for damages it suffered when a competitor made false accusations about it violating tax laws.
Mark Cuban to ETP: Big Trials Often Focus on Confidential Emails
(March 12) - Juicy email messages have been at the heart of two of the biggest trials in Texas during the past six months. Mark Cuban's emails supported his claim that he didn't violate federal securities law on insider trading, but emails in the Energy Transfer Partner case against Enterprise Products led the jury to award ETP $319 million in damages. Emails can undercut inconsistent trial testimony or buttress the credibility of testimony that is consistent with the electronic record. A collection of such messages can frame the chronology of a dispute and take the jury back in mind from the time of trial to the time when the controversy arose. This article explains in detail how good trial lawyers see past the discovery headaches and spend appropriate time in trial preparation planning for their admissibility and effective use.
The Behind-the-Scenes Story in Mark Cuban’s Insider Trading Trial
As Tom Melsheimer gave his closing argument to the jury last October, his client slipped him a piece a paper. “He wanted me to tell something to the jury,” Melsheimer said. “He’s Mark Cuban, so I told it to the jury.” Melsheimer’s comments were part of a 90-minute CLE program hosted Thursday evening by The Texas Lawbook, SMU Dedman School of Law and the General Counsel Forum. The program, which also featured Cuban Companies General Counsel Robert Hart, litigation consultant Jason Barnes, Bell Nunnally white-collar defense expert Jeff Ansley and SMU Dedman law professor Linda Eads, focused on behind-the-scenes moments involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s insider trading trial against Cuban.
Eastern District Facilitates Patent Cases with New Case Management Order
It is the first action in the nation by a federal district court to create a special track to limit the expense of patent cases.
Gibson Dunn Leads Luminant in $500 Million Federal Court Victory
A federal judge rejected Sierra Club claims that Luminant violated emission standards under the federal Clean Air Act at its Big Brown Power Plant.
Employment Law Experts Say Employers Legally Allowed to Require Flu Shots
If you don't get a flu shot, you're not just risking your health; you might also be risking your job. Labor and employment law experts explain why.
Bank Fraud Lawsuits Target NexBank Securities, A Client, Accountants and Lawyer
Two national financial lenders have sued Dallas-based NexBank Securities and its investment banking subsidiary, one of its clients and the client’s accountants and a lawyer for conspiring together to commit a $66 million fraud. Regions Bank and MCG Capital Corp. claim that NexBank Securities, NexBank Capital Advisors and its officials worked with Color Star, a now bankrupt greenhouse and nursery company with large operations in Sanger, Texas, to procure a $66 million loan “through a massive accounting fraud” scheme. A third major bank is expected to file its own lawsuit soon.
Life Partners Wins and Loses in The Same Week
The federal jury found the company and two executives did not defraud investors or commit insider trading, but that they did commit other securities violations.
UPDATE: Jury Says ETP and Enterprise Were in a Partnership, Awards $319 Million
A Dallas jury, in a potential landmark verdict that has attracted a lot of attention from energy companies and general counsel, ruled last Tuesday that two businesses can be involved in a legally binding partnership even when one of the parties never intended for the joint venture to be official. The jury ordered Enterprise to pay ETP $319 million in damages for violating the corporate version of a common law marriage. The victory was the largest for prominent trial lawyer Mike Lynn and one of the largest ever awarded by a North Texas jury. However, it did not find that Enterprise and Enbridge conspired for Enterprise to breach its duty to ETP for their partnership. Jurors awarded ETP $319 million in actual damages to ETP, but an additional amount for restitution could be added. The jury’s conclusion is a landmark decision for Texas business lawyers and their corporate clients for what under State law constitutes a business partnership. The decision follows four full weeks of intensive testimony from the three oil and gas giants. ETP claimed that Enterprise violated their “Double E” partnership agreement by cutting ties with ETP to pursue a more financially viable pipeline project with Enbridge and that the two conspired to cut ETP out of their new deal. More details as the story develops.
Three Texas Energy Giants Take Multibillion-dollar Dispute to a Jury
When does a business relationship become a partnership? That question is at the heart of a multibillion-dollar dispute involving Energy Transfer Partners, Enterprise and Enbridge Inc. that is scheduled to start trial this week in Dallas.
Akin Gump Prevails in $4 Million Jury Verdict
A Texas neurosurgeon won $4 million in damages when the jury determined last week that a medical device company misappropriated his trade secret.
Antitrust Lawsuits Jump in Texas, But Still Far Behind Other States
Federal antitrust complaints lodged in Texas by both individuals and businesses against other corporations hit a six-year high in 2013 and is more than triple the number of such lawsuits filed just two years earlier. The belief that Texas might be coming more receptive to such claims was buoyed four months ago when a jury in Marshall handed down a nine-digit judgment for a Texas-based company that sued a competitor over illegal anti-competitive practices. Corporate in-house counsel and antitrust experts examine the trend and whether it will continue.