Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Intelligent Wellhead Systems’ lawsuit alleging patent infringement against Downing Wellhead Equipment was dismissed by an Eastern District Court judge this week. This is the second win Haynes Boone has seen for Downing this summer.
A West Texas justice of the peace, sheriff and constable walked into a Fifth Circuit courtroom. No joke. This is the story of six residents of Loving County — together, they account for about one-tenth of the county’s total population — who took their decade-long political dispute over allegations of voter intimidation, jury fraud, “lawfare” and even cattle rustling and turned it into a billion-dollar civil rights litigation. Such is life in Loving County, population 64, but only one lawyer. (2021 file photo by David Goldman/AP)
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Phillips 66 must pay $195 million in exemplary damages — on top of nearly $605 million in compensatory damages — in a trade secrets case in California, a federal judge in East Texas sides with female athletes at Stephen F. Austin State University who brought a Title IX lawsuit after the university announced it would end several women’s sports programs, and Amazon is the latest target of a company accusing retail behemoths of infringing barcode technology.
A Texas attorney served as lead counsel in what could be a $2 billion settlement in New Jersey with chemical giants DuPont, Chemours and Corteva, marking the largest environmental recovery for a single state’s claim in U.S. history, according to New Jersey officials. (File photo by Joshua A. Bickel/The Associated Press)
Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder was allegedly the direct cause of mesothelioma for a Massachusetts couple, according to a Boston jury. Dallas-based attorneys with Dean Omar Branham Shirley represented the couple in the two-week jury trial, which resulted in a $42 million verdict for the plaintiffs.
WhereverTV accused Comcast of infringing a patent covering its interactive program guide and was trying the case before a jury in April 2023. But before the jury heard closing arguments or began deliberations, a federal judge in Florida agreed with Comcast that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, ending the case. Now, the Federal Circuit Court has remanded the case for a second jury trial.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Skechers draws a patent infringement lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas over its line of slip-on shoes, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is accused of race discrimination by a doctor who was removed from a flight, and the Fifth Court of Appeals clarifies the rules on supersedeas bonds in an appeal from a $30.7 million jury award.
In order to take full advantage of these opportunities from increased defense spending, companies must familiarize themselves with the legal regime that governs preliminary contracts in the industry. In particular, companies considering entering into a teaming agreement — often used to meet the multifaceted needs of a government contract — must understand their agreement’s enforceability and the obligations each party in the “team” incurs. Without this knowledge, companies might find themselves tied up in disputes over the requirements of a potential subcontract, which may delay the project’s completion and undercut its ultimate success.
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