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.
SEC v. Cuban Shows Importance of U.S. Jury System
(December 12) – While trials before a jury of one’s peers are increasingly rare as big business interests push mandatory arbitration clauses and tort reform measures are narrowing access to courts, it’s important to note that Cuban’s case shows that the jury system, although battered, remains a powerful public resource that is alive and well in the 21st century.
The Inside Story of American Airlines Settlement with DOJ
Next Monday, before the financial markets open, lawyers for American Airlines and US Airways will gather in the Dallas offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges on the second floor of the Crescent Court to sign the “closing papers” officially merging the two companies and creating the world’s largest airline. The closing, which will be more ceremonial than substantive, ends one of the most complex, expensive and successful corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history. This is the inside story of how the airlines settled the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block the merger – a lawsuit that the airlines, the federal government and nearly all legal experts said couldn’t be settled.
GCs Call for Reforms to Limit Patent Trolls
The chief legal officers of Whataburger, Rackspace Hosting Inc., the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association and the Internet Association trade group said patent lawsuits have an $80 billion drag on the national economy
American Airlines Settles with DOJ
The settlement clears the way for American to merge with US Airways.
Highland Capital Management Sues Looper Reed for Extortion
Accused of holding on to internal documents to extort Highland, Looper Reed contends the lawsuit is factually baseless and a trial tactic for a related case.
Frank and Debbie Branson: Partners in Life, the Law
(October 24) – For three decades, Frank and Debbie Branson have taken hundreds of catastrophic personal injury cases to trial, winning hundreds of millions of dollars in jury verdicts and settlements. Now they are expanding into large commercial litigation, including the representation of PlainsCapital Bank against Jackson Walker. He has sued Six Flags Over Texas for the death of a woman who fell to her death in July. But there is a lot more to their story.
Mark Cuban Cleared of All Insider Trading Charges: The Full Story
After nearly three and a half hours of deliberation, nine jurors found Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban innocent of insider trading Wednesday afternoon. The verdict marks the end of the three-week trial, just days before the federal courts will run out of cash if the government shutdown continues. The six-year legal battle is likely the most expensive case the SEC has ever taken to trial. The heart of the dispute dates back to 2004 when Cuban had an eight-minute phone conversation with Mamma.com CEO Guy Fauré. During the call, Fauré asked Cuban if he wanted to participate in a private placement investment the company was conducting to raise capital. During a recorded video deposition, Fauré testified he began the conversation saying, “Mark, I’ve got confidential information,” to which Fauré said Cuban replied, “Uh-huh, okay, go ahead.” Cuban testified he doesn’t recall anything from the conversation except that he was angry. Fauré said in his deposition that at the end of the call, Cuban said, “Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.” The infamous statement was a key piece of the SEC’s argument that Cuban recognized that the information he received was confidential and that he could not trade on it until after it went public. Throughout the trial, Cuban denied that the information he received was confidential, that he agreed to keep it confidential and that he agreed to restrict trading. "People who wanted access to that information could get it," the expert witness said. The Texas Lawbook is in the courtroom for every minute of the SEC's insider trading trial against Mark Cuban and we have full details.