Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Mark Cuban's request to withdraw his Rule 202 petition was granted by Texas Business Court Judge Bill Whitehill without prejudice Monday. The case originated in the Dallas County District Court and was removed to the Texas Business Court last week.
In Round 4 of multidistrict litigation stemming from the fatal explosion at the Watson Grinding and Manufacturing facility on the Northwest Side of Houston, jurors determined 3M was 30 percent responsible. Most recently, in May, a different jury had returned a complete defense win for the company. The lawyers involved told The Texas Lawbook it was the first civil jury trial they had handled that required the jurors receive an Allen charge.
Today was Andrew LeGrand’s first day with Kirkland & Ellis after 14 years at Gibson Dunn. He said he has “no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision.”
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a hedge fund manager goes to prison for failing to report millions in income, and a bankruptcy law firm operating in Texas is pinged for filing cases with false financial information.
There’s no sign of a summer slowdown in Texas Business Court. The Court has delivered 20 opinions since our last monthly installment, and thus far, summer’s defining feature has been breadth over blockbuster. All five divisions and nine different judges pitched in. The First Division led the way with almost half the total publication volume. July supplanted May as the Court’s busiest month yet, but it was also its most doctrinally varied, one in which the Court behaved less like a specialty commercial docket and more like a full-service court majoring in business disputes.
Three themes tie the summer’s substantive opinions together thus far.
A Dallas County jury awarded $10,814 in damages for past pain in a trucking accident case where the plaintiff had asked for $15 million. The four-day trial ended on Friday following seven hours of deliberation.
Following a two-week trial before Bexar County Judge Nadine Nieto, a jury awarded $8.45 million to a woman who claimed she was defamed by statements made in the Netflix documentary Dirty Money.
As the Texas Business Court prepares to enter its third year, legal experts say one case really stands out as an exemplar for the new commercial litigation system’s potential: Dallas Mavericks v. Dallas Stars.
Texas business litigation expert Ben Barnes, in an interview with The Texas Lawbook, said the business court judge’s trial order in the fight between Dallas’ sports franchises shows the court’s ability to compress complex, high-stakes commercial disputes when the circumstances demand it.
Area Development Intermediate filed notice of removal to the Texas Business Court Friday evening, delaying Mark Cuban’s petition for a pre-suit deposition. Cuban’s filing claims the pre-suit deposition of the ADI’s corporate representative is aimed at uncovering details about how the Mavericks struck a deal to buy the Valley View Mall property. Cuban, who maintains an ownership interest in the American Airlines Center, is seeking information regarding how the deal may impact his contractual rights.
In the second quarter of 2026, the Texas Business Court continued to build on the progress of its first two years of operation, issuing both jurisdictional and procedural rulings and a growing body of substantive decisions. The larger story of the quarter, however, was the Court’s merits opinions, particularly in cases dealing with contract interpretation. The quarter also produced several high-profile disputes and significant awards.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we highlight one plaintiff lawyer’s thoughts on Johnson & Johnson’s proposed $5.5 billion settlement of ovarian cancer cases, and detail Buc-ee’s latest court battle to protect its brand.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher opened its Dallas office just two years ago, initially concentrating on transactional work. Now, the firm is advancing to the next phase by expanding its global litigation capabilities in Texas by hiring Grant Schmidt and Andrew Bean from Hilgers.
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