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Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

Commercial Litigation

Mikal Watts to J&J Bankruptcy Judge: Give Us a ‘Do Over’

Some plaintiffs’ lawyers representing tens of thousands of women claiming that Johnson & Johnson talc powder caused their ovarian cancer have asked a Houston judge to give them a second chance. Attorneys representing different groups of women asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez to reverse his March 31 decision to dismiss the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by Red River Talc, a subsidiary of J&J, but to allow the parties to either fix the flaws in the previous petition or to send the entire case to mediation. But an opposing group of lawyers who also represent more than 20,000 women, including 465 women in the Dallas area, told The Texas Lawbook Wednesday that this new effort to reopen the bankruptcy is just another attempt by J&J “to force unreasonably low settlements on women already suffering from life-threatening illness and financial hardship.”

Mark Curriden

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Hires Retired Magistrate Judge

Kimberly Priest Johnson, who formerly served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas, has joined the Houston office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon as a partner in its complex litigation and strategic counseling practice group.

Michelle Casady

Q&A With Trial Lawyer Chip Babcock

When more than 50 Texas Democratic senators fled the state in 2003 to deny the senate a quorum over a controversial Republican redistricting bill, they called Charles “Chip” Babcock, one of the finest First Amendment trial lawyers famously known for representing talk show host Oprah Winfrey in a six-week trial in Amarillo. Babcock, who is currently defending far-right cable network One America News against a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, recently concluded a 25-year run as chair of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee. He shares thoughts from his 40-year legal career in this Texas Lawbook exclusive. 

Krista Torralva

Southwest Airlines Asks Judge for One Cent Judgment to End Litigation Over Squashed Free Flights Program

Lawyers for Southwest Airlines have asked a judge to enter a judgment ordering the Dallas-based airline to pay one cent and reasonable attorneys’ fees to the American Alliance for Equal Rights to end its lawsuit over a defunct program that offered free flights to low-income Hispanic students traveling to visit their parents. Southwest Airlines ended the charitable program “¡Lánzate!” — meaning “Take off!” — after political conservative Edward Blum’s AAER sued Southwest on behalf of a white student and an Asian student who claimed they were illegally denied benefits of the program. The AAER sought one cent in damages from Southwest. (Photo courtesy Ashlee D. Smith/Southwest Airlines)

Krista Torralva

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