AI Is Changing Workforce Dynamics — Here’s How the DOL and NLRB Are Responding
At a pace few workforce analysts anticipated, artificial intelligence is expanding its role in the employment context, often in areas organizations had not predicted.
AT&T, Nokia Get $166.3M Infringement Verdict Axed
Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore authored the court’s 15-page opinion that was issued Wednesday. She wrote that Jonathan Wells, who was Finesse’s infringement expert at trial, “offered no clear or detailed explanation for his contradictory testimony.” A jury had awarded Finesse the lump sum damages after finding AT&T and Nokia infringed two patents related to intermodulation interference, a longstanding problem for wireless networks.
Asked & Answered with Dykema’s Melanie Fry: Cherry Coke, Community Park Project and Carrying a Legacy
Asked & Answered is a standing feature The Texas Lawbook brings to readers every other week highlighting the work of leading Texas lawyers and offering insight into their lives outside the courtroom. In this edition, Dykema member Melanie Fry discusses the best advice she has received and the trends she sees in her appellate practice.
Texas Judge Tosses $112M Infringement Verdict Against Samsung
In a three-page order, U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III granted Samsung’s motion for judgment as a matter of law that it had not infringed asserted claims in three patents covering technology used in smart phones and smart home appliances. The judge also invalidated asserted claims in two of the patents in the Sept. 18 order.
Back to the Future? How Relics of Property Law May Reemerge to Determine Rights and Obligations in Crypto Land
Here’s a question that has arisen more frequently as we’ve litigated cryptocurrency cases: What does it mean to “own” a crypto token? While blockchain technology offers revolutionary financial possibilities, it simultaneously challenges traditional concepts of ownership and accountability. Legal frameworks globally are still adapting to digital asset realities, with varying standards for ownership verification, asset seizure and inheritance.
Litigation Roundup: Houston Methodist Gets Putative Data Privacy Class Action Tossed
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, executives of a Houston-based company that operates strip clubs are indicted on tax fraud charges in New York, and a trio of cities ask the entire Third Court of Appeals to rehear their constitutional challenge to a new state law.
Dallas Firm Secures $83M Jury Verdict for Woman’s Mesothelioma Death
A Boston jury found a Massachusetts woman's mesothelioma death was caused by American Art Clay Company’s asbestos-laden products. This is the second multimillion-dollar verdict in three weeks for Dallas-based litigation boutique Iola, Gross & Forbes-King.
American Airlines Hit with $9.6M Verdict in Stroke Victim’s Suit
Dallas law firm Burns Charest represented a man who was left profoundly disabled after suffering a stroke just before boarding and another stroke while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Fort Worth-based American Airlines had argued they bore no responsibility for his injuries because he declined to deplane before the flight departed for Madrid.
A Half-Open Door — HB 40’s MDL Implications
Although much has been said of HB 40’s newly effective changes to the Texas Business Courts’ jurisdiction, many may have overlooked HB 40’s revision to Section 74.162 of the Texas Government Code, which weaves the Business Court into the Texas framework for multidistrict litigation. At first blush, this amendment appears to open the door for the business courts to hear a wide array of consolidated MDL proceedings. But practitioners should remain mindful of two significant roadblocks that prevent parties from funneling MDL proceedings to the business courts.
Judge Halts Construction of Natural Gas Pipeline, Compressor Station in Conroe
The lawyer representing the Bartholet family, Houston solo practitioner Seth Rubinson, who has represented pipeline companies in other litigation, made it clear in an interview with The Texas Lawbook Tuesday that both he and his client are not “anti-pipeline” and “believe infrastructure projects are important.”
“But this is a case about enforcing a restrictive covenant,” Rubinson said.
Litigation Roundup: Lawyer Notches Fifth Circ. Win in Long-running Feud with Former Firm
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million is filed by a woman who was paralyzed after a tree fell on her SUV in East Dallas, amicus counsel defending Texas firearm restrictions dig back to 14th Century English law in support of their case, and a fight between competing Thai restaurants in Houston heats up.
Litigation-Financing Firms to Battle in Arbitration Over Alleged Trade Secrets and Breach of Contract Violations
Signal Peak, a new Houston-based litigation financing firm, is being sued by its founders' former place of employment, Siltstone Capital, which has attempted to get a temporary restraining order. Texas Business Court Presiding Judge Grant Dorfman denied the request.