Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Texas Supreme Court addressed ownership of “produced water,” an oilfield byproduct made increasingly valuable by new treatment methods. Absent a specific conveyance, the court said in a closely watched case, a surface estate does not retain ownership of the water separated from hydrocarbons during hydraulic fracturing operations.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Winter Storm Uri lawsuits brought by thousands of individuals and small businesses against electric transmission and distribution utilities in Texas are legally flawed, but the justices allowed lawyers for the plaintiffs to amend their lawsuits to fix the legal issues and even provided a roadmap for their possible success. In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court dismissed allegations of intentional nuisance and gross negligence against Oncor, CenterPoint and American Electric Power, but the decision to allow the plaintiffs to replead their gross negligence claims is viewed by attorneys for the plaintiffs as a significant victory because it keeps their lawsuits alive and moving forward. (File photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
U.S. District Judge Ada Brown has set a schedule that would see the preliminary settlement finalized in December. The company has agreed to pay two classes a total of $177 million.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Federal Trade Commission sees a $37.5 million judgment in its favor trimmed down to $12.2 million by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth sides with a landowner in a condemnation dispute involving golf course operations.
Nine months ago, skeptics questioned whether Texas’ ambitious new business court would survive infancy. The specialized tribunal, which began operations Sept. 1, 2024, faced early criticism over its narrow jurisdiction, steep amount in controversy requirements and procedural uncertainties — all of which threatened to limit the court’s effectiveness as a forum for many business disputes. The Texas Legislature has now resolved many of these doubts and doubled down on its judicial innovation. On June 1 — in the final hour of the final day of the legislative session — the Legislature passed House Bill 40 with significant support, considerably expanding the Texas Business Court’s jurisdiction. The law demonstrates Texas’ commitment to position itself as the premier destination for business litigation.
The Texas Supreme Court delivered some bad news for The Boeing Company on Friday morning when it issued an opinion clearing the way for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association to sue the company for damages caused by its alleged misrepresentations about the airworthiness of the 737 MAX. Even with the court’s ruling, the union could face an uphill climb to prove and collect any damages in the case.
During a daylong hearing in Martin County Friday, a judge was told Pioneer Natural Resources had "fabricated" the basis for its lawsuit seeking $534 million in damages from a smaller Dallas-based competitor that it accused of interfering with its West Texas leases. Pioneer says the request for sanctions and dismissal are “baseless” and that Pony Oil's allegations are sanctionable on their own.
The Texas Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit from a woman who was severely injured in a small plane crash in North Texas. The court found that she failed to produce evidence that the Austrian manufacturer of the plane’s engine specifically intended its product to enter the Texas stream of commerce.
Lawyers with Dallas-based Dean Omar Branham Shirley battled a Houston partner from King & Spalding in a Boston courtroom over the past month in the latest trial over whether Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder caused the plaintiff's life-threatening mesothelioma. The Massachusetts jury apparently decided that both Texas lawyers doing battle in their courtroom made strong arguments.
This week, the first contested final judgment in a case before the Texas Business Court was entered. Proponents of the new court argued it would provide an avenue for parties to obtain quick decisions in complex business disputes and Monday’s final judgment, issued just shy of eight months after the case was filed in the business court, seems to support that.
Unfortunately, the steady decline of civil jury trials has shaped the litigation landscape in Texas and across the nation for decades. Although multiple factors contribute to this trend, the emergence of reliable artificial intelligence tools may offer a realistic path to reversing it. This article discusses research on AI in the courts, explains how generative and predictive systems could reinvigorate the Texas trial docket and proposes concrete steps for judges, law firms, corporate counsel and the Legislature to harness AI’s upside to increase jury trials and expand justice access.
E. Lawrence “Larry” Vincent joined the firm after nine years at Burns Charest. During his time there, he was the co-lead attorney in a successful representation of a group of Houston homeowners alleging government mismanagement of reservoirs lead to flooding of their properties during Hurricane Harvey.
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