Mikal Watts: ‘No Jury in America Will Hold Camp Mystic Responsible’

Prominent Texas plaintiff’s trial lawyer Mikal Watts, who has successfully sued some of the biggest companies in the world, is taking on his first defense client: Camp Mystic and its owners. Watts said Monday that he is officially representing pro bono the Eastland family and the Christian girls summer camp in any potential litigation resulting from the July flooding tragedy that caused more than 115 deaths, including 27 children at Camp Mystic in Kerr County.

“I’ve spent three months conducting a thorough investigation, and I believe that facts matter,” Watts told The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview Monday.

October 13, 2025 Mark Curriden

Litigation Roundup: Fort Worth Panel Says 15-Year Delay in Requesting Reporter’s Record Unexcused

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Texas Supreme Court requests responses in a $15.4 million personal injury appeal involving CenterPoint in a fight over public records involving Highland Park Independent School District and Ken Paxton takes an alleged “political takeover” attempt in Loving County to the courthouse. 

October 13, 2025 Michelle Casady

Samsung Hit with $445.5M Verdict in EDTX Infringement Trial 

A jury in the Eastern District of Texas on Friday morning delivered to a company that accused Samsung Electronics of infringing four patents exactly what it asked for: $445.5 million in damages for the telecommunication giant’s willful use of the technology it hadn’t paid for. 

October 10, 2025 Michelle Casady

Court Stays Susman’s Challenge to President’s EO During Gov’t Shutdown; Trustee Seeks Same Against Jackson Walker

Citing the shutdown of the federal government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an order Wednesday staying all proceedings in the litigation brought by U.S. law firms related to presidential executive orders seeking to punish them for representing clients that President Donald Trump opposes. Meanwhile, 1,400 miles southwest, the U.S. Trustee in Houston has asked the federal court to issue the same order in the government’s litigation against the Jackson Walker law firm related to the romance scandal involving former bankruptcy judge David Jones in the Southern District of Texas.

October 9, 2025 Mark Curriden

Blackfin Tells Conroe It Will Move Location of Challenged Compressor Station 

The lawyer representing the owners of a luxury home furnishings store in Conroe who argued the facility next door violated a restrictive covenant called the decision a “complete victory” for his clients. The 193-mile long Blackfin Pipeline is intended to ship gas from Colorado County, just west of Houston along Interstate 10, to Jasper County, just north of Beaumont. 

October 8, 2025 Michelle Casady

Asked & Answered with White & Case’s Sean Gorman: Lawyering and Life

White & Case partner Sean Gorman grew up in the small town of Wharton, Texas, which has a population of less than 9,000. 

One day, when he was in middle school and visiting Houston, he pointed to a skyscraper under construction and said he would work there one day. And one day, after graduating from the University of Houston Law Center in 1988, he did.

The Texas Lawbook's Alexa Shrake caught up with Gorman to discuss his career, memorable cases and post-trial celebrations.

October 8, 2025 Alexa Shrake

Dallas-Based DOBS Gets Whopping $966M Verdict Against J&J in California 

Dean Omar Branham Shirley, which has racked up numerous wins on behalf of clients who allege Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused their mesothelioma, has done it again. 

In a verdict returned by a California jury Monday evening, jurors determined Mae Moore, who died in December 2021 of mesothelioma, was exposed to Johnson’s baby powder or Shower to Shower, a body powder product, that contained asbestos, that the company was negligent in selling the product and that it was a substantial cause of Moore contracting mesothelioma.

October 6, 2025 Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Revives Securities Fraud Suit

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Jerry Jones takes an “L” in his latest bid to bring an early end to a sexual assault lawsuit, American Airlines is hit with a permanent injunction in an ESG-related investor suit, and a Houston-based furniture company secures a $2.1 million final judgment.

October 6, 2025 Michelle Casady