Texas Book Review Law ‘Unconstitutionally Compels Speech, is Void for Vagueness, and is an Unconstitutional Prior Restraint’

U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright on Tuesday issued a 24-page opinion permanently banning Texas from enforcing certain parts of HB 900, referred to as the READER Act, which stands for Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources. He wrote that while the state has an interest in protecting children “from obscene content in the school setting,” the challenged law “misses the mark on accomplishing its goal and is unconstitutional.”

October 22, 2025 Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Lawyers Can’t Shake $525K Sanction

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a federal judge in Fort Worth makes a business pitch to Apple and X Corp., a hefty sanction is upheld against two lawyers, and a pro se litigant is called out by a Fifth Circuit panel for citing cases that “appear to be fake” in her sex discrimination appeal.

October 20, 2025 Michelle Casady

Forty Years in the Making, Harris County Finally Gets More Civil District Courts

Lawmakers this session did something that hadn’t been done in more than 40 years: approved the creation of new civil district courts in Harris County. The five new courts will come online next year and in 2027, and officials have said the additions will improve docket efficiency, enhance access to justice and strengthen the court system’s ability to serve Harris County.

October 17, 2025 Michelle Casady

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