Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A Texas Business Court jury in Dallas deliberated for just 90 minutes late Friday night before ordering FiberWave and one of its subcontractors to pay AT&T $8 million for breaching its contractual duty to indemnify the telecom giant. The litigation started when FiberWave, a former sales partner, sued AT&T for $50 million in unpaid commissions.
Dallas litigation boutique Dean Omar Branham Shirley — with 39 lawyers and 35 support staff — belongs to a small group of firms nationwide that continue to reject Johnson & Johnson’s offers to resolve all its mesothelioma talc litigation through firm-level settlement agreements. Instead, DOBS has taken J&J to trial one case at a time, across the country, facing a roster of major law firms, including Kirkland & Ellis, King & Spalding and Gibson Dunn. And they’re winning.
The court concluded that the doctrine — which, in essence, bars civil courts from deciding cases that call into question a church’s doctrine, internal decisions and governance — applied to completely end Cindy Clemishire’s claims against Gateway Church and its elders.
President Donald Trump said he planned to nominate two candidates to federal district court judgeships in Texas, part of a broader slate of judicial picks he announced.
In a $50 million dispute between AT&T and a former top sales partner, jurors in the Texas Business Court heard opening statements Tuesday morning that told very different stories, framing the breach of contract case as either a display of "corporate greed" or an unraveling scheme of "bribes and cover-ups."
In a breach of contract case where comments before the jury implied certain parties were racist, sexist or even akin to Nazi Joseph Goebbels, a new trial must take place, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals determined Tuesday.
The two Dallas sports franchises filed a joint motion with the 15th Court of Appeals to vacate judgment and remand the case to the Texas Business Court for dismissal. The Mavericks sued the Stars to enforce the terms of partnership contracts the teams signed nearly 25 years ago.
Texas immigration courts are carrying one of the nation’s largest backlogs as the system has undergone a sweeping shake-up of more than 200 judges, coinciding with a rise in deportation orders. Nearly 3.2 million cases were pending before U.S. immigration courts as of June 2026, including 321,006 in Texas, the third-highest total in the country.
A Houston lawyer in Kelley Drye & Warren’s environmental law practice group served as lead trial counsel for the state of New Jersey, guiding historic $2.4 billion settlements in “forever chemical” litigation against DuPont and 3M that were finalized via consent orders by a federal judge last week. Jackson previously represented the state of Louisiana in Deepwater Horizon litigation.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Bell Nunnally partner Heath Cheek discusses his first trial and trial prep. He also shares how he got involved with the State Fair of Texas and how it became a piece of home for him in Dallas.
After the attorneys argued their case at trial and submitted post-trial briefs to U.S. District Court Judge Ada Brown, she recused herself without explanation. Now, the attorneys may have to retry the case before a new judge. The bench trial between the trustee of a Dallas luxury senior living community and its landlord began in May.
Mark Cuban's request to withdraw his Rule 202 petition was granted by Texas Business Court Judge Bill Whitehill without prejudice Monday. The case originated in the Dallas County District Court and was removed to the Texas Business Court last week.
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