Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Fifth Circuit explains the limitations of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in allowing a lawsuit against Salesforce to proceed, the Houston city council greenlights a settlement in a revenge porn case involving members of the fire department and a multimillion-dollar jury award in a case involving a contract to construct a natural gas plant is slashed.
Four years after devastating power outages resulted in death and destruction, justices will hear arguments in February on the utility companies’ mandamus effort to end claims by more than 15,000 plaintiffs. The utilities say they had no duty under the exigent circumstances to supply power to any particular customers for any particular duration.
In three orders issued Wednesday and Thursday, Harris County District Judge Rabeea Collier sanctioned Transocean and its former legal team for “egregious” conduct in the multidistrict litigation. The judge declined to disqualify the company’s new legal team, AZA, from continuing its representation of the drilling company.
One week into an August trial, the real estate developer and crane rental company reached a settlement agreement with plaintiffs over the crane collapse onto a Dallas apartment complex. Or so they thought. A conflict over the settlement terms has prompted the case to return to court, and another trial date has been set.
Recent developments in the dispute stemming from new Federal Bureau of Ocean Management bond rules targeting offshore energy companies include a question of whether the case belongs in federal court and if Vinson & Elkins should be allowed to represent two insurers after previously representing W&T for nearly a decade.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Whataburger hires Holland & Knight to defend a patent infringement lawsuit in East Texas, and DLA Piper turns to a team from Vinson & Elkins to defend it in a legal malpractice lawsuit in Harris County over its alleged employment of a “fake lawyer.”
A group of investors allege Rhodium Enterprises executives and Fort Worth-based Imperium Investments Holdings, LLC deceived investors to secure a $33 million investment. Rockdale-based Rhodium filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August.
A lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas Thursday by a family-owned logistics company accuses some of its biggest competitors of “illicitly” building a multibillion-dollar business by “systematically defrauding consumers and small business owners” in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan Albright, one of the most popular jurists for handling patent infringement disputes in the U.S., is moving his chambers from Waco to Austin, Bloomberg Law reported late Wednesday. The judges of the Western District of Texas have approved Judge Albright’s request to move his primary chambers to Austin in 2025, according to Bloomberg Law. The transfer must be approved by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s Judicial Council.
A federal judge in Dallas has given Southwest Airlines more time to prepare a legal defense against a lawsuit brought by an organization that claims the airline’s program offering free flights for low-income Hispanic students to go home to visit their parents is illegally discriminatory. Senior U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater ruled Dec. 6 that the lawsuit brought by the American Alliance for Equal Rights must proceed forward even though Southwest officials agreed to end the charitable effort several months ago.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we have the details on a $60.6 million Tarrant County jury award, Oncor beats back a $10 million jury award on appeal in Dallas and the Department of Justice accuses an Austin man who founded a beverage company of swindling investors.
The state’s high court heard oral arguments Wednesday morning in the lawsuit brought by Sheema Shaik against BRP-Rotax GmbH that asks it to determine whether Texas courts have specific jurisdiction over a foreign manufacturer based on an allegedly defective engine.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.