Texas companies’ reprieve from litigation due to the Covid-19 pandemic is over. A new study of corporate general counsel in Texas finds that the number of lawsuits filed against larger businesses jumped 75 percent in 2021 over the previous year and that the fear of additional litigation in 2022 has increased, too. The good news for lawyers at Texas law firms is that companies returned to pre-Covid levels of hiring outside counsel to handle their litigation battles in 2021.
Jurors Take One Hour to Toss $26M Life Insurance Claims
After eight days of trial, a Houston federal court jury dispatched life-insurance claims by a woman accused of faking her husband’s death, answering two essential questions: Did she prove her husband was dead (no) and did the insurance companies prove he misrepresented in his application for the insurance (yes).
Kirkland and Bell Nunnally Win Jury Trial for AMLI Residential in $38M Dispute
Kirkland & Ellis partner Jeremy Fielding and AMLI Chair Gregory Mutz, a Vietnam War infantry lieutenant turned lawyer turned real estate developer, stood side by side last Wednesday as a Houston jury delivered its verdict. AMLI stood accused of lying, breach of contract and destroying evidence related to the $57 million sale in 2012 of a Houston luxury apartment complex. The verdict, both men say, brought them to tears.
Widow: $26 Million Life Insurance Was Surprise
Blanca Monica Villareal, accused in a civil suit of faking her husband’s death in Mexico City to swindle insurers Transamerica and Prudential, claimed that she knew nothing about his finances. Testifying in Spanish, she told Houston jurors she couldn’t read the insurance policies and didn’t know what they were when she found them, because they were in English.
Mikal Watts Grills Investigator Who Concluded $26M Life-Insurance Claim Was for Mexico City Man Still Alive
If a Mexico City businessman faked his death in 2016 to steal $26 million from two U.S. life-insurance giants, he’s done a remarkable job of lying low since, the lawyer