Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A jury found Signature Systems Group had committed breach of contract and misappropriated the trade secrets of Spartan Composites, a company that manufactures industrial mats used at construction sites. Following a few hours of deliberation, the jury awarded the requested damages along with punitive damages.
In a five-sentence per curiam opinion issued Thursday morning, the First Court of Appeals in Houston declined to disturb rulings from a trial judge that allowed the law firm Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing to continue its defense of Transocean in multidistrict litigation stemming from offshore workers’ injuries. Lawyers from Arnold & Itkin, representing the plaintiffs, had argued the move was required and told The Texas Lawbook Thursday they are considering all options as it relates to a possible appeal.
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Susman Godfrey partner Justin Nelson talks about settlements against Fox News and the AI company Anthropic, along with where he sees AI regulation headed. Nelson also discusses lessons learned in his career from clerking for U.S Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to running for Texas attorney general.
Executives at Texaco woke up Nov. 20 — exactly 40 years ago today — like it was the morning after aliens attacked in the movie Independence Day. A day earlier, a Houston jury ruled the New York-based oil and gas giant had tortiously interfered with a 1984 agreement Getty Oil made to merge with Pennzoil and awarded Pennzoil $10.53 billion. Texaco’s stock took a beating — dropping from $80 per share when the litigation started to $32 the week following the trial. Some Wall Street analysts were openly warning about bankruptcy. The company’s convertible bonds plummeted in value. Texaco’s debt rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s. Interest accruing on the judgment was $2.8 million every single day.
Between Thanksgiving 1985 and Christmas 1987, the two energy companies and their ever-expanding roster of litigators did battle. The litigation itself multiplied, including a precedent-setting federal case in New York over Texaco’s appeals bond, a monumental appellate battle, a bizarre decision by the Texas Supreme Court, the world’s largest corporate bankruptcy at the time and a historic settlement.
Both sides hired major reinforcements — fresh legs and fresh eyes, if you will — as the trial teams had been going full speed for 21 straight months. The appeals team for Texaco beefed up with several heavy hitters from Fulbright & Jaworski and David Boies of Cravath in New York. Pennzoil added a Texas superstar in V&E’s Harry Reasoner and Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School.
In Part II of our series looking back at the significance of the Pennzoil v. Texaco trial, The Lawbook examines the post-verdict appeals, which were historic and precedent-setting.
After a five-day trial, a South Carolina jury found insurance companies had breached their obligations after an incident at an aluminum plant resulted in property damage. A team from Austin-based Reid Collins & Tsai represented the plaintiff.
After filings this week, the fight between the ownership groups of the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks will play out in Delaware bankruptcy court and in the Texas Business Court. The Stars, represented by Winstead, have hired a team of lawyers from Blank Rome to aid in the bankruptcy proceeding. The Mavericks are represented by Jackson Walker.
Richard R. Rogers, who cofounded Mary Kay with his mother in 1963, filed suit against Mary Kay Holding Company in August, arguing the entity was required to hand over fees to fund litigation over a trust dispute with his son. A magistrate judge in Delaware disagreed.
An Anderson County district judge ruled late Monday that she will not reconsider a court-approved settlement in a case pitting a group of poultry and cattle farmers against the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District that could restrict or even prohibit Dallas businessman Kyle Bass from drilling for millions of gallons of water on two of his East Texas ranches.
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