Commercial Litigation Archives - Page 60 of 121

Investigator to Jury in $26M Life-Insurance Case: Two People Identified the Insured as Alive More than a Year After His ‘Death’

A private investigator testified Wednesday that two people at a Mexico City office where he was searching for the supposedly dead Eduardo Rosendi, flashing Rosendi’s photo, told him the man in the photo worked there as an accountant – and one had seen him earlier that day. The investigator was a critical witness in the third day of a federal trial in which a $26 million insurance payout is in the balance – if Rosendi is not dead. But Mikal C. Watts, the beneficiary’s attorney, should get his chance at cross-examination Thursday.

February 16, 2022 Bruce Tomaso

Employment Suits Drop in Texas As Pandemic Drags On

Federal wage-and-hour suits have been steadily declining since the first half of 2020, when suits rose 19% from pre-pandemic days. And federal employment-discrimination lawsuits filed in Texas under Title VII were also down. Many factors may be at work, including the pandemic, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the backlog of government agencies that oversee the litigation.

February 16, 2022 Natalie Posgate

$26M Insurance Claim: Fraud ‘So Obvious,’ or Investigation Not ‘Indisputable’

The plaintiff’s attorney, Mikal C. Watts, on cross-examination of the insurers’ lead witness, attacked his investigator’s thoroughness and his conclusions as hardly indisputable.

February 16, 2022 Bruce Tomaso

Fort Worth Bankruptcy Judge Hears Details of $33M Elevate Credit Settlement

The multistate predatory lending and fraud litigation pitting more than a million low-income plaintiffs against two Fort Worth financial tech companies – Think Finance and Elevate Credit – is in “its final chapter,” lawyers told a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlan Hale Wednesday. Elevate agreed to pay $33 million to settle three class actions and an adversarial bankruptcy complaint that alleged a decadelong scheme of predatory lending and subsequent corporate transactional legal maneuvering that claimed victims in nearly every state.

February 16, 2022 Mark Curriden & Natalie Posgate

Fort Worth Fintech Firm Settles Massive Litigation for $33M

Fort Worth technology-based financial lender Elevate Credit has agreed to pay $33 million as part of a proposed settlement agreement related to a web of litigation across the United States, which alleged a decade-long scheme of predatory lending and subsequent corporate transactional legal maneuvering that victimized more than a million low-income people.

February 15, 2022 Natalie Posgate & Mark Curriden

Lauren Brogdon Talks Energy Litigation and Her Move to Haynes and Boone

Energy trial litigator Lauren Brogdon was on maternity leave last year when she started “reflecting on the future growth” of her law practice and the right “environment” where she wanted to practice. Last week, the Houston lawyer moved her practice to Haynes and Boone. In an exclusive interview, Brogdon told The Texas Lawbook the reasons behind her lateral move, the biggest litigation risks she sees for energy companies today and her passion for pro bono.

February 11, 2022 Mark Curriden

Wife or Widow: Jury to Decide Confounding Life-Insurance Claim

Is Eduardo Rosendi dead or alive? Was he a Mexican tech CEO worth $70 million or a custodian who earned $12 a day? Those are the $26 million questions brought by two of the world’s largest insurance companies, a question they will put before a federal jury in Houston next week. “It’s the most interesting trial I have ever been involved in,” said trial lawyer Mikal C. Watts of San Antonio.

February 10, 2022 Bruce Tomaso & Natalie Posgate

Plaintiffs Lawyers Face Critical Stage in Winter Storm Uri Litigation

For 11 months, hundreds of wrongful-death, personal-injury and property-damage lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages related to Winter Storm Uri edged along at a snail’s pace. But a Houston judge appointed to oversee the litigation has put strict new deadlines on the lawyers who suddenly find themselves in the midst of a make-or-break few months that could determine the legitimacy and survival of their lawsuits. The Texas Lawbook has the details.

February 7, 2022 Mark Curriden

Paralyzed Airport Worker’s Family Accepts Houston Judge’s Suggested Reduction of $352.7M Judgment

Randy Sorrels, the lawyer for Ulysses Cruz, his wife, and their 2 children, said they’ll consent to the $117.5 million remittitur – but will seek the full jury verdict if the other side appeals.

February 3, 2022 Bruce Tomaso

Tellurian’s Charif Souki Responds to Investor Lawsuit

Tellurian co-founder Charif Souki went on the record with The Texas Lawbook in response to a lawsuit filed against him a couple weeks ago by a Tellurian investor that claims he lost tens-of-millions after Souki reneged on a promise to pay back the shareholder’s losses. Souki has retained Yetter Coleman in Houston to defend him in the litigation.

February 1, 2022 Natalie Posgate