Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In an ongoing case involving numerous lawsuits and counterclaims, a jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright finds that Halliburton did not prove its patents for electronic fracking of oil and gas wells were infringed upon.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Southwest Airlines’ attorneys get a temporary stay of an order that they undergo religious liberty training, the Texas Supreme Court declines to grant Harris County emergency relief in its lawsuit over a new law that abolishes the county’s office of election administration, and the full Fifth Circuit revived a lawsuit brought by female Dallas County jailers alleging sex discrimination.
Lawyers for both sides told U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer they’d like to resolve a lawsuit accusing the two sports-talk hosts of violating a noncompete agreement by launching a sports podcast after leaving the radio station. “I am very confident you’ll work out a deal,” the judge said after conferring in chambers with the parties and counsel.
A jury of 12 sat through six days of trial and deliberated for about eight hours before determining the Baehr family was entitled to $3.1 million in damages. The toxic mold that infested their Austin home also sickened the family of six and prompted Kristina Baehr to launch her own firm to help others in the same situation.
Is Michael Clayton a lawyer movie? It’s a fair question, given that the main character isn’t really a lawyer. He operates in the dark corners of the legal profession, trying not to get too dirty, until he reaches a point where he can no longer look at himself in the mirror. Played by George Clooney, Michael Clayton isn’t the kind of movie to supply an unequivocal happy ending. Having settled accounts, Michael climbs into the back of a New York City cab, hands the driver some money and tells him to drive — anywhere. The credits roll over Clooney’s pensive face.
Last Friday, police in Marion, Kansas, seized the computers, file servers and personal cellphones of journalists at the local newspaper, the Marion County Record. According to a search warrant, officers believed there was probable cause that newspaper personnel had used equipment seized by officers to commit identity theft. Journalism is not a crime. Reporters and editors are not criminals. The First Amendment guarantees it. This common view of freedom of the press in America appears to have escaped the attention lately of at least one police department in Kansas. And one in Texas, too.
The defendants in a breach of contract dispute had argued that Dallas County District Court Judge Ashley Wysocki’s appointment of her campaign treasurer, James Stanton, as receiver in the case mandated her recusal. Judge Wysocki and Regional Presiding Judge Ray Wheless disagreed.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a Houston jury awards a woman $1.2B in a revenge porn case she brought against her ex-boyfriend, the state of Texas is facing another lawsuit over a new law set to go into effect Sept. 1, and McCathern teams up with civil rights lawyer Ben Crump in a suit against Harris County over its treatment of jailed individuals.
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