Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a bankruptcy judge in Houston approves a $52 million insurance settlement for victims of factory explosion, the Texas Supreme Court adds several cases to its oral argument calendar and a Jackson Walker nets a win against the Federal Aviation Administration.
ChatGPT can be a valuable tool to avoid the constant occupational hazard for litigators of “groupthink.” All of you have to do is ask it some simple questions and you’ve got the opposing point of view, well-explained. Here's why I think of it as my "Pocket B.S. Detector."
Business groups plan a renewed push to create a separate system of trial and appeals courts to handle complex commercial litigation. A Texas House committee that studied the issue says the Texas Supreme Court first should follow through on a pandemic-delayed pilot program. The Texas Lawbook previews the coming battle and other judiciary and civil justice issues expected to be discussed during the 2023 legislative session.
Currently, judges and justices in Texas are required by the state’s constitution to retire at age 75 in most instances. A legislator from Angleton has authored a resolution that would give voters an opportunity to amend the constitution and do away with that requirement.
Sean Gorman, Chris Dodson and Andrew Zeve are joining a team of about 90 attorneys in White & Case’s Houston office after tenures at Bracewell that included leading the firm’s $1.6 billion win for BMC against IBM.
Allied Aviation and Ulysses Cruz filed a brief this week with the First Court of Appeals in Houston explaining they are close to finalizing a mediated settlement in the personal injury lawsuit and seeking an abatement of the appeal.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Fluor beats back class action lawsuit brought by retirement plan participants, a jury in Houston finds there was no infringement of a patent covering a tool used in oil and gas drilling and the Fifth Circuit revives a proposed class action against Six Flags.
Opening statements came Thursday morning in a trial that’s expected to last three weeks and seeks to hold Bobcat of Houston and its parent company responsible for the incident that killed Ricardo Garza in October 2017. Plaintiff’s lawyer Chrysta Castañeda told jurors the family’s patriarch had been “flayed alive” by a piece of forestry equipment.
Texas trial lawyers Mike Slack and Ladd Sanger are among an elite tier of attorneys who are experts in aviation law and whose work has made commercial and private aviation safer for the masses. They recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss their career paths and what keeps them going.
Former federal judge Vanessa Gilmore, now a mediator, arbitrator and special master at JAMS, visited with The Lawbook about her career, the developments she anticipates in alternative dispute resolution and the legacy projects she is working on to pave the way for Houston’s future leaders.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a team from Susman Godfrey secures a $166 million patent win against AT&T and Nokia, the Texas Supreme Court sides with insurance companies in a dispute brought by emergency room doctors over out-of-network reimbursement payments and the Fifth Circuit chides an attorney’s litigation tactic.
On Monday, Royal Furgeson, retired federal judge and founding dean of the UNT Dallas College of Law, received the Dallas Bar Association's 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Justice Award. In his acceptance speech, Judge Furgeson talked about the special duty of lawyers to carry on King's work. Read the full text exclusively here.
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