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Commercial Litigation

Dallas Lender Owes Millions for Wrongful Foreclosure in ‘Business Coup D’état’ Case

Dallas County District Judge Monica Purdy presided over a seven-day bench trial in May before determining that PrimaLend violated the terms of a loan agreement when it changed the locks and foreclosed on an Ohio car dealership before first exhausting attempts to recover its money by pursuing the business’ assets. Judge Purdy is expected to enter final judgment awarding the Benit family about $6.7 million within the next week.

Michelle Casady

Kane Russell Coleman Logan Team Comes Through for Unsecured Creditors in Icahn Co. Bankruptcy

Joe Coleman, John Kane, Brian Hail and a team of other lawyers from Kane Russell Coleman Logan recently secured a favorable outcome for a group of unsecured creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding for a Carl Icahn-owned company, Auto Plus. At the outset, it seemed the unsecured creditors stood to recoup none of their roughly $200 million in unsecured debt, but the legal team overcame three key challenges on its way to recovering more than $57 million: Auto Plus’ apparent administrative insolvency, a fast-tracked sale of assets already in motion and “the specter of the fact that Carl Icahn was the ultimate owner,” Coleman said. “Obviously, Mr. Icahn has an enormous reputation, he’s a very shrewd businessman.”

Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Settlement Reached in $352M Injury Case, SCOTX Sides with UT in Document Fight

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Texas Supreme Court held that the attorney-client privilege means a conservative nonprofit news organization cannot get access to certain documents stemming from a University of Texas admissions process investigation, and the parties on either side of a personal injury lawsuit that netted a $352 million jury verdict told an intermediate appellate court a settlement has been reached.

Michelle Casady

Divided SCOTX Sides with Jim Crane in Astros Sale Suit

In a 7-2 ruling issued Friday morning, the last day of the court’s term, the justices denied a request from the former owner of the Houston Astros, Drayton McLane, to bring an early end to a lawsuit brought by the team’s current owner, Jim Crane, alleging lies and deceptions caused him to overpay for the team in 2011. The ruling means Crane will have a chance to proceed with a trial in Harris County where he is seeking to recoup the entire $332 million he paid for a stake in the Houston Regional Sports Network that was part of his $615 million purchase of the Major League Baseball team.

Michelle Casady

What Does it Mean? Trial Lawyers Talk SCOTX Gregory Ruling

Trial lawyers who spoke to The Lawbook said the ruling in Gregory v. Chohan didn’t offer much clarity on the proper evidentiary standard for noneconomic damages awards. Justice John Devine, who agreed with the plurality that an improper closing argument likely influenced the damages award and mandates a new trial, decried the new evidentiary standard advocated for by three justices as “impossible” to meet.

Michelle Casady

Judge Asked to Separate Market Manipulation Cases from Winter Storm Uri MDL

Plaintiffs' lawyers suing more than 90 energy companies for alleged market manipulation of natural gas prices during Winter Storm Uri are asking a Houston judge to separate their lawsuits from the more than 300 other wrongful death, personal injury and property damage cases currently consolidated in the MDL in Houston. Data analytics firm CirclesX Recovery argues its lawsuit is legally different from the others and should be handled outside of the MDL.

Mark Curriden

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