Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
House Bill 19 was amended during floor debate to target the new system for complex business cases towards urban areas where the courts have shifted in recent election cycles from Republicans to Democrats. The House rejected a proposed amendment to have the specialty court judges elected rather than appointed by the governor.
The case went through two rounds of oral arguments at the state’s high court, saw the voluntary recusal of two justices and the appointment by the governor of two intermediate appellate justices to the case. The ruling will allow Texas to bring its lawsuit against the German automakers alleging they violated state environmental laws via the emissions-cheating software scandal perpetrated by the companies.
The Texas Lawbook recently spoke to labor and employment lawyers in Texas about the proposal and what it would mean for both their employer clients and the litigation landscape statewide should the rule go into effect. The comment period, which was extended for an additional month because of the number of comments received, closed April 19 and garnered 26,814 responses.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a widow asks the Texas Supreme Court to decide that she owns space artifacts that belonged to her astronaut husband, the high court clarifies the contours of when insurers can avoid liability under life insurance policies and a huge win for an Austin company gets undone by a federal judge in Michigan.
W. Mark Lanier, founder of The Lanier Law Firm, is recognized nationally for winning big personal injury and product liability claims against major corporations. But he also has represented clients in fraud, breach of contract and other forms of business litigation, the type of lawsuits that could be steered to a new system of business courts being considered by Texas lawmakers this year.
Lanier recently discussed his decision to publicly oppose the business court bill with The Texas Lawbook.
The announcement of his move to the firm’s Austin office came Monday, the day his retirement from the Western District of Texas became official. He served on the federal bench for more than 20 years.
Debate is expected Monday on HB 19, controversial legislation to create a separate system of courts to hear high-dollar business disputes. The bill has emerged as a partisan issue, laments Mark Lanier, a high-profile trial lawyer and Republican donor who opposes the proposal. In other, less contentious, action, the House has voted to increase juror pay and raise the mandatory retirement age for judges.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer sent the chief judge of the Northern District of Texas a letter Thursday asking that he “reform the method of assigning cases” to judges to put an end to forum shopping by litigants. The senator said litigants — especially the Texas Attorney General — have abused NDTX procedures that automatically assign cases to judges who sit in those geographic divisions, including divisions that have only one or two federal judges, in order to “hand-pick individual district judges seen as particularly sympathetic to their claims.”
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