Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The discrimination and retaliation case lodged against one of the most prestigious funeral homes in the country, Houston’s Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors, didn’t gain traction with a jury that rejected William Coleman’s claims and awarded him no damages. Carter Crow of Norton Rose Fulbright, who represented the defendant, said he believes these types of religious discrimination lawsuits have become more common post-covid.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Keurig gets approval to settle a class action lawsuit over claims it made about the recyclability of its coffee pods for $10 million and the Dallas Court of Appeals held that a Jane Doe should be allowed to proceed with her claims Jerry Jones forcibly kissed her at AT&T Stadium.
Friday morning the Texas Supreme Court determined that Robert Cox and a group of nine other cotton farmers presented insufficient evidence to proceed with their lawsuit alleging Helena Chemical Company’s negligent aerial application of Sendero damaged their crops. A trial court had tossed the suit on summary judgment, but the Eastland Court of Appeals partially revived it, teeing up the high court battle.
The second annual LITFINCON in Houston this year featured two panels of particular interest: one featuring federal and state judges, and one featuring law professors where a discussion of the ethics of litigation finance took center stage.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Marriott gets rolling, Dell Technologies gets a win in a $450 million patent infringement lawsuit and the Fifth Circuit agrees Landry’s is on the hook for data breach damages.
Few things capture the public’s imagination and make headline news daily as does a jury trial, especially one for murder. The latest example of such a case is the murder trial of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh.
Although the facts of the case are in so many ways bizarre and extreme, the case illustrates some very common issues that come up in trials generally, especially criminal trials.
Three banks – Toronto-Dominion Bank, HSBC Bank and Independent Bank (formerly Bank of Houston) – have agreed to pay $1.34 billion to Ponzi-scheme victims of Houston financier R. Allen Stanford and his investment firm.
TD Bank, HSBC and Independent Bank were scheduled to stand trial starting today in Houston federal court where they were accused of aiding and abetting Stanford in perpetrating an $8 billion fraud against 18,000 investors.
On Friday the Texas Supreme Court granted a petition for review from USA Lending Group that aims to revive a legal malpractice lawsuit it filed against Winstead PC regarding the firm’s in a lawsuit against a former employee. USA Lending sued Winstead after its attorneys failed to request damages in a motion for default judgment, which the company alleges cost it about $1.2 million. The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether the Texas Citizens Participation Act applies to the case.
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