Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Lawyers in a showdown between BMC Software and IBM concluded Thursday their cases with hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages for presiding judge Gray Miller to ponder over whether IBM committed fraud. Natalie Posgate was in the courtroom for closing arguments.
An infringement claim against Epic Games, creator of the wildly popular Fortnite video game, is dismissed for improper venue by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright.
The fifth edition has 26 entirely new chapters covering topics on no one’s radar screen four years ago but likely to be the subjects of the highest stakes litigation in the years to come.
Houston litigation boutique Yetter Coleman announced Tuesday that it has hired a complex commercial litigator from Kirkland. The new partner also has significant restructuring trial experience.
Despite efforts by a handful of federal appellate judges to limit jurisdiction and criticism from tech companies, the Western and Eastern districts of Texas remain two of the hottest courts in the U.S. for patent litigation. New data shows that federal courts in Waco and Marshall have more patent infringement disputes than 40 other states combined. Lawyers for plaintiffs and defendants tell The Texas Lawbook there are explanations behind the numbers.
At the end of a weeklong trial in Marshall, a federal court jury determined that the Chamberlain Group failed to prove its garage-door patents had been infringed upon.
BMC's second witness took the witness stand for most of Tuesday. Brian Jones, a key negotiator for BMC during its contract discussions with IBM, said his side was always "crystal clear" about its position of removing a coveted client from the parties' displacement provision: it wasn't happening.
The lawsuit has been settled that had the National Rifle Association in its sights and led to an investigation of the gun-advocacy group. The suit filed in Texas, now settled, was bitter. At one point, lawyers for ad agency Ackerman McQueen — Michael Gruber and Brian Mason of Dorsey & Whitney — sought state sanctions against Bill Brewer, the NRA attorney, which ultimately the Texas Supreme Court dismissed.
BMC’s attorney tells the court: BMC “always relied on the plain meaning” of its contracts with IBM and the language “speaks for itself.” But IBM’s lead lawyer countered that BMC breached the non-displacement contract when it did not inform IBM that AT&T had purchased special rights in its own contract with BMC that allowed IBM, as its outsourcer, to displace BMC software in AT&T’s systems without paying extra. “At best, BMC could (and did) try to leverage payments from IBM.”
IT giants BMC and IBM map their cases for U.S. District Judge Gray Miller today in a bench trial alleging fraud and trade-secrets misappropriation. Although BMC begins trial with a breach-of-contract finding already in the bag, Judge Miller made clear in a February order that BMC still has much to prove before it’s considered a win. Opening statements wrapped up just before lunch Monday afternoon and when the parties returned, BMC called its first witness, BMC VP Raul Ah Chu.
Anne Johnson has accomplished much in her legal career. The UK-born lawyer has won numerous difficult appeals, served on Haynes and Boone’s management committee and tried a multi-month case while six months pregnant. On Tuesday, Johnson made a move in her career that is both a big transition and another accomplishment: She joined a boutique law firm as a name partner.
The Lawbook details Johnson’s life and career and the magnitude of her lateral move.
Texas companies’ reprieve from litigation due to the Covid-19 pandemic is over. A new study of corporate general counsel in Texas finds that the number of lawsuits filed against larger businesses jumped 75 percent in 2021 over the previous year and that the fear of additional litigation in 2022 has increased, too. The good news for lawyers at Texas law firms is that companies returned to pre-Covid levels of hiring outside counsel to handle their litigation battles in 2021.
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