Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Last week, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced that it has accepted a massive blues and folklore archive gifted by Baker Botts client Susannah Nix, the daughter of the late prominent folklorist Robert “Mack” McCormick. Nix and her lawyers spoke with Natalie Posgate about the donation and the legal work that went into it.
After being dragged into six fights by a former associate who alleges he’s owed back wages — before the labor commissions in California and Texas, the bar associations in each state and courts there — the Berg & Androphy partner David Berg is asking a Harris County district judge to sanction Justin Carl Pfeiffer. In an answer and counterclaim filed Monday, Berg referred to Pfeiffer as “unhinged” and a “vexatious litigant” who “harasses all whom he claims have wronged him.”
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found the insulated power structure of an agency meant to protect racehorses facially unconstitutional, Oncor was found liable for a tree trimmer’s injuries and a closely watched insurance case is teed up before the Texas Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge kept the nonpartisan voting rights group from attending Wednesday's ceremony at the M.O. Campbell Center, departing from decades of tradition that historically allows new citizens to register to vote right away in a simple and easy manner.
On their second day of deliberation, jurors in the court of state District Judge Monica McCoy Purdy awarded damages of $3.94 million to the family of electrician Gabriel Vela, who was killed in 2019 while working at a West Texas midstream energy plant. However, because the jury found Vela 51 percent responsible for his death, the defendants will not be liable. Bruce Tomaso reports.
In closing arguments, attorneys for a West Texas midstream gas facility say electrician Gabriel Vela died because of his own negligence. A plaintiff’s attorney counters that the gas plant’s conduct was ‘the grossest of gross negligence’ he’s seen in 34 years of practice.
Since U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled that Evan P. Jowers improperly poached business from his former boss, Robert E. Kinney, Jowers has filed a new lawsuit in Florida and a motion for a protective order, alleging that Kinney threatened his family. Kinney, in turn, is seeking sanctions against Jowers and his current and former lawyers.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the University of Texas settles a gender discrimination lawsuit with the law professor Linda Mullinex, Amazon draws a patent infringement lawsuit over robotics used at its fulfillment centers, the Fifth Circuit denies a bid from a fraudster — who waived his right to appeal — to challenge his 14-year sentence and a settlement is reached in a shareholder lawsuit against Fluor Corporation.
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