Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
After eight aborted settings since 2017, the trial on bribery and kickback charges was under way in Dallas when a defense lawyer needed surgery. Rather than resuming after a monthlong delay — and making jurors work through the holidays — U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay rescheduled the trial for next September.
Senior U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield, who served in the Eastern District of Texas, died Tuesday. He was 82.
Bankruptcy trustee James E. Cross alleges Dallas-area home flipper Skyler Aaron Cook, who has filed for bankruptcy in Arizona, defrauded investors out of at least $3 million in a scheme aided by Valliance Bank. The bank and its former executive vice president have denied the allegations.
As restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic were rolled back in 2022, courts across the state went to work adjudicating long-delayed cases. Here, in no particular order, The Texas Lawbook looks back on some of the most significant litigation Texas lawyers handled in 2022.
Senior U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth was old school and hardcore, viewed as the epitome of a federal judge and always regarded as the lord of his courtroom. Criminal defense lawyers compared him to the hanging judges of the Wild West because of the lengthy prison sentences. But other lawyers and judges say he was a fierce protector of the rule of law and the right to trial by jury. Judge McBryde, appointed to the federal bench in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, died Sunday. He was 91.
In sheer numbers, insurance coverage disputes arguably generate more litigation than any other. The American College of Coverage Counsel recently held its annual Insurance Law Symposium at SMU in Dallas to share best practices and explore cutting-edge and emerging issues. Practitioners also addressed two cases on this year's Texas Supreme Court docket.
The jury deliberated for about three hours before siding with Maiden Biosciences on Tuesday morning. Over five days of testimony 15 witnesses were called, including five experts.
In this week’s edition of litigation roundup, appellate rulings take center stage. The Texas Supreme Court granted review in a tax dispute between Kinder Morgan and a school district and allowed a sex trafficking lawsuit against Salesforce to proceed. In the Fifth Circuit, a former general counsel and staff attorney at a Louisiana college appeal to revive their pay discrimination and retaliation suit.
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