In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a businessman faces sexual assault allegations, a Texas attorney is ordered to pay fees to Google, and one of the plaintiffs in the private-equity dentistry lawsuit in Dallas was found in contempt for violating the temporary injunction.
The Litigation Roundup is a weekly feature highlighting the work Texas lawyers are doing inside and outside the state. Have a development we should include next week? Please let us know at tlblitigation@texaslawbook.net.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Texas Attorney to Pay Fees to Google for ‘Frivolous’ Patent Suit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a California judge’s ruling Tuesday that EscapeX IP failed to properly investigate claims concerning YouTube’s music and audio features before suing the platform. The court called the patent lawsuit “frivolous.”
Now, Houston lawyer Bill Ramey and his client, EscapeX, must pay Google $250,000 in attorney’s fees.
Judge Leonard Stark wrote for the three-judge panel, which included Judges Richard Taranto and Kara Stoll. The court rejected EscapeX’s suggestion that the degree of deference given to a district court is related to the amount of time the district court presided over a case.
“To hold otherwise would perversely suggest that a party could act in an otherwise sanctionable
manner for a brief time and suffer no consequences, or, alternatively, act in a sanctionable manner and then agree to a transfer and thereby purge itself of any responsibility for its bad acts,” Stark wrote. “We decline to incentivize such tactics.”
The court wrote that EscapeX’s arguments lacked merit.
Ramey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jonathan Tietz of Perkins Coie represented Google. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case number is 24-01201.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
State Dismisses ESG-Related Appeal, Heads for 2026 Trial
The state filed an unopposed motion Nov. 18 to voluntarily dismiss its appeal of a preliminary injunction issued against a law that would have limited firms from providing investors with ESG-related voting guidance.
Senate Bill 2337 was set to take effect Sept. 1.
The statute requires proxy advisory firms to report whether they use “nonfinancial factors” in creating recommendations on environmental, social and governance issues.
Western District Court Judge Alan Albright set Feb. 2 as the date for trial shortly after granting the preliminary injunction.
The state had an opening brief due Dec. 3.
“Thus, Defendant-Appellant moves to voluntarily dismiss this interlocutory appeal because it is highly unlikely that it will be fully briefed, argued, and disposed of by the Court prior to the issuance of a final judgment resulting from the February 2026 trial,” the motion reads.
The case number is 25-50777.
Northern District of Texas
Software Company Sues Former Execs for Allegedly Stealing Trade Secrets
Dallas-based software company o9 Solutions Inc. filed a complaint on Tuesday against rival SAP, alleging that SAP schemed to steal trade secrets.
o9 Solutions alleges its former executives — Stephan de Barse, Stijn-Pieter van Houten and Sean Zonneveld — downloaded over 22,000 files of proprietary information about its AI-powered supply chain planning platform while secretly meeting with SAP leadership between November 2024 and May 2025.
In December 2024, van Houten downloaded over 9,000 files after meeting with de Barse.
“These downloads far exceeded their ordinary download activities and occurred contemporaneously with their communications with SAP executives,” the 77-page complaint read.
o9 Solutions is seeking a jury trial, undetermined damages and injunctive relief.
Kirkland & Ellis partners Taj Clayton, Adam Alper, Carson Young, Christopher Lawless, Kevin Wang, Mike De Vries, and Yanan Zhao are representing o9 Solutions. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Counsel for SAP SE, SAP America, Stephan de Barse, Stijn-Pieter van Houten and Sean Zonneveld have not filed appearances at this time.
Judge Sam Lindsay has been assigned to the case.
The case number is 3:25-cv-03245.
Southern District of Texas
Houston Jury Awards $13M to Family of Man Killed in Police Car Accident
A federal jury awarded $13 million to the relatives of Charles Payne Sr. last week after finding the City of Houston was liable for Payne’s death.
Payne, 75, was killed in 2021 in a car accident involving a Houston police officer who was going 70 mph in a 35-mph zone without lights or sirens.
“This verdict is not just about what happened to Charles Payne — it’s about preventing it from ever happening again,” Carl L. Evans Jr., a partner at McCathern, Shokouhi, Evans, said in a press release. “The jury sent a clear message that no city is above accountability when its policies put the lives of the people it serves in danger. We are honored to stand with the Payne family and grateful that the jury recognized the truth of what happened and the depth of this family’s loss.”
Ben Crump and Paul Grinke of the Law Office of Ben Crump represented the Payne family along with Evans.
“We thank the jury for listening to the evidence and recognizing the truth of what happened to Charles Payne Sr. This verdict cannot erase the overwhelming pain of losing him, but it is an important measure of justice for his family,” Crump and Grinke said in a joint statement. “We are grateful for every prayer, every word of support, and every person who stood with this family throughout this long and difficult fight. We hope this decision helps strengthen policies to ensure that law enforcement operate their vehicles in a way that keeps the communities they serve safe. We hope that no other family has to experience a tragedy like this.”
The jury awarded more than $7.3 million for pecuniary loss, loss of companionship and past and future anguish to Payne’s widow, Harriet.
Payne’s seven children received individual awards for emotional and familial losses.
Christy Martin and Melissa Azadeh represented the city of Houston. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case number is 4:23-cv-04686.
Southern District of New York
Quinn Emanuel to Represent the former CEO of Beneficient in Criminal Case
A team of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan attorneys is representing Brad Heppner in his criminal case.
The attorneys are Benjamin O’Neil, Christopher Clore and Robert Zink.
Heppner is facing five charges: securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, making false statements to auditors and falsifying records in a federal investigation.
“Bradley Heppner, the defendant, engaged in a fraudulent scheme to loot more than $150 million from GWG Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded company for which he served as a chairman,” the 17-page indictment reads. “Heppner accomplished his scheme by extracting GWG’s funds through a series of misrepresentations about, and self-serving transactions with, Highland Consolidated Limited Partners. Though Heppner repeatedly described HCLP as an independent entity, it was, in fact, a shell company controlled by Heppner and operated for his benefit.”
The indictment was filed Oct. 28 and unsealed Nov. 4.
The indictment mirrors claims lodged by court-appointed trustee Michael I. Goldberg in an adversary proceeding in the GWG bankruptcy. In that 156-page complaint, filed against the law firm Holland & Knight and partner Bill Banowsky, Goldberg’s lawyers with Reid Collins & Tsai told the court that the firm and its lawyer “knowingly played a pivotal role in concealing Heppner’s relationship” with the senior lender, Highland Consolidated.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Nessim and Alexandra Rothman are representing the government.
Case number is 1:25-cr-00503.
Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals
Pharmaceutical Company Gets Fraud Case Transferred
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals agreed Nov. 21 to transfer the Medicaid fraud case to Travis County.
The state filed the case in Harrison County three years ago against AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals for allegedly running a kickback scheme.
Chief Justice Scott Brister wrote the opinion for the court. He cited a previous holding in March in which the court transferred the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis’ case out of Harrison County.
“We hold that the trial court clearly abused its discretion by denying AstraZeneca’s transfer motion, that this mandamus is neither moot nor barred by laches, and that remand for venue discovery is inappropriate under the circumstances,” Brister wrote.
The appellate court held that venue depends on evidence when the pleadings are disputed and that Real Parties didn’t present evidence of unlawful acts in Harrison County.
Real Parties have argued in their briefing that AstraZeneca allegedly offered unlawful nursing and support services through its websites.
“AstraZeneca’s websites do not qualify. They do not convey an unlawful ‘offer’ for a kickback because they make no binding promise to do so. Nor can a person who visits the websites have an enforceable expectation to receive the services from AstraZeneca as a result,” Brister wrote. “At most, the websites represent a ‘general invitation to apply for some of the challenged nurse services.’”
Scott Douglass McConnico partner Kennon L. Wooten is representing AstraZeneca. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Assistant Attorney General Paige Cheung is representing the Real Party in Interest of Texas. Mark Lanier, Zeke DeRose and Jonathan Wilkerson of The Lanier Firm and Samuel Baxter, Jennifer Truelove of McKool Smith are representing Real Parties in Interest SCEF, LLC and Lynne LevinGuzman. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case number is 15-25-00088-cv.
192nd District Court, Dallas County
Plaintiff Found Violating Temporary Injunction in PE Dentistry Suit
Late November, Judge Rachel Craig found plaintiff Community Dental Partners in contempt for violating the court’s temporary injunction.
Judge Craig ordered Community Dental Partners to pay $500 for not complying with the May 2025 temporary injunction.
Community Dental Partners is also ordered to inform all employees and contractors of Keep Smiling, Smile Leasing and Strategic Dental Executives that Dr. Dhaval Thakkar’s emails from Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 will be honored, and he is to be provided with full and complete access to information regarding his practices when requested.
National Dental Partners, a private equity-backed dental service organization, and several related plaintiffs filed suit against Dr. Dhaval Thakkar and several of the rural dentistry practices he operates in October 2024, accusing him of taking “blatant actions to impede plaintiffs’ ability to access various bank accounts” that it needs access to in order to “provide its non-clinical support and management services.” It also accused the dentist of violating various noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements.
Thakkar filed counterclaims against NDP, telling the court that what the defendants did to his “once thriving practice is straight out of a private equity bro’s loot and scoot playbook.”
A jury trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 23.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are National Dental Partners, Strategic Dental Executives dba Community Dental Partners, Thakkar Management, Strategic Dental Management of 3C and Strategic Dental Management of Richardson.
The defendants in the lawsuit are Potranco Smiles, Willis Family Dental, Orange Smiles, Alvin Family Dental, Castroville Dental, Mexia Dental, Santa Fe Dental, Port Arthur Smiles, Marbach Smiles, Shaenfield Dental, Lindale Smiles, Canyon Lake Dental, Converse Smiles, 3C Dental Orange, Gloss Dental of Rosenberg, Gun Barrel Smiles, Henderson Smiles, Camp Bowie Smiles, Gloss Dental, Fredericksburg Smiles, Rosharon Smiles, Dhaval Thakkar and Kelly Thakkar.
Christopher LaVigne, P. William Stark, Matthew Thomas and Zachary Tobolowsky of Greenberg Traurig are representing the plaintiffs. They didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thakkar and the other defendants are represented by Schyler Parker, Rusty O’Kane and Caitlin McNamara of Wick Phillips Gould & Martin. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case number is DC-24-18670.
341st District Court, Webb County
Jury Awards $8.6M to Injured Man
A Webb County jury awarded Jose Manuel Anchondo $8.6 million last week in Judge Beckie Palomo’s court.
Anchondo was severely burned when a truck driver working for Trout Trucking didn’t follow company policy.
Juan Garcia posted the win on LinkedIn. He wrote that Trout Trucking’s insurance company challenged liability and offered $70,000 before trial. During the trial, which started Nov. 17, it offered $1 million, which they rejected.
Garcia didn’t respond to requests for comment. His co-counsel, Samantha Demuren, declined to comment.
Emily Freeman, John Griffith, Heidi Gumienny, Burt Harrison, Marie Jamison, and A. Lexus Srilamsingha represented Trout Trucking. They did not respond to a request for comment.
The case number is 2023-cv-F001411D3.
459th District Court, Travis County
Texas Businessman Accused of Sexual Assault
A lawsuit was filed last week against the Texas Association of Business and Glenn Hamer, alleging that Hamer used his position of power to sexually assault a woman.
The woman, going by Jane Doe, is the founder and executive director of Texas Venture Alliance, an advocacy group for startups and entrepreneurs.
While being CEO of the TAB, Hamer is also chairman of TVA.
“The miscreant was well aware that by doing so, he was severely impacting her ability to
grow her entity, and was restricting her ability to earn a salary,” the 14-page complaint reads.
The suit is seeking over $10 million in damages.
Doe claims Hamer committed civil assault, gross negligence and that TAB committed liability.
The lawsuit notes that Hamer is married and has three daughters.
Doe claims Hamer “groomed” her and started a relationship with her in 2022.
“Hamer, at some point began to view Doe not as a colleague or someone working alongside him with similar goals for Texas, but as someone he could manipulate for his personal pleasure,” the lawsuit reads. “Eventually, Hamer did what it is now believed he has done before. He pushed a professional relationship past appropriate boundaries.”
According to the complaint, Doe met with Hamer in Austin to discuss business opportunities in May 2025. He assaulted Doe and then later he apologized and told Doe he was “disgusted with himself,” the lawsuit alleges, and he offered to get money from an ATM so she would “forget about it.”
“She did not accept his monies; she did not forget,” the lawsuit reads.
After refusing him, Doe alleges Hamer began retaliating against her and the TVA. She also rejected his sexual advances on two more occasions in Denton and Washington, D.C.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee is representing Doe. He posted a video on X commenting on the filing of the case.
“Her lawsuit sets forth that he wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Buzbee said in the video.
Buzbee said he hopes to have a solid trial date within the next 18 months.
According to The Texas Tribune, Hamer has been put on administrative leave while TAB conducts an investigation. Megan Mauro, TAB’s vice president and chief of staff, is serving as the group’s interim CEO.
Counsel for the Texas Association of Business or Glenn Hamer has not filed appearances at this time.
The case number is D-1-GN-25-010355.
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