In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a woman who alleges she was raped by the NBA’s Zion Williamson hires The Lanier Law Firm to pursue her claims in California court and two former high-ranking lawyers in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office who launched their own firm are named as defendants in a lawsuit brought by a former coworker who alleges she was the victim of sexual harassment.
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.
California Superior Court, Los Angeles County
Lanier Firm Brings Sex Abuse Suit Against Zion Williamson
New Orleans Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson has been sued by a former girlfriend who accuses the basketball star of “engaging in a continuing pattern of abusive, controlling and threatening behavior” over the course of their five-year relationship.
The lawsuit was filed by a Jane Doe plaintiff on Thursday who said she started dating Williamson in 2018 during his freshman year at Duke University and continued dating until June 2023. Doe alleges Williamson pinned her down and raped her twice at a home in Beverly Hills — on Sept. 23, 2020, and again on Oct. 10, 2020.
“These two incidents were not isolated. Defendant continued to abuse, rape, assault, and batter Plaintiff in California and other states, including Louisiana and Texas, until the relationship ended in 2023,” the suit alleges.
Doe also accuses Williamson of strangling her to the point she lost consciousness on several occasions and covering her mouth and nose with his hands, preventing her from breathing on several occasions and also “violently kicking plaintiff with great force using his feet multiple times between 2020 and 2023 in California and Louisiana.”
In addition to the alleged physical violence, Doe told the court Williamson had often threatened to kill her or members of her family in the final years of their relationship. Doe alleges many of the violent incidents occurred while Williamson was under the influence of alcohol or cocaine.
Williamson is represented by the law firm Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, which issued a statement denying the allegations in their entirety and specifically denying there was ever a dating relationship between Williamson and Doe.
“This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance,” the statement reads.
Williamson and Doe had what his attorneys called a “consensual, casual relationship,” and they accused Doe of only raising her allegations “after the friendship ended.”
“Mr. Williamson reported the plaintiff’s extortion attempts to law enforcement … Mr. Williamson also intends to file counterclaims and seek significant damages for this defamatory lawsuit,” the statement reads.
Doe is represented by K. Rachel Lanier, W. Mark Lanier and Sam E. Taylor II of The Lanier Law Firm.
A case number was not available Monday.
Western District of Texas
Jury Says Fortress Controls VLSI
In a one-question verdict form, a jury in Austin recently unanimously determined that Intel had proven Fortress Investment Group was in control of VLSI Technology and Finjan LLC.
The result came in the patent infringement litigation between VSLI and Intel Corporation that’s been ongoing since April 11, 2019, when VLSI first accused the chipmaker of infringing three patents in its microprocessor products.
Intel had argued a licensing agreement between it and Finjan covered the VLSI patents based on the ownership structure of the companies.
The jury returned its verdict May 29. The trial began May 27. U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright presided over the case.
In November 2023, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered a do-over in a patent infringement suit between VLSI and Intel that had netted VLSI a $2.1 billion award after finding Judge Albright should have allowed Intel to present its defense that it actually had obtained a license to practice the VLSI patents.
The companies have had three patent infringement trials before Judge Albright. In March 2021, the jury found Intel infringed and awarded VLSI the $2.1 billion. At a second trial in April 2021, Intel prevailed when the jury found no infringement. A third trial, which concluded in November 2022, ended with a $948.7 million verdict in favor of VLSI.
VLSI is represented by several attorneys from the law firm Irell & Manella in California and local counsel J. Mark Mann of The Mann Firm and Andy W. Tindel, both of Tyler.
Intel is represented by several attorneys from the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, local counsel Harry Lee Gillam Jr. of Gillam & Smith in Marshall and J. Stephen Ravel of Kelly Hart & Hallman.
The case number is 1:19-cv-00977.
Northern District of Texas
Former Fifth Circuit Judge Costa, SMU Prof, Appointed Amicus Counsel
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman has appointed Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Gregg Costa and Eric Ruben, a professor at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, as the attorneys who will defend a section of the Texas Penal Code that restricts the open carrying of firearms at bars.
Judge Pittman appointed the two lawyers to defend the penal code at issue after the state of Texas conceded “that the Texas Penal Code sections at issue are unlawful under the Second Amendment.” He wrote that “because our legal ‘system assumes that adversarial testing will ultimately advance the public interest in truth and fairness,’ the Court finds it necessary to appoint an amicus curiae to defend the merits of the Texas Penal Code sections at issue.”
Lead plaintiff Charles Ziegenfuss filed his lawsuit against the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety in October, alleging Texas Penal Code Section 46.03 — which criminalizes possession of firearms at racetracks, sporting events and businesses where alcohol sales account for 51 percent of sales — runs afoul of the Second Amendment.
Judge Pittman appointed Costa and Ruben to the case in an order issued May 8. They are to file a brief with the court by Sept. 12, and Ziegenfuss’ response is due Oct. 10.
Ziegenfuss and the other plaintiffs are represented by R. Brent Cooper and Samuel Walton of Cooper & Scully and Bradley Benbrook and Stephen Duvernay of Benbrook Law Group.
DPS is represented by Zachary Rhines and Kyle Tebo of the attorney general’s office.
The case number is 4:24-cv-01049.
Western District of Texas
Stone Hilton, Founding Partners Named as Defendants in Executive Assistant’s Lawsuit
The former solicitor general of Texas, Judd Stone, his law partner Christopher Hilton, who formerly served as chief of the attorney general’s litigation division, and the law firm they formed together after leaving that office have been sued by a former executive assistant.
Jordan Eskew filed her federal lawsuit May 27, bringing claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and breach of contract. Eskew worked with Stone and Hilton at the attorney general’s office and said she was asked to join them when they left the office to launch Stone Hilton in mid-2023 to assist with defending Ken Paxton in the impeachment proceedings brought by the Texas House of Representatives.
Not long after joining, Eskew alleges she was at a work lunch where Hilton and Stone ordered a round of shots and asked her to take one. When she commented that the liquor was “the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted,” she alleged Stone replied “I highly doubt that it the most disgusting thing that has ever been in your mouth.”
Hilton, she alleges, “did nothing other than wince and laugh uncomfortably at Stone’s comment.”
Another time, at the office, Eskew alleges Stone told her, “In this firm, there are no rules. You can say whatever slurs you want.”
She detailed an occasion when she was asked to order barbecue for lunch at the office and had trouble finding a restaurant that would accommodate a large order on short notice.
“When Plaintiff arrived at the office with lunch, Judd Stone and Christopher Hilton were upset that it took so long for the food to arrive. Judd Stone yelled at Plaintiff about how he was going to ‘punish’ her,” the suit alleges. She was later taken to a separate room with Stone and Hilton where she alleges she they “began to berate her in a hostile and abusive manner” before Hilton asked if she could feign crying as she left the room “You know, to mess with everyone.”
There was another instance where Stone allegedly called Eskew “white trash” for wearing turquoise jewelry, screamed at her over a spreadsheet and told another colleague to “bitch her out” regarding the delivery of a propane tank for an office cook–out.
Eskew’s lawsuit paints a picture of an office where drinking during the day was common, alleging she had been asked to make Stone a Manhattan and was asked to buy booze at least twice as part of her job duties.
She also alleges the firm reneged on an agreement to pay her a $180,000 salary and instead paid her $120,000.
But perhaps the most significant allegations stem from October 2023, when Hilton, Stone and others from Stone Hilton returned to the attorney general’s office after the impeachment proceedings had concluded.
“Once back at the AG’s Office, both Amy Hilton and plaintiff reported Judd Stone’s and Christopher Hilton’s treatment of them at Stone Hilton PLLC to Brent Webster, first assistant to Texas Attorney General Paxton,” the lawsuit alleges. “Webster confronted Judd Stone and Christopher Hilton about Amy Hilton’s and plaintiff’s allegations, and Stone promptly admitted that all of the allegations were true and that the actions described by Amy Hilton and plaintiff did indeed happen, and Christopher Hilton did not contest the allegations made by Amy Hilton and plaintiff.”
After Stone and Hilton attended a meeting about the allegations with then-deputy first assistant to the Texas attorney general, Grant Dorfman, who is now a business court judge, the duo submitted their resignations, the lawsuit claims.
The suit alleges Stone “had previously been asked to resign from his position working for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz due to allegations of sexual harassment against Stone, including that Stone had sexually harassed female interns who worked for Senator Cruz.”
The lawsuit also incorporates a letter from Webster that was allegedly sent to Paxton in December 2024 after the resignation of Stone and Hilton.
“Based on the attached letter from Judd Stone containing many false statements, I have serious safety concerns for my family and me. If you’ll recall, we gave Judd the opportunity last year to resign instead of being fired for credible complaints of sexual misconduct by two female OAG employees. It appears he is still very much obsessed with me, and given what has transpired in the past, and things he’s done or told me, I think you’ll understand my fear,” Webster’s letter begins.
The letter purportedly from Webster that’s included in the 19-page lawsuit goes on to allege that Stone told a female employee at OAG about “a disturbing sexual fantasy Judd had about me being violently anally raped by a cylindrical asteroid in front of my wife and children.”
The Texas Tribune has reported that, through a spokesperson, Stone and Hilton said they voluntarily left the OAG because Webster is a “petty tyrant.” In an email to The Texas Lawbook Monday, a spokesperson for Stone Hilton said Webster has a “personal vendetta” against Hilton and Stone and called this lawsuit “a political hit job” and “complete fabrication” that Webster created.
“Our focus remains on servicing our clients with excellence,” the statement reads. “We are confident in the truth and the truth will prevail.”
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright and referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower.
Eskew is represented by Emily Frost of Frost Domel in Austin.
Counsel for the defendants had not filed an appearance as of Monday.
The case number is 1:25-cv-00804
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