In this edition of Litigation Roundup, executives of a Houston-based company that operates strip clubs are indicted on tax fraud charges in New York, and a trio of cities ask the entire Third Court of Appeals to rehear their constitutional challenge to a new state law.
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Omnicare Hires Haynes Boone, Files for Bankruptcy in NDTX
Facing a $949 million federal court judgment for improperly billing charges to Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare, Rhode Island-headquartered pharmacy services company Omnicare Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday in the Northern District of Texas. The company stated the Chapter 11 filing will give it time to work on resolving the federal legal dispute, which is the huge majority of Omnicare’s liabilities.
Houston Trial Firm Boosts Associate Salaries
Associates at AZA will see a bump of $10,000 to their annual compensation. “Our young lawyers aren’t stuck making other people’s outlines. They’re out trying cases, and we’ll pay them more for it,” AZA Hiring Partner Monica Uddin told The Lawbook in an interview.
Thoma Bravo to Acquire Houston-based PROS in $1.4B Take-Private Deal
Kirkland and DLA Piper are advising on the deal, which would delist the SaaS-pricing analytics firm from the NYSE where it debuted in a $75 million 2007 IPO.
CDT Roundup: A Week of Power Plants, Energy Infrastructure and Another Crypto CapM Deal
The week that ended Sept. 20 saw 24 deals with a reported value of $11.3 billion. There were a lot of deals this week related to energy, infrastructure or AI, or some combination of the three. The largest deals of the week included, perhaps unsurprisingly, a few of the largest players: with San Antonio’s electric utility buying four natural gas plants for $1.4 billion and Blackstone buying a huge natural gas plant in southwest Pennsylvania for $1 billion, give or take a few million or so. That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.
P.S. — Wills for Officers, AZA Partner Goes to U.N., Eviction Advocacy Comes to Houston
In this edition of P.S., we highlight the Texas legal community’s impact at home and abroad. In Dallas, nearly 100 volunteers came together for the Wills for Heroes Clinic, helping police officers prepare more than 80 wills. Meanwhile, the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center — a nonprofit organization fighting unlawful evictions — is expanding its reach to Houston. On the global stage, AZA Houston Partner Shahmeer Halepota addressed the United Nations, offering insight on Pakistan’s water crisis.
Dallas Firm Secures $83M Jury Verdict for Woman’s Mesothelioma Death
A Boston jury found a Massachusetts woman’s mesothelioma death was caused by American Art Clay Company’s asbestos-laden products. This is the second multimillion-dollar verdict in three weeks for Dallas-based litigation boutique Iola, Gross & Forbes-King.
American Airlines Hit with $9.6M Verdict in Stroke Victim’s Suit
Dallas law firm Burns Charest represented a man who was left profoundly disabled after suffering a stroke just before boarding and another stroke while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Fort Worth-based American Airlines had argued they bore no responsibility for his injuries because he declined to deplane before the flight departed for Madrid.
A Half-Open Door — HB 40’s MDL Implications
Although much has been said of HB 40’s newly effective changes to the Texas Business Courts’ jurisdiction, many may have overlooked HB 40’s revision to Section 74.162 of the Texas Government Code, which weaves the Business Court into the Texas framework for multidistrict litigation. At first blush, this amendment appears to open the door for the business courts to hear a wide array of consolidated MDL proceedings. But practitioners should remain mindful of two significant roadblocks that prevent parties from funneling MDL proceedings to the business courts.
Sarah T. Hughes Scholarship Returns With New Focus on Hardship, Drops ‘Diversity’
The Dallas Bar Foundation has resumed its long-running Sarah T. Hughes Scholarship after pausing it earlier this year but has removed “diversity” from its title and eliminated explicit references to race and minority status from the scholarship’s description and application. Formerly titled the Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarship, the stated purpose was to support minority law students and promote diversity in the North Texas legal community. The revised version now focuses on applicants who have demonstrated resilience and overcome hardship, emphasizing broader examples of underrepresentation such as being first-generation college students or balancing school with work or military service.