A former shipyard worker in Portland, Oregon, developed mesothelioma after working with John Crane gaskets and packing for over a decade. A jury last Friday found the company liable for the fatal cancer. The case was first tried earlier this summer but ended in a mistrial after four days of jury deliberations.
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EchoStar Sells Spectrum Licenses to SpaceX for $17B
White & Case and Gibson Dunn advised on the megadeal which will enhance the ability of SpaceX to expand its Starlink “Direct to Cell” service.
Daria Russell Has Helped Mattress Firm Navigate a Decade of Highs and Lows
Daria Russell has experienced a lot since she joined the legal team at Houston-based Mattress Firm in 2015 — more than a dozen M&A transactions, including a 2016 $3.8 billion merger, a crippling accounting scandal involving the company’s former corporate parent, a subsequent 2018 multibillion-dollar corporate bankruptcy and then a $5 billion merger with Tempur Sealy that closed earlier this year. In May, Mattress Firm rewarded Russell for her decade of extraordinary legal work by promoting her to general counsel, overseeing five in-house lawyers, two health and safety professionals and seven loss-prevention contractors. Russell, like most corporate chief legal officers, is dealing with issues ranging from artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights and data privacy issues to ESG compliance and everything digital.
CDT Roundup: Capital Markets Deals Drive $8.6B Week
The week that ended Sept. 6 saw 20 deals with a reported value of $8.6 billion. That seems, at first glance, far better than last week’s 10 total deals for $3.5 billion. And it is. But not better than the 12 deals for $20 billion we saw this time last year.
But a closer look shows that the numbers were thin on money actually changing hands. First off, most of the money reported was on the capital markets side, $5.7 billion of the $8.6 billion reported. And on the M&A side, we saw $2.9 billion reported, but $1.57 of that was in a single midstream deal.
That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.
Justice Boyd Leaves a Legacy of Judicial Restraint
After more than a dozen years on the Texas Supreme Court, Justice Jeff Boyd is leaving his spacious office and balcony where the justices decompressed after sometimes-heated case conferences. The author of 72 majority opinions and 62 dissents is considering how he can educate the public about the need for judicial independence in an era of extreme political polarization. He reflected on his role as the court’s chief dissenter in a recent interview with The Texas Lawbook.
Jury Returns $12.25M Verdict for Family of Woman Who Died from Mesothelioma
A New York jury found Vanderbilt Mining knew about asbestos contamination in its mines but failed to protect its neighbors. The plaintiff’s lawyer, Sam Iola of the Dallas asbestos litigation boutique Iola Gross & Forbes-King, called the case unique due to the allegations that environmental exposure harmed his client rather than the use of a specific product.
P.S. — ‘Dean of the Texas Appellate Bar’ Honored, HBA Launches Days of Service and How to Boost Giving to LANWT
In this week’s column, renowned appellate attorney Mike Hatchell of Haynes Boone is set to receive the Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award for his decadeslong contributions to appellate law in Texas. The Houston Bar Association also announced its new Days of Service initiative. And the Texas Indigent Defense Commission approved more than $1.7 million in grants to bolster mental health defense services and public defender capacity across rural counties.
SDTX Takes No. 2 Spot for Most Tort Cases
The Southern District of Texas ranks second in a Lex Machina report released Thursday that examines which venues handled the greatest number of tort cases between 2022 and 2024.
Lawyers Sound Off on One Year Practicing in Texas Business Court
For Part II of a set of stories examining how the first year went for Texas’ newest court, The Texas Lawbook spoke to lawyers who have practiced in the Texas Business Court about their experiences litigating complex disputes in the venue. Some of those lawyers have also practiced in the Delaware Chancery Court and drew distinctions about what differentiates the specialty courts.
Former Energy GC Brock Degeyter Joins Troutman Pepper Locke in Dallas
Degeyter was most recently the general counsel, chief compliance officer, and secretary of Medallion Midstream until its $2.6 billion acquisition by ONEOK, which closed last October. His in-house resume also includes helping lead Summit Midstream’s IPO and working on the historic leveraged buyout of TXU Corp.