The court responded to a call by former justice Scott Brister to clarify standards for a “tag-along” transfer to the existing Salesforce MDL in Harris County. Such direction has been lacking in previous reviews of MDL transfers over the past 20 years, Brister says.
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Former Senior SEC Lawyer Scott Mascianica Leaves Holland & Knight for Hilgers Graben
Mascianica joins the firm as a partner and head of its Government Investigations and Regulatory Enforcement group. Mascianica shares why the career move was “too good of an opportunity to pass up” in an interview with The Lawbook.
Oversight Board Constitutionality Case Gets Transferred to D.C. District Court
U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer of the Northern District of Texas said a John Doe auditor’s argument that the case should be heard in Texas is “unpersuasive.” The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s disciplinary proceedings.
P.S. — People’s Law School, Fat Checks from Washington, Relief for Ranchers
This week’s edition of P.S. features a disaster relief fund offering financial aid to ranchers affected by the Panhandle wildfires, Congressional funding news for civil legal aid in Texas, an upcoming legal knowledge education event for the public at a Central Texas law school and the Texas Bar Foundation’s recipient choice for its annual public service and legal ethics-oriented award.
Lawyers, Guns and Money: Roman J. Israel, Esq — An Occasional Series on Movies, TV and Other Stories About Lawyers and the Law
The title character of Roman J. Israel, Esq. is a sort of walking anachronism, a man out of time in more ways than one. A civil rights lawyer who never entered the modern era, he rarely leaves his cluttered Los Angeles office, preferring to let his much smoother partner operate as the firm’s public face. His boxy suits and unkempt hair suggest a man who doesn’t care a lot about what others think. Then his partner dies suddenly, leaving his cases to a well-coiffed (and white) pragmatist. Roman decides he might just want a piece of the pie. And he’s willing to make some very bad decisions to get it.
Dykema Hires MehaffyWeber Products Liability Pro in Houston
Brad Howell comes to Dykema after nearly six years at MehaffyWeber. He’s handled cases involving products liability, statutory indemnity, toxic torts, catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, fire investigations and commercial litigation. He counts among his clients one of the world’s largest heavy equipment manufacturers and has represented clients in courts across 11 states.
Come ‘World War or Power Outages,’ SEC’s FWRO Charges 17 in Alleged CryptoFX Fraud Scheme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed federal fraud charges Thursday against 17 sales workers with a Houston-based cryptocurrency trading company for allegedly operating a $300 million Ponzi scheme targeting more than 40,000 investors — most of them Latinos.
Dallas COA Opinion Highlights How TCPA Framework Can be ‘Undermined’
This week a three-justice panel of the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas ordered Dallas County District Judge Staci Williams to hold a hearing on a motion to dismiss pending before her that was brought under the Texas Citizens Participation Act. The state’s anti-SLAPP law requires that a hearing on a motion to dismiss take place within 60 days, but Judge Williams’ staff told the relators in this case — who tried six times to get a hearing set — that, while it does its best to accommodate requests for hearings, its docket is “jammed packed” and “there is no way to SQUEEZE your motion into the requested docket.”
Sorrels Law Taps Doctor-Lawyer Hieu Dang to Open Dallas Office
Dr. Hieu T. Dang has an impressive résumé, packed with medical and legal experience as well as a diversity of languages. Dang will continue his anesthesiology practice while working for Sorrels and his own private practice. In a Q&A, Dang shares his keys for success and his winding career path.
Fifth Circuit Panel Decries ‘Rambo’ Tactics in Reversal, Scathing Opinion
A three-judge panel including the chief judge issued a rare reversal of a trial verdict on the grounds of improper jury argument. Two Texas lawyers who resorted to name calling, including one who threw a tissue box at opposing counsel, “employed nearly every category of what we have previously held to be improper closing argument,” the judges wrote.