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.”
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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.
CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 21 Firms, 218 Lawyers, $4.7B
When watching the M&A markets it’s easy to become fixated on billion-dollar deals. But the bread-and-butter transactions of a truly healthy market lie in the middle. Having looked at the high-end last week, the CDT Roundup this week checks out Citizens Financial’s 13th annual survey of CEOs, CFOs and private equity principals which found them warming up to what they see as an economy free of the kind of headwinds that have chilled expectations in recent years. And the data suggests a surge may be in the making as 8 in 10 PE firms see themselves as stronger buyers than they were in 2023. Claire Poole has the particulars along with the usual summary of Texas-related deal activity last week.
Litigation Roundup: SpaceX Wants Full Fifth Circuit to hear NLRB Case
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Yelp prevails against the Texas attorney general’s office in a suit that accused the website of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, a Dallas-area law firm represents an insurance company accusing nearly 50 defendants of RICO violations related to New York workers’ compensation benefits, and a split Texas Supreme Court issues a ruling clarifying the tolling period in a healthcare liability claim.
Narrowing the Scope: The SEC Finalizes Its Climate Disclosures Rule
Following a nearly two-year wait, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its Final Rule — The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors — on March 6. The Final Rule requires publicly listed U.S. companies and foreign private issuers to disclose certain climate-related information in their registration statements and annual reports. This article identifies five key takeaways from the Final Rule.
EQT Brings Equitrans Back into Fold for $5.5B in Stock
Kirkland advised EQT and Latham assisted Equitrans on the combination, which would create a top vertically integrated natural gas business in the Appalachian region with an initial enterprise value of more than $35 billion.
P.S. — Birdies, Aces and Honey Baked Hams
This week’s edition of P.S. features information on the Houston Bar Foundation’s new chair, an Easter-themed food giveaway sponsored by Witherite Law Group, a tennis clinic and exhibition match that hosted underserved youth in Austin and sponsorship opportunities for the Dallas Bar Association’s upcoming annual golf tournament.
Photo courtesy of Daniel McEnrue
Jackson Walker: Zero Evidence That Any Bankruptcy Decisions Were ‘Influenced by Secret Intimate Relationship’
Lawyers for Jackson Walker contend that the U.S. Justice Department “fails to plead any plausible allegations” in its effort to claw-back legal fees paid to the firm for its work on 26 different corporate bankruptcies and to have sanctions levied against the firm.
The Dallas-based corporate law firm argues that there is no evidence that then-U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones’ intimate relationship with then-Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman influenced any of his decisions and that Jackson Walker should not be penalized because it only learned about the relationship after many of the cases raised by the U.S. trustee had been concluded.
Film About Landmark ATX Sex Assault Suits Debuts at SXSW
The high-profile South by Southwest Conference in Austin is commemorating International Women’s Day with the debut of “An Army of Women,” a documentary that follows the journey of 15 sexual assault survivors taking on the City of Austin and Travis County District Attorney’s Office for the mishandling of their cases, and the historic settlement that followed. Natalie Posgate and Bruce Tomaso spoke with the survivors’ lawyers, Jenny Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers of Thompson Coburn, before premiere day about the filming process, what they hope people take away from the documentary and how this case changed their lives.
Pictured: one of the plaintiffs, Marina, featured in the documentary. Courtesy of Julie Lunde Lillesæter/Differ Media