In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we’ve got updates in legal disputes involving hip hop and rap artists Cardi B and T.I., EOG Resources wins a $15.6 million verdict in a dispute with a Webb County ranch owner, and private equity firm Welsh Carson gets dismissed from an antitrust lawsuit.
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Amber Energy Acquires CITGO in Court-ordered Sale
A special master for a federal court in Delaware has named Amber Energy Inc. as its court-approved bidder for CITGO, one of the largest refiners and distributors of petroleum products in the U.S. The sale, which values Houston-based CITGO at $7.28 billion, is aimed at settling some of the $21.3 billion in claims against CITGO’s former owners, the state-controlled energy company of Venezuela.
AT&T Sells DirecTV to TPG for $7.6B; DirecTV acquires rival Dish for $1 and $9.75B Debt
The two-deal parlay by TPG, which formally ends AT&Ts $49 billion venture into the home entertainment business, was advised by Gibson Dunn, Ropes & Gray, Cleary Gottlieb, Steptoe & Johnson, HWG, Crowell & Morning, White & Case and Mintz, Levin.
Jackson Walker Bankruptcy Fee Cases Reassigned After Judge Isgur’s Recusal
In the week since U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur recused himself from all disputes involving Jackson Walker and the U.S. Trustee — related to the firm’s failure to disclose a former bankruptcy partner had a romantic relationship with a sitting bankruptcy judge — they have been officially reassigned to other bankruptcy judges sitting in the Southern District of Texas, court records show.
Arnold & Itkin Wants AZA DQ’d in Hurricane Zeta MDL
In 13 days, Arnold & Itkin has filed two motions to disqualify Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing from representing Transocean in the multidistrict litigation stemming from alleged injuries suffered by offshore workers during 2020’s Hurricane Zeta. The most recent motion alleges a former law clerk for Arnold & Itkin “improperly took confidential and proprietary information” with her when she went to work for her current employer, AZA.
Lawyers, Guns and Money: An occasional series on movies, TV and other stories about lawyers and the law — Dark Waters (2019, Dir. Todd Haynes)
Todd Haynes has made an homage to ‘50s melodrama (Far From Heaven), a lesbian love story based on a Patricia Highsmith novel (Carol) and a boldly prismatic study of Bob Dylan (I’m Not There), among other movies. Regardless of subject, there’s always something a little unstable at the core of his films, something bordering on horror without actually crossing into that realm. Haynes is a poet of isolation and distance, an acute conveyor of loneliness that threatens to bleed into something more tragic.
This quality permeates Dark Waters, Haynes’ 2019 legal drama based on the true story of Rob Bilott, an environmental lawyer who made it his mission to hold DuPont accountable for poisoning the people of West Virginia with chemical waste in the local water supply.
OAG Alumnus Justice Blacklock Rips Texas’ Briefing in State Fair Gun Ban Case
Justice Jimmy Blacklock, who, prior to his appointment to the Texas Supreme Court in 2018, formerly served as the general counsel to Gov. Greg Abbott and before that as an attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, did not hold back on his view that briefing from Texas was insufficient to secure the relief that was sought. The five-page concurrence issued Thursday stands out both for its tone and because of its author.
Paris Olympics: Elite Competition, Extraordinary Athletes Turn Cynicism into Celebration
There are vignettes from these Olympics that are sticking with me. Having been involved starting in 1996, with the effort to get rugby sevens into the Olympics and culminating in its debut in Rio in 2016, the U.S. women’s last-minute victory over Australia in the bronze medal game was as emotional as it gets as it fulfilled a vision that I had in my head all of those years. And thank you for your support, Flavor Flav.
As Jury Selection Begins, $30M Settlement Reached in Hunt Oil Crash Suit
Plaintiff lawyers Brent Goudarzi and Charla Aldous said the settlement was reached as jury selection began in a Dallas County district court. Their client, a Texas mother of three, was left with a permanent back injury as a result of the 2019 wreck.
PlainsCapital’s $50M+ Lawsuit Won’t be Heard by Fifteenth COA
In a one-sentence order issued Wednesday, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request from PlainsCapital Bank to move its appeal from the Fifth court of Appeals in Dallas to the newly created Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin. The bank had argued the state’s high court should grant the permissive transfer because the case is “extraordinarily important to the business community.”