The Waco patent rocket docket days may be over. WDTX Chief Judge Orlando Garcia issued an order Monday that requires that all new patent infringement lawsuits filed in the Waco Division be immediately assigned randomly to the district’s 12 federal judges. The order seems designed to end Judge Alan Albright’s three-year run as the federal judge handling the most patent cases in the U.S. The patent litigation bar is speaking out and they are not happy about the new order. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
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DBJ: Former Gibson Dunn Lawyer Named Vistra’s CFO
For the past five years Kris Moldovan has served as senior vice president and treasurer at Vistra.
Litigation Roundup: Opioids, Psilocybin & (Alleged) Legal Malpractice
This week of the Litigation Roundup features a settlement, an attorney’s fees award and three new lawsuits. The litigation features a deceased Houston Rockets scout, a disabled NFL player, a Houston DEA agent who won awards for putting pill-pushing doctors in jail, the founder of a well-known Dallas hedge fund and a Houston litigation boutique’s role in a Freedom of Information Act request involving the clinical use of magic mushrooms in Washington state.
Did you just get hired on an interesting case or have a new development you’d like to report? Email us the update to tlblitigation@texaslawbook.net to be considered for inclusion in the next Litigation Roundup.
Shell USA acquires Shell Midstream Partners for $1.96B
Shell USA announced Monday that it is paying $1.96 billion to acquire all outstanding stock of its subsidiary Shell Midstream Partners, which has assets involved in crude oil and refined products pipelines and terminals that serve as key infrastructure to transport onshore and offshore crude oil production to U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest refining markets. The entities chose Houston lawyers from Baker Botts and Gibson Dunn as its legal advisors. The Lawbook has lawyer names and other details.
CDT Roundup: 11 Deals, 10 Firms, 92 Lawyers, $801M
Rumblings of a couple of deals in the offing involving properties owned by ConocoPhillips and Shell provided a touch of piquance to a week that was otherwise bland to the taste. The Roundup offers a few hints at what those deals might be, as well as its weekly run-down of the deals that actually happened, including the names of the Texas lawyers they involved.
O’Melveny, Munck Wilson Pick Up Gray Reed Practice Group Leaders
The heads of Gray Reed’s energy transactions and intellectual property practices are on the move.
Texas M&A Dealmaking Hits Another Record in H1 2022
Texas Corporate dealmakers thought there was no way 2022 could match the record number of M&A transactions they handled in H1 or H2 2021 – both were records. But new data from by The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker shows M&A activity hit another record high during the first six months of 2022 – albeit by an inch or so.
The dollar value of transactions declined significantly from the year before because there were no megadeals announced by the likes of AT&T, Chevron or Match.com. As you might expect, the energy sector led the way. The Texas Lawbook has the data and insight from the experts.
Judge in Salesforce MDL To Decide Whether Plaintiffs Can Use Discovery in Related Cases
A hearing on a motion to modify the protective order governing an MDL in which Salesforce is accused of facilitating sex trafficking ended Friday with the presiding judge deciding he would review on a case-by-case basis the discovery the plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking to use in other related litigation nationwide. Salesforce’s attorney Michael Raiff of Gibson Dunn said at one point in the hearing he felt he was being accused of committing fraud on the court, but the plaintiffs’ lawyers said that wasn’t the case.
The Major Questions Doctrine Raises Major Questions for the SEC’s Proposed Climate Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, recently struck down the EPA’s “Clean Power Plan Rule” that sought to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The court concluded that the rule exceeded the EPA’s power, as it presented a “major question” of economic and national importance that required a clearer statement from Congress to confer such authority. But the “major questions” doctrine also has implications for other federal agencies—who together issue an estimated three thousand to five thousand final rules per year. This article looks at the SEC’s attempts to mandate more climate-related disclosures with West Virginia in mind.
Clifford Chance Lands Veteran V&E Tech Partner
The Magic Circle law firm has recruited Devika Kornbacher to be the co-chair of its global technology group. Kornbacher, who had a hand in almost every tech deal at V&E, started her career at the Houston-based firm and practiced there for 15-plus years.