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Evan Young’s Journey to Texas Supreme Court

Sworn in Nov. 10 as the next justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Evan Young hit the ground running. He is immersed in reading briefs to sit for an oral argument soon after Thanksgiving. “It wasn’t so long ago that I was the one who had to prepare for oral argument on the other side of the bench,” Young said in an exclusive Texas Lawbook interview.

Texas Lawbook correspondent Tony Mauro interviewed Young about leaving a $1 million-plus paying partnership at Baker Botts to become a justice and his plans to run for re-election.

November 29, 2021 Tony Mauro

Osler McCarthy Joins Texas Lawbook Team

For the past two decades, Osler McCarthy has been a trusted voice of appellate law in Texas – informing lawyers, judges, members of the news media and the public on the cases being decided by the nine justices who sit on the Supreme Court of Texas. This week, Osler – educated as a lawyer and trained as a journalist – joins The Texas Lawbook fulltime as managing editor and head of the publication’s appellate law coverage.

November 29, 2021 Mark Curriden

Rapper Travis Scott Hires Dan Petrocelli in Astroworld Litigation

Prominent Los Angeles trial lawyer Daniel Petrocelli sent an electronic letter late last Wednesday to lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Astroworld Festival tragedy announcing that he now represents rapper Travis Scott and offering to pay the funeral costs of those who died at the Nov. 5 concert in Houston.

“Your client’s offer is declined,” Corpus Christi attorney Bob Hilliard, who represents the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, who died at the concert, said in an email response to Petrocelli.

November 29, 2021 Mark Curriden

Live Nation Hires Susman Godfrey; Lawyers Predict Astroworld Defendants’ Legal Strategies

Three weeks after 10 people died and hundreds of others were injured at the Astroworld Festival tragedy, the number of lawsuits, plaintiffs and named defendants continues to mount. The demand for damages now tops $3 billion and the lawyer headcount involved in the litigation exceeds six dozen, including some of the most prominent and powerful law firms in Texas. But there are big questions: about insurance coverage, possible bankruptcy and questionable defenses.

November 26, 2021 Mark Curriden

Lawyers Get Personal in Landmark ER Doc Pay Case Closings

A Las Vegas jury began deliberating Wednesday morning over whether to order UnitedHealthcare to pay a physician staffing firm millions. The impending verdict will decide the fate of the first case to go to trial involving the compensation of emergency room doctors through commercial health insurance plans provided by employers.

November 24, 2021 Natalie Posgate

CDT Roundup: 20 Deals, 15 Firms, 157 Lawyers, $23B

Historically, Texas dealmaking has run on energy. But dealmaking, in turn, runs on optimism. And if the new Dykema Survey of M&A dealmakers is any measure, there will be much to celebrate this time next year. The CDT Roundup looks at the survey’s surprising results as well the deals involving Texas lawyers last week. There were plenty of them.

November 24, 2021 Claire Poole & Allen Pusey

Updated: Hilton Hit with $44 Million, Record-Breaking Sexual Assault Verdict

A Harris County jury has returned a $44 million verdict in connection with a woman’s allegation that she was assaulted at a Houston hotel during a business conference in 2017. The Nov. 18 verdict allocated 10% of the damages against the man she accused of assaulting her and 90% against Hilton Management for having failed to protect her when summoned to the scene. Litigation writer Natalie Posgate has the names of the lawyers involved.

November 23, 2021 Natalie Posgate

Houston Judge Overseeing Winter Storm Uri Lawsuits Praised by Plaintiff and Defense Lawyers

Houston trial lawyers say Judge Sylvia A. Matthews is smart, fair, well-prepared, smart, organized, hard-working, smart, efficient, decisive … and smart. Those traits well serve Matthews, an experienced commercial litigator and trial judge, as she presides over pretrial matters in more than 150 (and counting) lawsuits stemming from one of the deadliest, costliest disasters in Texas history – Winter Storm Uri, the icy blizzard that paralyzed Texas and its electric grid last February.

November 22, 2021 Bruce Tomaso

TX GC Forum Honors Lawyers Dawud Crooms, Farah Bhayani, Rishi Varma, Robert Bell and Others with Magna Stella Awards

The Texas General Counsel Forum honored seven top in-house counsel and the corporate legal departments at CenterPoint Energy and Toyota Motor North America on Thursday night with the 2021 Magna Stella Awards. Lone Star Circle of Care GC Tillery Stout received the award for GC of the Year for a Non-Profit. And legal leaders at Diamondback Energy, Enterprise Products, G6 Hospitality, SAExploration and Intercontinental Terminals were honored for their accomplishments.

The Texas Lawbook attended the Texas Forum annual meeting in Austin and has these exclusive details.

November 20, 2021 Mark Curriden

EasyKnock v. Feldman & Feldman: To TRO or not to TRO?

A Houston federal judge is mulling over whether he will issue a temporary injunction that would order Houston plaintiff’s firm Feldman & Feldman to take down statements from its website that its courtroom opponent, residential sales leaseback firm EasyKnock, alleges are false and defamatory. EasyKnock alleges not doing so would cause irreparable harm, while Feldman & Feldman argues doing so would amount to prior restraint — a strict standard in First Amendment law.

November 19, 2021 Natalie Posgate