Each year, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook honor corporate in-house counsel who are true role models for improving the legal profession from the inside and out. There are three finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion and one finalist for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service.
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Feds Fine UTSW $4.5 Million for ‘Shocking Disregard’ of Proper Opioid Controls
The penalty, the second largest of its kind in U.S. history, ends a federal investigation that began after two nurses at Clements University Hospital were found dead from opioid overdoses.
Pandemic Has Slowed U.S. Building and Development Projects, Creating EB-5 Problems
The unique nature of the EB-5 program poses distinctive risks. This article highlights five things to keep in mind when an EB5 project struggles.
Vegas Jury Awards TeamHealth Millions, Says ‘Yes’ to Punis
A Vegas jury returned a roughly $3 million verdict on Monday in the first trial involving emergency room doctor reimbursement from employer-sponsored health insurance. But TeamHealth’s AZA lawyers from Houston expect millions more could be awarded when they meet the defense team for UnitedHealthcare back in court next week for the punitive damages phase of the trial. Natalie Posgate details the case and how TeamHealth’s lawyers won the first phase of the trial.
Winter Storm Uri Lawsuits, Two Texas Appeals Courts Wrestle Over ERCOT’s Sovereign Immunity
Scores of wrongful death, personal injury and property damage cases are pending against ERCOT since last February’s crippling winter storm. None of those cases can move forward until the appellate courts decide whether ERCOT is a state governmental agency protected from litigation under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
Two Texas courts of appeals — the Fourth Court in San Antonio and the Fifth Court in Dallas — recently heard oral arguments from lawyers on both sides of the issue. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.