Elon Musk’s X Corp. and xAI sued Apple and OpenAI in federal court in Fort Worth on Monday, accusing the duo of being involved in a monopolistic scheme to dominate the global market for artificial intelligence. To lead the litigation, which seeks billions of dollars in damages, Musk and the two companies hired the Dallas law firm Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal and New York-headquartered Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider.
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Hicks Johnson Hires New Leader of its Appellate Practice
Andrew Gould started a new job Monday as the leader of Hicks Johnson’s appellate practice in Houston.
Spencer Fane Adds IP Leader from Wick Phillips
Brett Pinkus focuses his practice on patent, trademark and trade secret litigation.
DOJ Environmental Lawyer Joins Phelps Dunbar in Austin
After more than a decade in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Phillip R. Dupré is joining Phelps Dunbar as counsel.
Crescent Energy to Acquire Permian Rival Vital Energy for $3.1B
V&E, Kirkland and Gibson Dunn were among the advisors on the deal which secures a spot for Crescent among the top ten independent oil and gas producers in the region.
Texas Mini-TCPA Expands to Include Text Messages
The updated law represents a major expansion of the Texas Telephone Solicitation Act’s scope beyond traditional telephone calls, reflecting the evolving landscape of digital marketing communications. Certain businesses that send marketing text messages without registering face liability under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act as well as substantial penalties of $5,000 per individual text message that individual plaintiffs may recover. A federal court in the Eastern District of Texas last month awarded $170,000 to a single pro se plaintiff under the existing version of the statute for 34 phone calls.
Keurig Dr Pepper Legal’s ‘Visionary Leadership’ and ‘Transformational Influence’
Anthony Shoemaker tracks his success as a lawyer and a leader back to his high school days when he worked at a local golf club repair shop in the Houston suburbs. He learned a lot and has implemented those life lessons in his three years as the chief legal officer at Keurig Dr Pepper. The results have been extraordinary successes for Shoemaker, for the corporate legal department he leads and for the beverage giant, which is why the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook honored Keurig Dr Pepper with the DFW Corporate Legal Department of the Year in January at the DFW Corporate Counsel Awards.
This morning, KDP agreed to acquire JDE Peet’s for $18.4 billion. We are resharing The Lawbook‘s profile of Shoemaker and KDP’s in-house team from earlier this year.
Keurig Dr Pepper Turns to Paul Weiss to Lead $18.4B Deal for JDE Peet’s
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison served as lead counsel for Keurig Dr Pepper in its landmark $18.4 billion acquisition of Dutch coffee giant JDE Peet’s, alongside the in-house lawyers of KDP’s team. Paul Weiss continues to be a central legal adviser in high-profile Texas transactions, even as it eyes its first office in the state. A&O Shearman advised JDE Peet’s.
CDT Roundup: Data Centers, AI Hunters and HVAC Companies Fuel PE Activity
The week ending Aug. 23 saw 23 deals for just over $15.2 billion. The deals included three transactions — in media, oil and gas and electrical services — which together accounted for $13.6 billion, amounting to 90 percent of the total. But the week saw a slurry of PE transactions, most of them in the electrical, HVAC or data services sectors and they involved a broad variety of interesting businesses. That and more in this week’s CDT Roundup.
Susman Godfrey EO Litigation Timeline
President Donald Trump has issued executive orders targeting a half-dozen law firms, including Houston-based Susman Godfrey, accusing them of “spearheading efforts to weaponize the American legal system and degrading the quality of American elections” and “undermining the effectiveness of the United States military.” The EOs also accuse the firms of racially discriminatory practices via their diversity and inclusion programs. Here is a timeline of events tied to the EOs.