Daria Russell has experienced a lot since she joined the legal team at Houston-based Mattress Firm in 2015 — more than a dozen M&A transactions, including a 2016 $3.8 billion merger, a crippling accounting scandal involving the company’s former corporate parent, a subsequent 2018 multibillion-dollar corporate bankruptcy and then a $5 billion merger with Tempur Sealy that closed earlier this year. In May, Mattress Firm rewarded Russell for her decade of extraordinary legal work by promoting her to general counsel, overseeing five in-house lawyers, two health and safety professionals and seven loss-prevention contractors. Russell, like most corporate chief legal officers, is dealing with issues ranging from artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights and data privacy issues to ESG compliance and everything digital.
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CDT Roundup: Capital Markets Deals Drive $8.6B Week
The week that ended Sept. 6 saw 20 deals with a reported value of $8.6 billion. That seems, at first glance, far better than last week’s 10 total deals for $3.5 billion. And it is. But not better than the 12 deals for $20 billion we saw this time last year.
But a closer look shows that the numbers were thin on money actually changing hands. First off, most of the money reported was on the capital markets side, $5.7 billion of the $8.6 billion reported. And on the M&A side, we saw $2.9 billion reported, but $1.57 of that was in a single midstream deal.
That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.
Justice Boyd Leaves a Legacy of Judicial Restraint
After more than a dozen years on the Texas Supreme Court, Justice Jeff Boyd is leaving his spacious office and balcony where the justices decompressed after sometimes-heated case conferences. The author of 72 majority opinions and 62 dissents is considering how he can educate the public about the need for judicial independence in an era of extreme political polarization. He reflected on his role as the court’s chief dissenter in a recent interview with The Texas Lawbook.
Jury Returns $12.25M Verdict for Family of Woman Who Died from Mesothelioma
A New York jury found Vanderbilt Mining knew about asbestos contamination in its mines but failed to protect its neighbors. The plaintiff’s lawyer, Sam Iola of the Dallas asbestos litigation boutique Iola Gross & Forbes-King, called the case unique due to the allegations that environmental exposure harmed his client rather than the use of a specific product.
P.S. — ‘Dean of the Texas Appellate Bar’ Honored, HBA Launches Days of Service and How to Boost Giving to LANWT
In this week’s column, renowned appellate attorney Mike Hatchell of Haynes Boone is set to receive the Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award for his decadeslong contributions to appellate law in Texas. The Houston Bar Association also announced its new Days of Service initiative. And the Texas Indigent Defense Commission approved more than $1.7 million in grants to bolster mental health defense services and public defender capacity across rural counties.
SDTX Takes No. 2 Spot for Most Tort Cases
The Southern District of Texas ranks second in a Lex Machina report released Thursday that examines which venues handled the greatest number of tort cases between 2022 and 2024.
Lawyers Sound Off on One Year Practicing in Texas Business Court
For Part II of a set of stories examining how the first year went for Texas’ newest court, The Texas Lawbook spoke to lawyers who have practiced in the Texas Business Court about their experiences litigating complex disputes in the venue. Some of those lawyers have also practiced in the Delaware Chancery Court and drew distinctions about what differentiates the specialty courts.
Former Energy GC Brock Degeyter Joins Troutman Pepper Locke in Dallas
Degeyter was most recently the general counsel, chief compliance officer, and secretary of Medallion Midstream until its $2.6 billion acquisition by ONEOK, which closed last October. His in-house resume also includes helping lead Summit Midstream’s IPO and working on the historic leveraged buyout of TXU Corp.
‘If You Build It, They Will Come’: A Look at the Texas Business Court After 1 Year in Operation
Two years ago, lawmakers created a new court, in part as a signal to the business community that Texas is a good place to incorporate and that jurists here could deliver quick, consistent results in complex business disputes.
In its first year of operation, the 10 judges appointed to the five divisions of the court have seen more than 180 cases filed. That figure is higher than some of the judges who spoke to The Texas Lawbook expected to see. We asked them to look back on the first year of operations.
Chief Judge O’Connor Hears From 737 Max Victims’ Families, Mulls DOJ’s Dismissal Bid
Emotional testimony was heard Wednesday morning from the families of victims of two fatal plane crashes in 2018 and 2019. The families, some of whom traveled all the way from Kenya, Ireland and Toronto, stood in front of Chief Judge Reed O’Connor Wednesday to voice their opposition to the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss the criminal case it brought against Boeing for the two 737 Max plane crashes.