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In 2005, a Chicago man filed a lawsuit against Plano-based Wellness International, a maker of nutritional products. For a decade, the case alleging fraud bounced around. Nearly every court that review the case tossed it for lack of evidence.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court may have finally ended the litigation by issuing a precedent-setting decision stating that federal bankruptcy judges are able to decide legal issues outside of their normal authority if the parties in the case consent. This article examines the decision and the history behind it.

Texas justices, in its recent opinion in Shell Oil v. Writt, provide comfort that information shared with the government will not form the basis of a defamation claim by an individual identified in that information (at least in Texas), thus alleviating the potentially untenable position faced by companies that ostensibly had to choose between seeking cooperation credit and defending related defamation claims. The opinion also serves as an important reminder that concrete steps should be taken to preserve claims of privilege during the course of the FCPA investigation.

Texas legislators are on the verge of passing a new law that could encourage out-of-state insurance companies to sue Texas property owners for making coverage claims regarding damage caused by severe weather. Business leaders opposing the legislation, which legal experts say places expensive and time-consuming burdens on business and individual property owners who want to legally challenge their insurance carriers for wrongly denying their claims, flooded state legislators with letters, emails and phone calls this week in an effort to kill the proposed law, which is expected to come up for a final vote before the legislative session ends Tuesday.