Texas Lawbook research shows that, for the second year in a row, the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit were among the most reversed jurists in the United States.
SCOTX Wipes Out $116M Judgment Against Werner in Fatal Crash Case
A case that began 11 years ago with a fatal crash on an icy stretch of highway near Odessa was ended Friday by the Texas Supreme Court when the justices issued an opinion wiping out a more than $100 million verdict against trucking company Werner Enterprises and its driver.
SCOTX: Winter Storm Uri Lawsuits Seeking Billions of Dollars Narrowed But Still Alive
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Winter Storm Uri lawsuits brought by thousands of individuals and small businesses against electric transmission and distribution utilities in Texas are legally flawed, but the justices allowed lawyers for the plaintiffs to amend their lawsuits to fix the legal issues and even provided a roadmap for their possible success. In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court dismissed allegations of intentional nuisance and gross negligence against Oncor, CenterPoint and American Electric Power, but the decision to allow the plaintiffs to replead their gross negligence claims is viewed by attorneys for the plaintiffs as a significant victory because it keeps their lawsuits alive and moving forward. (File photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Dallas Associate Scores Split Decision in First SCOTUS Case
In a five-to-four decision, the U.S. Supreme Court handed Gibson Dunn senior associate Stephen Hammer a partial victory Thursday in a major immigration law dispute that divided the federal circuit courts of appeal and could impact thousands of asylum cases pending in the lower courts.
Winter Storm Uri Victims Ask SCOTX to Reinstate Their Claims
Lawyers for about 20,000 Texans and Texas businesses have asked the Texas Supreme Court to revive their Winter Storm Uri-related lawsuits and allow their negligence claims against power generators such as Luminant, NRG Power and Calpine to go to trial. In court documents filed Thursday, Dallas appellate law expert Ann Saucer told the justices that a 2023 decision by the First Court of Appeals in Houston that the power generators are immune from the Winter Storm Uri lawsuits “relied on invented facts” and “stifles the common law and threatens legal ossification and economic stagnation” and needs to be reversed. (Feb. 2021 AP file photo)
New UT Law Grads Make Courtroom Debut in Federal Appeals Arguments
In their career debuts, two newly minted University of Texas law school graduates and incoming Kirkland & Ellis associates faced pointed judicial questioning from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a prison conditions case. Gabrielle Olubanke Howells and Lizeth Badillo Garcia spoke with The Texas Lawbook about rising to the rare occasion of presenting oral arguments in a federal appeals case before even taking the bar exam.
SCOTUS to Consider Chevron Removal Case
In April, a Louisiana state jury decided that Houston-based Chevron Corp. owes Plaquemines Parish $740 million for harm done to the local coastal environment by Chevron and its corporate predecessors during oil and gas exploration more than seven decades ago.
On Thursday (May 29), the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to consider a grant of certiorari for an argument by Chevron and other oil companies that the case shouldn’t have been heard by a state court in the first place. The Texas Lawbook backgrounds the case.
SCOTX Reverses Negligence Verdict in Harvey Flooding Case
Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock highlighted deficiencies in the plaintiffs’ expert testimony on the question of whether a pipe fabrication plant’s drainage system contributed to flooding of 30 homes in Matagorda County.
Judge Ho Expresses ‘Sincere Concerns’ About ‘Disrespect’ Shown to Pres. Trump, Judge Hendrix in Concurrence Slamming Supreme Court
In a seven-page concurrence, Fifth Circuit Judge James C. Ho accused the U.S. Supreme Court of affording “special treatment” to “favored litigants” in a case involving deportation under the Alien Enemies Act. And he stood up for U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, writing that he had “conducted himself in a reasonable and indeed admirable manner,” calling the U.S. Supreme Court’s criticism of his actions in the underlying case “unwarranted and unfortunate.”
Appeals Court Upholds Part of Verdict for Fired Southwest Flight Attendant, Tosses Religious Training Order
Southwest Airlines won partial relief from a jury verdict in a case involving the firing of a flight attendant over antiabortion messages she sent to her union president. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday that while the airline violated Charlene Carter’s right to religious expression, it did not break federal laws banning religious discrimination in the workplace. The court also struck down U.S. District Court Judge Brantley Starr’s order requiring three of the airline’s attorneys to attend religious liberty training with a Christian legal group.