Night of the Living Lochner: Did the Constitution End Economics in 1791?

In 1985’s classic film, The Return of the Living Dead, a rainstorm spreads a zombie-creating chemical throughout a city. In 2022, the Supreme Court’s relentless focus on originalism has also awakened long-dead legal doctrines. One such resurrection appears in the concurrence from Golden Glow Tanning Salon v. City of Columbus, which advocates examination of a constitutional “right to earn a living” in light of how such economic matters were understood in the late 1700s.

November 14, 2022 David Coale

Long-running Legal Malpractice Suit Again Revived

The Fourth Court of Appeals said the case should not have been dismissed last year for want of prosecution at a time when civil jury trials were not available in Kerr County. The case involves Utopia lawyer Patricia Skelton’s claim against her criminal defense lawyer, which previously survived a dismissal when the Texas Supreme Court allowed Skelton to prove her innocence in the malpractice case.

November 4, 2022 Janet Elliott

SCOTX Wrestles with Force Majeure Clause in Drilling Delay

The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could lay out the rules for deciding how to read a drilling lease’s force majeure clause. The case involves a driller’s response to unforeseen circumstances and its miscalculation of a deadline.

October 25, 2022 Janet Elliott

Texas Justices to Decide if $332M Astros Sale Spat Goes to Trial

The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether Jim Crane can proceed with his lawsuit over the allegedly inflated price he paid for the stake in a regional sports network. Two lower courts have denied bids by the team's former owner and Comcast to end the lawsuit. Michelle Casady tuned into oral arguments Tuesday as the Houston Astros prepare for Game 1 of the World Series.

October 25, 2022 Michelle Casady

Behind the Scenes: How a Pair of Texas Friends Prepped for a SCOTUS Argument

Ed Sullivan and Sam Kaplan (pictured center) have been friends for 30 years, beginning when they met at the University of Texas as undergraduates. Later they both decided to become lawyers.

Their friendship continued but never as intensely as it did this year, while working together on a case that would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, argued Oct. 12, was Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, a dispute about whether highly paid employees are eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is an important issue for the oil and gas industry. The case was brought by Michael Hewitt, a “tool-pusher” on an offshore oil rig. Other amicus briefs indicated that the outcome of the case could affect a range of organizations including nursing.

October 21, 2022 Tony Mauro

Texas Supreme Court Weighs Meaning of ‘Double Fractions’ in Ancient Oil-and-Gas Agreements

In one case alone, $50 million in disputed royalties are at stake. And that could be just the tip of the iceberg.

October 11, 2022 Bruce Tomaso

Pathbreaking Journalist, Remarkable Human Being, ‘Jeopardy’ Clue: ‘Who is Tony Mauro?’

For more than four decades, Tony Mauro has been a reporter with the U.S. Supreme Court as his beat. He's covered 22 justices — from William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O'Connor to John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch and Ketanji Brown Jackson. He was there in 1986 when the Supreme Court upheld laws criminalizing sodomy and in 2003 when the justices, in Lawrence v. Texas ruled such laws unconstitutional. Mauro revolutionized how journalists wrote about the Supreme Court, holding the justices accountable for the gender and ethnicity of their clerks and doing his best to bring transparency to a branch of government that long-cherished its anonymity. Mauro, who has been a correspondent for The Texas Lawbook since 2020, has some great stories to tell. But he is a great story himself.

October 3, 2022 Terry Carter

Don’t Answer That Question: Two Settlements Blocked SCOTX from Clarifying a Troublesome Insurance Doctrine

Attorneys who represent property owners have argued that the law has been turned on its head, saddling policyholders with a burden of proof that is squarely on the insurer in every state in the union except Texas. A settlement reached earlier this month — five days before the Texas Supreme Court was going to hear arguments in the case that could have clarified the issue — deprived the state’s high court of its second opportunity to answer certified questions from the Fifth Circuit.

September 28, 2022 Michelle Casady

Does Adoption of AAA Rules Show Parties Wanted Arbitration? SCOTX Hears Arguments

Lawyers on opposing sides in a $41 million dispute over offshore drilling differ on the need for a new rule defining the meaning of standard arbitration rules in a contract on the gateway issue of arbitrability. Courts of appeals have split on the issue.

September 22, 2022 Janet Elliott

With a Decision that May Lead to New Law, SCOTX Grapples with Two Cases in Which Ph.D. Revocations are Threatened

Texas Supreme Court justices give no hint whether the universities' implied-powers argument can justify their efforts to rescind doctoral degrees awarded to former graduates for "academic misconduct." In Texas, such revocation power has never been determined by reported appellate decisions and only a few revocations have been noted nationwide. The grads argue the universities have no express authority to do so. The AG says the power is implied from an express power to grant degrees. Behind that argument, due-process concerns linger in both cases.

September 20, 2022 Osler McCarthy