Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
U.S. District Judge Gray Miller, who presided over a bench trial, determined in May 2022 that IBM committed fraud in a dispute involving IBM’s removal of BMC’s mainframe products from their largest mutual client, AT&T. The case was argued before the Fifth Circuit Sept. 5.
The Texas Supreme Court has unveiled a change to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.3 to implement recent legislation requiring the state’s 14 intermediate appellate courts to explain themselves when denying petitions for permissive appeal. The amendment increases the importance of permissive appeals in Texas and will enhance their ability to impact outcomes in civil litigation.
The fast-moving case is heading to the Fifth Circuit over the First Amendment implications of a new law requiring booksellers to rate material sold to public school libraries. Would Texan Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet be banned for sexual content?
Upending nearly 30 years of precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Hamilton v. Dallas County makes it easier for employees to challenge perceived workplace discrimination going forward. The resulting uncertainty in the law will likely lead to more lawsuits challenging “non-ultimate” employment decisions based on policies and practices that employees perceive to be discriminatory and fewer grants of motions to dismiss or for summary judgment.
An eight-page opinion by a Fifth Circuit panel cites “several instances of inappropriate behavior” by Finn, a former state district judge, including “twice failing to show up for a client’s sentencing hearing.”
Last fall, ChatGPT took the world by storm, allowing millions to experiment with “generative artificial intelligence” through a simple and intuitive interface. ChatGPT’s success drew competitors, one of which is Claude, whose creators claim it can analyze long PDF documents. To see what Claude could do, I uploaded the petitioners' and respondents' briefs from Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the 2022 case that overruled Roe v. Wade.
Lawyers for the court-appointed receiver in the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme case have asked a federal judge to order Trustmark National Bank to fork over the $100 million it agreed to pay earlier this year in its settlement with victims of the fraud.
Trustmark, according to documents, has declined to pay the receiver the $100 million because Stanford, who is in federal prison serving a 110-year sentence, has objected to the settlement agreement claiming that his conviction was unconstitutional and that the receivership should be dissolved on subject matter jurisdictional issues.
Over the last three years the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has sent more certified questions annually to the Texas Supreme Court than it has in decades. The recent increase — five in 2021, six in 2022 and four so far this year — is notable when compared to the average of 1.8 a year the Fifth Circuit had sent for the 24 years prior. Does accepting the questions — a discretionary decision by SCOTX — strain the court’s ability to decide disputes percolating through Texas’ 14 intermediate appellate courts?
The Fifth Court of Appeals has granted an unopposed request from Ken Paxton to postpone oral arguments in the lawsuit brought against him by the state bar’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline, days after he requested they be delayed until after the conclusion of his impeachment trial.
“The case will be reset for submission in due course,” the court’s order reads.
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern has the potential to bring forth the most fundamental shift in jurisdictional case law in decades. The decision opens the doors for new state laws expanding their courts’ jurisdictional reach. Businesses operating in Texas must grapple with this uncertainty and the accompanying risks it presents.
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