The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

Appellate tease

ERCOT & Panda Face Off Again at Texas Supreme Court

The six-year bear of a legal battle between the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and Panda Power has again reached the Texas Supreme Court. In a case being watched by scores of lawyers in the Winter Storm Uri litigation, ERCOT wants the state’s highest court to declare that it is part of the state government and thus immune from civil lawsuits. Panda claims ERCOT knowingly produced false market data in 2011 and 2012 that led it to invest $2.2 billion to build three new power plants and doesn't deserve immunity.

Mark Curriden

Both Sides Cry Foul in a Jurisdictional Dispute Over Volkswagen’s Emissions-Cheating Scandal

After what seemed a last-minute recusal in a case with millions on the line, the Texas Supreme Court asked for the governor's appointment of two temporary justices to break a probable stalemate in reaching a resolution in the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal case. Now the court must determine whether, as VW argues, the governor's commission of special justices poses due-process violations.

Osler McCarthy

‘Sanctuary Cities’ on SCOTX Schedule in Fall, but the Issue is Defamation Protection Under Texas Citizens Participation Act

Two grants, consolidated for argument, raise facts and issues that will capture headlines, but both raise questions under the citizens participation act, the pervasive interlocutory scheme intended to provide a quick dismissal ramp for claims based on free-speech issues. Both cases focus on efforts to create anti-abortion “sanctuary” cities throughout Texas. And both involve an ordinance, the first of several, declaring Waskom to be a sanctuary city. But the proponents didn’t stop there.

Osler McCarthy

For V&E’s Tom Leatherbury, the Mantra is ‘Texas – So Many First Amendment Violations, So Little Time.’

In First Amendment decisions like the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent injunction stopping enforcement of a Texas law governing social media platforms, and other free-speech challenges for years, Vinson & Elkins senior partner Tom Leatherbury has been front and center. Leatherbury, widely regarded as a leading media and appellate lawyer in the state and who founded a media law clinic at SMU, tells The Texas Lawbook that First Amendment challenges never seem to end.

Tony Mauro

Fifth Circuit Panel Rebukes Houston District Court Judge Yet Again

For the third time in five years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has rebuked a federal district court judge in Houston for denying a plaintiff discovery before summary judgment. “This is the third time we have been asked to consider whether a particular district court can deny discovery rights protected by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because, in the district court’s view, that discovery is unnecessary,” the three-judge panel declared in a per curiam opinion. “We have twice held no. Today we so hold a third time.”

Osler McCarthy

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