Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A three-judge panel Wednesday unanimously affirmed an EDTX decision dismissing a case brought by Walmart challenging a federal investigation into widespread irregularities in the distribution of opioids through Walmart pharmacies in Texas and other states. Litigation writer Natalie Posgate has details.
A federal appeals court Wednesday held that the Richardson-based property management-software company, a recent victim of a phishing expedition, cannot recover $6 million in stolen funds from its insurer, which affirmed a lower-court ruling that reached the same conclusion.
A state appellate court rejected San Antonio’s claim of exorbitant pricing by ERCOT during Winter Storm Uri, but did not address the key question of whether the operator of the Texas power grid has sovereign immunity from lawsuits.
In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to take a Texas sovereign-immunity case that originated from one of the state appellate courts rather than from the Texas Supreme Court.
Osler McCarthy joined The Texas Lawbook last week as the publication’s managing editor and head of appellate law coverage. The Lawbook sat down with McCarthy last week for a Q&A about his decisions to be a journalist and lawyer, including his thoughts about two decades as the Texas Supreme Court's staff attorney for public information and now his decision to return to journalism.
Osler McCarthy has long been top of mind here at The Texas Lawbook. His sage summaries of cases while working alongside the Texas Supreme Court helped cull newsworthy wheat from legal chaff. And now on this, his first day as Managing Editor of The Texas Lawbook, Osler explains what this has done to his plans for retirement, and why he needs your help.
Scores of wrongful death, personal injury and property damage cases are pending against ERCOT since last February’s crippling winter storm. None of those cases can move forward until the appellate courts decide whether ERCOT is a state governmental agency protected from litigation under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Two Texas courts of appeals — the Fourth Court in San Antonio and the Fifth Court in Dallas — recently heard oral arguments from lawyers on both sides of the issue. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Sworn in Nov. 10 as the next justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Evan Young hit the ground running. He is immersed in reading briefs to sit for an oral argument soon after Thanksgiving. “It wasn't so long ago that I was the one who had to prepare for oral argument on the other side of the bench,” Young said in an exclusive Texas Lawbook interview.
Texas Lawbook correspondent Tony Mauro interviewed Young about leaving a $1 million-plus paying partnership at Baker Botts to become a justice and his plans to run for re-election.
For the past two decades, Osler McCarthy has been a trusted voice of appellate law in Texas – informing lawyers, judges, members of the news media and the public on the cases being decided by the nine justices who sit on the Supreme Court of Texas. This week, Osler – educated as a lawyer and trained as a journalist – joins The Texas Lawbook fulltime as managing editor and head of the publication’s appellate law coverage.
The movie Diehard 2 is officially a cited source in a Fifth Circuit opinion. Circuit Judge James Ho pointed to the character airport security Captain Lorenzo in emphasizing that all police officers know that reporters asking questions of law enforcement is protected by the First Amendment. The appeals court cite came in a victory for Laredo crime reporter Priscilla “La Gordiloca” Villarreal, who sued local police for arresting her in 2017 for simply doing her job.
© Copyright 2025 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
