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)

June 5, 2025 Mark Curriden

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. 

June 5, 2025 Krista Torralva

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.

May 28, 2025 Allen Pusey

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.

May 23, 2025 Janet Elliott

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.”

May 21, 2025 Michelle Casady

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.

May 8, 2025 Krista Torralva & Mark Curriden

Lawyer Says Lack of ‘Independent Verification’ to Blame for Nonexistent Case Cites

A lawyer who filed an appellate brief that included four cases the Fifth Court of Appeals could not locate has explained that the culprit is “relying on third-party research without independent verification.” “This has been a humbling and embarrassing lesson in the importance of verifying every citation at its source,” Heidi Rochon Hafer wrote in a response filed April 20.

April 22, 2025 Michelle Casady

Another Case of Missing Cases? Fifth Court of Appeals Wants Clarification 

Just six days after telling parties in a separate appeal that the court could not locate a handful of cases cited by the appellant, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas on Wednesday told a man representing himself in a child custody case that it couldn’t locate eight cases he cited. 

April 17, 2025 Michelle Casady

Justice Jeff Boyd to Retire

Justice Boyd issued a statement that he’ll be leaving the bench “near the end” of the court’s term this summer. “I am honored and blessed to have served on the Texas Supreme Court these past 12 years,” he said. “I’m especially grateful to gov. Rick Perry for appointing me to the court in 2012, to the many Texans who have encouraged, supported, and voted for me though two statewide elections, to my many court and campaign colleagues and coworkers for their friendship and inspiration, and to my wife Jackie and our children for reminding me daily of life’s most important blessings.”

April 9, 2025 Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: SCOTX Gets Fifth Circuit Homework 

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Fifth Circuit sends a certified question about judges refusing to perform same-sex marriages to the Texas Supreme Court, Tesla hires Jackson Walker to defend against a workplace death lawsuit, and we take a look at three petitions for writ of mandamus the state’s high court recently granted.

April 8, 2025 Michelle Casady