Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun, known by some in the restaurant industry as the “Chef With No Name,” can continue using his own name to promote his restaurants, but not to incite damage or detriment on his former business partner’s reputation, a Dallas appellate court upheld on Friday. The appeals ruling is tied to a bitter legal dispute that heads to trial next month.
The Dallas Court of Appeals has reversed the 2014 landmark Texas jury verdict that legally established a business version of common law marriage and a $535 million judgment against Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners in favor of Energy Transfer Partners.
Huddle authored more than 400 majority opinions during her time on the First Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court of Texas ruled Friday that a Texas court has no jurisdiction over non-resident defendants in a lawsuit filed by Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Company Inc. Reversing a ruling by the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston, the court ruled that neither routine discussions involving Texas lawyers nor the administration of a trust fund in Texas changed the fact that the underlying misconduct alleged by Pepsi—fraudulent transfer and tortious interference—occurred as the result of a settlement agreement reached in New York.
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