Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Justices on the newly created court engaged in spirited questioning over appeals involving DPS’ Uvalde school shooting records, the AG’s biometric data case against Google, and the firing of a Crowley ISD teacher who pinned down a student. Lawmakers gave the court broad authority over appeals involving the state and cases from the new business courts.
The Monday ruling from a three-judge panel undoes a September 2023 order from U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn dismissing the complaint and effectively kicking the case to arbitration. Judge Lynn had concluded that the union failed to show there was “anti-union animus” that would have created an exception and allowed the case to proceed in district court.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we detail a 9-8 ruling from the Fifth Circuit that wiped out a National Labor Relations Board ruling against Tesla, offer new details on who is defending SpaceX in a fight with a neighboring South Texas landowner, and highlight a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that hits pause on a Fifth Circuit ruling in a case centered on the regulation of horseracing.
October was a fitting month for the Court to take up the ghost gun case. After all, the discretion left to an administrative agency after Loper Bright might be as elusive as a spirit in the night.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s win-loss record in cases reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court is already in the red and it is only mid-October. The Supreme Court has vacated the Fifth Circuit opinion written by appellate Judge Edith Jones earlier this year that held that Laredo law enforcement officers who arrested a citizen-journalist in 2017 for asking for information deemed non-public cannot be sued for violating the First Amendment rights of the reporter because the officers have qualified immunity.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a decision issued late Friday blasted the federal trial judge overseeing the litigation over the allegedly disgraceful conditions of the Texas foster care system for telling lawyers for the state of Texas that “doesn’t hurt” for state officials to “go over and above the minimum standards for protecting Texas children. The federal appeals court panel said that U.S. District Judge Janis Jack has made courtroom remarks that “implied bias” that “raise serious questions concerning … the appearance of justice.”
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Texas Supreme Court issues a precedent-setting opinion on when “good cause” excuses a missed filing deadline, Attorney General Ken Paxton hires outside counsel to go after drug makers and pharmacy benefit managers in a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to increase insulin prices, and a fight between San Antonio and Southwest Airlines over gate space heats up.
Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod is the first former trial judge to lead the Fifth Circuit in decades. Colleagues on the court, and those who have practiced before her and volunteered alongside her, shared their insights about the jurist with The Texas Lawbook in interviews this week.
The Supreme Court of Texas has completed its first week of oral arguments of the 2024-25 term. Here is a preview of key business cases currently on the Court’s argument docket.
Allegations that two Texas lawyers should be held liable for solicitations that occurred in Louisiana and Arkansas put a spotlight on the unique Texas civil barratry law. The plaintiffs argue that the financing and directing of the scheme occurred in Texas. The lawyers say the lawsuit cannot overcome the presumption against extraterritoriality.
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