Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
On Wednesday morning, a redacted version of a transcript from a recent show cause hearing — in the litigation to determine whether Jackson Walker should be forced to return about $13 million in legal fees earned in bankruptcy cases before former Judge David Jones — was made publicly available.
With “some consternation,” a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former McDermott shareholder who claims that he was defrauded out of his ownership stake in the company through a conspiracy that included former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones, his secret girlfriend Elizabeth Freeman, her former law firm Jackson Walker and mega-corporate law firm Kirkland & Ellis. “The Court takes no pleasure in this result. The Plaintiff’s allegations, if true, cast doubt on the integrity of numerous high-profile bankruptcy cases. Litigants should not have to wonder whether the judge overseeing their case stands to gain from ruling against them: but in Jones’s courtroom, they did.”
Chief Bankruptcy Judge Eduardo Rodriguez of Houston has ordered his former colleague, ex-bankruptcy Judge David Jones, and law firm Jackson Walker to appear in his court this Wednesday to explain why they apparently went behind his back and against his prior order to conduct a private interview regarding facts involving the judge’s secret romantic relationship with former Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman.
Chief Judge Rodriguez issued a show-case order Monday stating that the U.S. Trustee’s Office has informed the court that such an interview recently took place and demanded that Judge Jones and lawyers for Jackson Walker appear Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. to explain their reasons and face possible sanctions.
“Jackson Walker, its counsel and David R. Jones and his counsel must be prepared to explain to this court whether in fact the allegations raised in the U.S. Trustee’s notice regarding Jones’s interview by Jackson Walker’s counsel did in fact occur and if so explain to this court the details of such interview,” the chief judge wrote in a blistering three-page order.
At the same time, the plan administrator in the JC Penney bankruptcy is seeking to subpoena cell phone records of Judge Jones to see if he was secretly sending text messages to Freeman during court proceedings.
The Texas discount furniture and appliance retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in the Southern District of Texas citing more than $1 billion in debts.
The on-again, off-again deposition of former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones is on hold again. Lawyers for Jackson Walker want to question Judge Jones about his secret relationship with one of its former partners while still handling corporate bankruptcy cases involving the lawyer and the law firm. But SDTX Chief Bankruptcy Judge Eduardo Rodriguez postponed the depo to determine which questions lawyers can force Judge Jones to answer.
A lawsuit against former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones claiming that he conspired with lawyers at corporate law firms should be dismissed because “well-established judicial immunity doctrine … provides absolute immunity from suits for damages” for judges, lawyers for Judge Jones argued in court documents filed Thursday.
“This immunity applies even when the judge is accused of acting maliciously and corruptly, and the immunity extends to allegations of intentional misconduct," David Boies, lawyer for Judge Jones, wrote in the motion to dismiss.
While the ultimate outcome of the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case is likely to remain uncertain for quite some time, the failure to approve the plan may ultimately mean that no money at all will flow to these victims of the opioid crisis. However, the decision also stands to have much broader implications on the use of Chapter 11 to solve complicated problems, especially relating to mass tort cases. Given this potential to alter the landscape of Chapter 11 practice in future cases, the Court’s statutory analysis in the Purdue Pharma decision warrants close scrutiny.
The bankruptcy courts in the Southern District of Texas are still a hotbed for intense litigation, attracting some of the best lawyers in the nation — just not for the reasons the bankruptcy judges ever wanted or even contemplated. Prominent Texas lawyers David Beck, Rusty Hardin, Anne Johnson, Tom Kirkendall, Mike Lynn, John Sparacino, Jeff Tillotson and scores of other highly paid lawyers have been hired by plaintiffs, defendants and third parties involved in the legal fallout from the forced resignation late last year of former SDTX Chief Bankruptcy Judge David Jones. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Within hours of each other late Wednesday, three key players in the romantic relationship scandal that has infected the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court filed motions in two separate cases seeking to have the cases against them dismissed — and all three for different reasons.
If approved, Perez would join his former Weil Gotshal law partner, Judge Christopher Lopez, as one of the bankruptcy judges handling big cases in Houston.
© Copyright 2026 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.