A five-judge panel that decides which Texas civil lawsuits should be consolidated in statewide multidistrict litigation has rejected a plea by lawyers representing data analytics firm CirclesX Recovery and other plaintiffs alleging a multibillion-dollar market manipulation conspiracy among natural gas companies during Winter Storm Uri to separate their lawsuits from hundreds of others. The decision means the case will remain a part of the MDL before a single Houston judge.
Law Schools Could House New Business Courts
Tasked with implementing new laws creating a business court system for complex, expensive litigation, the Texas Supreme Court is gauging whether the state’s law schools might want to provide courtroom space. With 10 new trial courts and an intermediate appellate court coming online next September, Chief Justice Nathan Hecht discusses logistics and substantive issues the court is considering during its rulemaking process. Meanwhile, the chief justices for the 14 courts of appeals are identifying cases involving state government for likely transfer to the new Fifteenth COA, which will have exclusive jurisdiction over those cases and appeals from the business courts.
One Nation Under Insurance: The Insurance Industry’s Hold on Our Country, Our State and Our Pocketbooks – Part 2 – The Claims Practices Statute
The Prompt Payment of Claims Act is a statute ostensibly enacted to provide enforcement mechanisms for Texas businesses, among others, and their lawyers in transactions between insurance companies and their policyholders. But significant changes in the potential penalties for failing to timely investigate and pay policy benefits have been favorable to foreign insurance companies and harmful to Texas businesses.
Litigation Roundup: Client Sues Winston; SCOTUS Clears Path for Environmental Suit; McKool Awarded $4.7M in Fees
Last week was business for lawyers and judges inside the courtroom and publicly. Texas voters by a nearly two-to-one margin rejected Proposition 13, which would have raised the mandatory retirement age for state judges from 75 to 79. In litigation, two energy companies sued Winston & Strawn for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty; The U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt an environmental trial set to start later this month in Louisiana against BP America, Shell Oil and Hilcorp Energy in which the plaintiffs seek $7 billion in damages; a Dallas jury awarded McKool Smith in $4.7 million in legal fees; and Akin scored a win for Elon Musk’s SpaceX in an immigration dispute.
California Jury Awards Reese Marketos Client $5.2M in Unlawful Competition Trial
A federal jury heard four days of testimony from nine fact witnesses and two experts in a trademark infringement, fraud, defamation and unlawful business interference case brought by fintech firm ConsumerDirect against a competitor. The jury deliberated for three hours before delivering a multimillion-verdict in the litigation … for the defendant, Array. It is the second time in a decade that lawyers at Reese Marketos won a huge judgment for the same client as a defendant.
Baker Botts, Murtha Cullina Score Defense Jury Win for Exxon Mobil
A Connecticut jury deliberated for more than four hours Wednesday before rejecting claims in a $40 million lawsuit brought by the wife of a former Exxon gas station owner that the Houston-based oil giant was responsible for the acute myelogenous leukemia that caused his death in 2018 at the age of 67. The defense legal team also included Exxon Mobil corporate counsel Ted Ray and Baker Botts partner Ty Buthod.
Yetter Coleman Nets $58.5 Million Settlement in Business Civil Rights Case
The settlement between a gravel mining company and Sacramento County, California, is one of the largest ever in a business civil rights case nationwide, the Houston-based firm said.