Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A settlement has been reached in the state’s first trial alleging Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder contained cancer-causing asbestos. Also on Tuesday, 43 states including Texas, reached a $700 million settlement with J&J, ending claims that the company was deceptively marketing its talc powder products as safe.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown gets her first crack at handling multidistrict litigation after 12 putative class action lawsuits over the AT&T data breach are transferred to her, the former president of a Texas energy company goes to prison and a trio of attorneys representing Southwest Airlines gets a stay on an order that they undergo religious liberty training.
Dean Omar Branham Shirley represented an Oregon mother of three who said her mesothelioma diagnosis came after years of using J&J’s baby powder. The company is facing lawsuits across the country from plaintiffs who claim J&J knew cancer-causing asbestos was turning up in its baby powder for decades but didn’t warn consumers or the FDA.
In Amarillo, Austin, and just recently Fort Worth, the party resisting pre-suit discovery under Rule 202 can (in the right circumstances) file a motion to dismiss under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA), requiring the petitioner to meet the TCPA’s evidentiary hurdles or risk paying the other side’s fees and getting sanctioned, all while potentially engaging in a protracted process that spoils the entire purpose of Rule 202 petitions. But both Houston Courts of Appeals have rejected the applicability of the TCPA to pre-suit discovery. Until the Texas Supreme Court resolves the split, where a pre-suit petition for discovery is filed can have a dramatic impact on the outcome.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Samsung beats back a patent suit seeking half a billion dollars in damages after arguing the plaintiff had unclean hands, a jury in Marshall renders a $445 million infringement verdict and we detail what led American Airlines to replace Wilson Elser as its outside counsel in a lawsuit involving a bathroom recording of a 9-year-old girl.
Invoking The Simpsons, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr on Thursday issued an opinion denying a request from plaintiffs’ lawyers who represented Fluor Corporation shareholders in a securities class action to tack a 1.9 multiplier on their fee award in the lawsuit that resulted in a $33 million settlement.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, an improper jury argument wipes out a $222 million award on appeal, a Dallas firm notches a $15 million verdict in a Connecticut mesothelioma case and the Texas Supreme Court declines to revive a lawsuit a couple dozen cities brought against streaming giants Disney+, Hulu and Netflix.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a mother from the Bronx sues American Airlines in federal court in Fort Worth over the in-flight death of her 14-year-old son, USAA is accused in a proposed class action lawsuit of covertly operating a two-tier benefits system and a divided ruling from the state’s court of last resort for criminal cases makes a surprise appearance in this civil courts-focused article.
Litigation spend by Texas companies with revenues of $1 billion or more reached an average of $3.9 million, according to Norton Rose Fulbright’s 19th annual trends survey of corporate general counsel. Two top lawyers from the firm discussed with The Texas Lawbook what is driving up the costs.
Hung juries, in general, are infrequent. One study estimates they occur in about 6 percent of all cases that go to trial. When it happens, it’s usually in state criminal cases where someone’s life or freedom is at stake, not in highly technical disputes over a patent.
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