Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A trade secrets battle between two Houston companies in the energy industry ended Tuesday with a 40-page order by a local federal judge. The ruling was a win for a team of lawyers at Bracewell.
When we turned the page on 2020, the promise was to get 2020 behind us, if nothing else. For trial lawyers that meant getting back to the courtroom. Not all did, but the significant cases and significant verdicts involving Texas lawyers showed a promising horizon: Not so cloudy, even perhaps for the lawyer starting his case by pleading he was not a cat.
A Delaware chancery judge Wednesday ordered Dallas-based Energy Transfer to pay Tulsa-based The Williams Companies a $410 million breakup fee for the megamerger between the two companies that Energy Transfer called off in 2016 after market conditions in the energy industry became abysmal. The decision follows a six-day trial in May in Delaware that The Texas Lawbook covered in-depth.
Just weeks after a Harris County jury held Hilton 90% liable in the sexual assault of a Cleveland woman, the hotel chain settled with the victim for an undisclosed sum. By settling, experts say, Hilton is hoping the horrific details presented in court will "quietly go away."
The verdict by a federal jury in Florida is the largest to date in an ongoing wave of suits alleging that 3M sold the U.S. government faulty protective equipment, resulting in hearing damage to thousands of military personnel.
The unique nature of the EB-5 program poses distinctive risks. This article highlights five things to keep in mind when an EB5 project struggles.
A Vegas jury returned a roughly $3 million verdict on Monday in the first trial involving emergency room doctor reimbursement from employer-sponsored health insurance. But TeamHealth's AZA lawyers from Houston expect millions more could be awarded when they meet the defense team for UnitedHealthcare back in court next week for the punitive damages phase of the trial. Natalie Posgate details the case and how TeamHealth’s lawyers won the first phase of the trial.
Prominent Los Angeles trial lawyer Daniel Petrocelli sent an electronic letter late last Wednesday to lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Astroworld Festival tragedy announcing that he now represents rapper Travis Scott and offering to pay the funeral costs of those who died at the Nov. 5 concert in Houston.
“Your client’s offer is declined,” Corpus Christi attorney Bob Hilliard, who represents the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, who died at the concert, said in an email response to Petrocelli.
Three weeks after 10 people died and hundreds of others were injured at the Astroworld Festival tragedy, the number of lawsuits, plaintiffs and named defendants continues to mount. The demand for damages now tops $3 billion and the lawyer headcount involved in the litigation exceeds six dozen, including some of the most prominent and powerful law firms in Texas. But there are big questions: about insurance coverage, possible bankruptcy and questionable defenses.
A Harris County jury has returned a $44 million verdict in connection with a woman's allegation that she was assaulted at a Houston hotel during a business conference in 2017. The Nov. 18 verdict allocated 10% of the damages against the man she accused of assaulting her and 90% against Hilton Management for having failed to protect her when summoned to the scene. Litigation writer Natalie Posgate has the names of the lawyers involved.
© 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.
