Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A Houston jury has awarded a take-nothing defense verdict to three brothers who were accused by two of their other siblings of fraud, securities violations and breach of fiduciary duty of their family business. The case involved money – approximately $30 million – but defense lawyers say the dispute, like many family court battles, went deeper.
It was a defense counsel's dream. After the plaintiffs rested, defense lawyers presented a motion for judgment as a matter of law to U.S. District Judge Samuel Ray Cummings in Lubbock. And he granted it. But that was only one odd turn in a trial – now blessed by the Fifth Circuit – during which procedure really, really mattered.
As any judge who has served on a trial court can attest, there are many assignments where the cases come at you so hard and fast that there is barely time to step into the box and take your stance before the next one comes zooming in. And that is true of the “easy” cases. This book is not about those.
The U.S. Senate has officially confirmed Dallas attorney Jeremy Kernodle as a judge in the Tyler division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, his law firm Haynes and Boone announced Friday. A qui tam and appellate expert, Kernodle fills the vacancy left by Michael H. Schneider, Sr., who retired from the bench in 2016.
American Airlines has filed a lawsuit against a travel company with a similar name alleging trademark infringement and a “flagrant and willful violation” of a previous settlement between the two parties, according to court documents filed last week.
What do you get when you combine an innovative and aggressive plaintiff’s bar with sloppy business practices, corner-cutting by contractors and failure to properly compensate day laborers? A thriving labor and employment law practice in the Lone Star state. New data obtained by The Texas Lawbook proves it.
Throughout his four-decade legal career, Sayles has taken more than 150 cases to trial and has won more than a dozen jury verdicts exceeding millions of dollars.
A federal grand jury last week indicted a Houston attorney on charges that he and other unnamed Houston lawyers helped a client transfer $18 million in offshore funds to fraudulent U.S. investment accounts to evade federal income taxes.
AT&T’s legal battle with the U.S. Justice Dept. received two major boosts this week when several major pro-business organizations and nine state attorneys general filed separate amicus briefs.
Does the Papa John’s dispute hold any lessons for Texas public corporations? Porter Hedges partners Jeff Elkin and Joe Morrel outline them here.
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