Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
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Over the objection of a single power generator and distributor, U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge David Jones of Houston gave “conditional approval” of a multibillion-dollar preliminary settlement agreement – aka a “disclosure statement” – in the Brazos Electric Power Cooperative bankruptcy case. The 74-minute hearing was intense at times because of an exchange with a lawyer for South Texas Electric Coop, but Judge Jones said Brazos’ “very complicated” 172-page proposed agreement “strikes a very nice balance.”
Mark Lanier, who hired Ken Starr to join his law firm in 2018, recalled helping his mentor navigate his departure from Baylor amid a scandal, Starr’s role as ‘principal architect’ of the firm’s appellate strategy in the $2.5 billion Johnson & Johnson talc powder case and other memories from their nearly 40-year relationship.
On appeal, Targa Channelview argued the award rested on a faulty interpretation of the contract between the parties related to a crude oil storage and processing facility. Both Vitol and Targa had an impressive list of legal leaders representing the companies on appeal.
Cheryl Camin Murray and her legal team at DFW-based GI Alliance helped steer the nation's largest gastroenterology practice through a physician-led buyout in August that valued the company at $2.2 billion. The deal happened a little over a year after Murray, a mother of triplets who built a thriving healthcare practice over more than two decades in private practice, joined GI Alliance as its chief legal officer.
The Texas Lawbook caught up with Murray about the Apollo-backed financing and her move in-house.
Climate change pressures on utilities and their resources may have long-term significance for investors; but they also represent shorter-term opportunities, even in a complicated investment environment. For example, there were four major upstream/midstream energy deals last week — including the three largest transactions — that accounted for more than $15 billion and were led by Texas-based lawyers. Claire Poole has the rationale for near-term optimism, along with the Roundup's usual review of all of last week's reported transactions.
A sticky stock market and lingering fears of inflation depressed capital markets transactions during the first half of 2022. But it may be premature to project the same fate for the second half of the year, according to Texas dealmakers. The Texas Lawbook explains.
In this week’s edition of Litigation Roundup, a team from Bracewell gets a win for the John M. O’Quinn Foundation in a 12-year dispute with the famed lawyer’s former companion, Texas attorneys are named to take the lead in a multidistrict litigation over contaminated infant formula and the Fifth Circuit affirms $51 million in fees and costs for the Stanford Ponzi case receiver.
Two senators want to ratchet up the pressure on companies that allegedly run afoul of the law while doing business with the U.S. government. But their proposal may have unintended consequences.
In an Aug. 11 letter to the Department of Justice, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) signaled renewed congressional interest in the federal government’s right to suspend or debar government contractors — administrative actions taken by the government to disqualify a contractor from contracting with or receiving funding from the federal government.
In a list of orders issued Friday morning, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request for rehearing that HouseCanary lodged on Aug. 4. The real estate analytics startup was asking the court to undo a Fourth Court of Appeals ruling that gave it an ultimatum: submit to a new trial or move for judgment on the jury’s $201 million award tied to a breach of contract claim.
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