Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
From the Texas Supreme Court: A client supposedly in Europe wants help with a debt collection and contacts a Houston lawyer by email, promising a $10,000 retainer. A bad scenario got worse. More than $380,000 wired by the lawyer to Japan: Gone. Plus: Two more cases from the SCOTX docket: SandRidge Energy Inc. v. Barfield and Baby Dolls Topless Saloons Inc. v. Gilbert Sotero.
The biggest impact, according to legal experts, will be to corporations in the energy industry and those with a significant amount of greenhouse emissions. Experts from V&E, Winstead, Porter Hedges, Winston & Strawn, Bradley and Sidley share their insight and analysis on the new proposed rules.
The Texas Lawbook asked a half dozen lawyers how the Fed's move to raise interest rates Wednesday will impact M&A and the capital markets in Texas.
Despite efforts by a handful of federal appellate judges to limit jurisdiction and criticism from tech companies, the Western and Eastern districts of Texas remain two of the hottest courts in the U.S. for patent litigation. New data shows that federal courts in Waco and Marshall have more patent infringement disputes than 40 other states combined. Lawyers for plaintiffs and defendants tell The Texas Lawbook there are explanations behind the numbers.
Something paradoxical happened to Texas energy deals in 2020 and 2021: They increased their share of the overall M&A market. This comes after a pandemic and a couple of notable energy disasters. But numbers aren't always exactly what they seem. The CDT Roundup explores the anomaly along with the weekly roll call of Texas transactions.
At the end of a weeklong trial in Marshall, a federal court jury determined that the Chamberlain Group failed to prove its garage-door patents had been infringed upon.
For the first time in Texas history, the SEC charged a Houston area public school district and two of its senior officials with fraudulently misleading investors in the school system’s $20 million bond issuance in 2018.
Capital markets deals in Texas were up — way up. The value of those deals were down — way down. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, say our lawyer/dealmakers. Reduced capital budgets, acquisitions made with a clearer sense of purpose and a broader base of issuers created a market in which IPOs made their comeback — and SPACs made their presence felt.
BMC's second witness took the witness stand for most of Tuesday. Brian Jones, a key negotiator for BMC during its contract discussions with IBM, said his side was always "crystal clear" about its position of removing a coveted client from the parties' displacement provision: it wasn't happening.
The lawsuit has been settled that had the National Rifle Association in its sights and led to an investigation of the gun-advocacy group. The suit filed in Texas, now settled, was bitter. At one point, lawyers for ad agency Ackerman McQueen — Michael Gruber and Brian Mason of Dorsey & Whitney — sought state sanctions against Bill Brewer, the NRA attorney, which ultimately the Texas Supreme Court dismissed.
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