© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Michael Androvett
Androvett Legal Media & Marketing
Editor’s Note: Every year, great publications track down their most seasoned journalists – reporters they secretly have identified on the next list of likely layoffs – to lead the way in identifying the biggest and most important stories of the year. Those old time journalists – some borrowed from their long days and nights as foreign war correspondents, while others merely have to be sobered up after too many late nights at Louie’s on Henderson, which is where all the great writers reside for a few hours each evening.
The Texas Lawbook, being only slightly more than a year old, doesn’t have the liberty to claim that we have such qualified reporters. But we understand that these lists are popular and need to be published. So, we begged former lawyer and journalist Mike Androvett and his team to bail us out. Mike and his group work with many lawyers at law firms across the state and are able to quickly identify some of the biggest and most important business law stories of the past year because they helped work on most of them.
Some on the list are back from 2011, because they were vitally important then and even more so now.
On with the countdown by Mike and his team.
10. Irving-based Boy Scouts of America Releases “Perversion Files”
In October, an Oregon court ordered Irving-based Boy Scouts of America to release thousands of files detailing decades of sexual abuse by troop leaders. Experts estimate that the organization maintained nearly 5,000 records of sexual deviance dating back to the 1920s, dubbing them “perversion files.” The Boy Scouts say they have upgraded youth protection policies since the 1980s, including criminal background checks for paid employees and adult volunteers. However, the group is still withholding portions of the files dating from 1985 to the present. A lawsuit in San Antonio seeks their release.
9. Ex-Houston Astro Roger Clemens Acquitted On Charges of Lying To Congress
Pitcher Roger Clemens and Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin tried the long-running case in Washington, D.C., and came away victorious. Clemens was charged with lying under oath to a Congressional committee about using performance enhancing drugs. He claimed his innocence for years before the trial, and still found himself vilified by some in the sports press even after the jury said the evidence wasn’t there. Clemens came back home to Houston and took a couple of victory laps pitching for the minor league Sugar Land Skeeters.
8. Legal Fight Over Texas’ Legislative Redistricting Nullifies Texas’ Political Impact
The legal dispute over Texas’ legislative redistricting made the Lone Star State a non-player in the presidential election. Texas originally was set to be a part of the Super Tuesday primary elections in March, but the primary was delayed to May 29 when Democrats challenged legislative boundaries redrawn by Republicans. By then, Mitt Romney’s remaining Republican challengers – Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul – had effectively folded their campaigns. At the root of the Democratic challenge were claims that 3.7 million additional minority Texans should warrant at least one additional Democratic district. A U.S. District Court in San Antonio redrew the legislative boundaries to resemble new census data, but was then slapped down when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a version more closely resembling Texas legislators’ original map.
7. SCOTUS Reviewing UT Admissions Policy for Reverse Discrimination
The University of Texas’ affirmative action admissions policy was scrutinized by the U.S. Supreme Court in October after a white student who was denied admission to the school claimed she was passed over for less-qualified minority students. The high court’s pending decision could have far-reaching implications for colleges and universities across the nation. Legal experts say the UT case hinges on whether the Supreme Court is willing to continue to uphold affirmative action precedents established in cases involving other state colleges in Michigan and California.
6. Bankruptcy for Hostess Could Spell Twinkie’s End
Irving-based Hostess Brands Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, putting in peril such cherished brands as Twinkies and Ding Dongs. Bankruptcy lawyers flocked to New York to work on the expansive case, with the company courting potential buyers for its various brands. Hostess officials came under fire for accepting nearly $2 million in bonuses as part of the planned liquidation, while workers complained that their pensions were not funded as Hostess had promised.
5. Whistleblower Spurs Largest Medicaid Settlement in Texas History
The Texas Attorney General and attorneys for Pennsylvania whistleblower Allen Jones secured the largest Medicaid fraud settlement in state history in August when pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $158 million to resolve claims that it used false marketing tactics to convince Texas officials to put the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal on the state’s Medicaid drug plan. The state district court trial in Austin was settled following a week of testimony after jurors heard evidence that Johnson & Johnson targeted every level of the Texas Medicaid Program with misrepresentations about the drug.
4. Texas Strengthens its Stature as Global Energy Leader
Seldom a week passed in 2012 when another $1 billion deal was not announced in the Oil Patch. During the past three years, Texas energy companies have been involved in more than $300 billion in M&A. Hundreds of lawyers in Texas and beyond have benefited tremendously. High oil prices and increased natural gas production propelled Texas to the forefront of U.S. energy production in 2012, sending energy lawyers and landmen scurrying to keep up. Experts say the boom might push U.S. production to 11 million barrels a day by 2013, approaching Saudi Arabia-like levels. Much of that production has come via fracking – fracturing rock layers with pressurized fluids to release oil or natural gas – which originated in Texas and is generating its own legal scrutiny in some circles.
3. American Airlines Attempts to Emerge from Bankruptcy
Fort Worth-based American Airlines cleared a major hurdle in its attempt to emerge from bankruptcy protection after reaching a compromise with pilots in December. The cost for the massive reorganization topped $200 million, with American eyeing a potential partnership with US Airways. Unions for American’s pilots, flight attendants and mechanics reportedly have signed off on a US Airway merger, which could create a combined entity worth more than $8 billion.
2. BP Engineer, Officials Hit with Criminal Charges in Gulf Oil Spill
Energy giant BP faced criminal allegations in Houston related to several deaths in the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion, so the criminal charges against the company in the Gulf Oil spill were not as big a surprise as the charges against employees. Though the filings are in New Orleans, the reverberations for employees reach Houston, into the Gulf, and elsewhere. In November, federal officials charged two well-site leaders with manslaughter, and a third BP official was charged with obstruction of justice. An engineer also was charged with obstruction earlier in the year. Local lawyers say additional charges could be in the works.
1. The Stanford Financial Empire’s Day in Criminal Court
R. Allen Stanford, the former Texan turned billionaire and Caribbean knight, received a 110-year-sentence from a federal judge in Houston in June after jurors found him guilty of 13 crimes tied to the $7 billion fraud he maintained through an international financial empire. Four other Stanford Financial executives went down with him, as politicians were made to return political contributions from the disgraced investment guru. Investor victims and the company’s court-appointed receiver also sued Stanford’s former law firms to try to reclaim some of the stolen funds.
Androvett Legal Media & Marketing, founded by attorney and former journalist Mike Androvett, provides public relations, marketing and advertising services to lawyers and law firms. For more information, go to www.androvett.com.
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