Texas was once again at the forefront of some of the biggest legal stories of the year. The following are the state’s top stories of 2024 as determined by the staff of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing. We start here with No. 10 thru 6.
10. Final Astroworld Festival Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settled
A settlement in May with the family of the youngest of 10 concertgoers killed during the 2021 Astroworld Festival crowd surge wrapped up the last wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the decisions that led to that tragic event.
According to media accounts, festival promoters looking to capitalize on the popularity of Houston’s hometown music hero Travis Scott originally expected more than 100,000 attendees. Safety concerns led to capping ticket sales at half that figure, but logistical issues, including inadequate crowd-to-staff ratios, still plagued the lead-up to the event. As Scott started his much-anticipated set, pockets of the audience were trapped in a deadly surge as the crowd pushed chaotically toward the stage.
More than 50 defendants, from the festival’s musical headliners to the promoters, venue operators and security details, were named in individual wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits, most of which were consolidated into what became years-long multidistrict litigation. Although personal injury cases remain, with the last wrongful death case settled, plaintiffs’ attorneys have said the victims’ families can begin the healing process and the concert industry can turn its focus on improving event safety.
9. All’s Fair in Big Tex’s Gun Ban
While the opening of the State Fair of Texas is most often associated with the judging of deep-fried food, jurisprudence of a far different type took a central role this year.
Following a shooting during the 2023 fair that left three people injured, the State Fair of Texas, a private nonprofit, overhauled its handgun policy. While the fair previously allowed those with valid handgun licenses to conceal carry, it announced that in 2024, all firearms would be prohibited during the fall event on the 277-acre park owned by the city of Dallas.
Citing state law prohibiting state governmental agencies from banning firearms, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Dallas and the fair, seeking to overturn the ban. Relying on an existing opinion that allowed private nonprofits to ban guns on land they lease from a city, the challenge was denied by the district court, the 15th Court of Appeals – the first high-profile case for the newly established court – and ultimately by the Texas Supreme Court.
“It should go without saying—though perhaps it cannot be said often enough—that a judge’s role in this case is not to decide whether the State Fair made a wise decision. Our job, instead, is to decide whether Texas law allowed the State Fair to make the decision for itself,” the court wrote in denying the AG’s injunction request and upholding the fair’s right to institute the ban.
8. Other Side of the Law: Accountability for Texas Police Officers
Gerald Goines. Amber Guyger. Aaron Dean. Pete Arredondo. Adrian Gonzalez. All are among the Texas police officers charged, convicted or held accountable for a crime in 2024.
In October, former Houston Police narcotics officer Gerald Goines was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in the deadly 2019 Harding Street drug raid that killed Dennis Tuttle and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas. Outgoing Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg called Goines’ conviction for felony murder the first of its kind, saying no other Houston police officer had ever been convicted of murder in Harris County.
Just days after Goines’ conviction, former Dallas Police officer Amber Guyger, who was convicted in the 2018 murder of Botham Jean, was denied parole by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In November, Guyger was also found civilly liable for Jean’s death and ordered to pay his family $98.6 million in damages.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean, who was convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson at her home during a welfare check in 2019. Dean had argued that prosecutors should not have been allowed to ask the jury to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter.
And more than two years after 19 children and two teachers were killed in the Uvalde school shooting, two former school police officers were indicted in June in the botched law enforcement response. Former school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo faces 10 felony charges of child endangerment, and former school police officer Adrian Gonzales is charged with 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child. Both are out on bond.
7. Weathering the Storm in Hurricane Beryl’s Wake
Lengthy power outages and widespread property damage in the aftermath of severe weather have become more and more frequent in Texas in recent years, particularly throughout Greater Houston.
Although a Category 1 storm when it made landfall on July 8, Hurricane Beryl proved to be one of the year’s most damaging severe weather events, leaving an estimated 80% to 85% of CenterPoint Energy’s more than 2 million customers without power for more than a week.
CenterPoint’s lackluster preparation and response to the storm, as well as a failure to keep customers informed about restoration progress, led to multiple class action lawsuits on behalf of homeowners and businesses.
The state launched investigations into CenterPoint’s handling of the situation, and the Public Utility Commission of Texas issued a report in November recommending state lawmakers pass legislation to stiffen penalties against the company and to bolster the state’s power infrastructure.
CenterPoint in recent weeks has released an independent report to the public on its response to Hurricane Beryl. This report included 77 recommendations to improve communications, readiness and response to major storms and emergencies, the majority of which the company claims already to have implemented.
6. Dismantling DEI: The Attack on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives
Following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action as a factor in college admissions, 2024 saw efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The Lone Star State is among a handful of states to ban DEI initiatives in higher education. Senate Bill 17, which was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023, bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and training in Texas public universities.
But the rollback has not come without consequences. More than 60 University of Texas at Austin staff members were terminated because of the law, according to the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors. The Associated Press also reports that officials at other schools have indicated that 36 positions were eliminated at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas State University in San Marcos, The University of Houston, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and Sul Ross State University in Alpine.
The push to end DEI will likely continue into 2025. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has signaled that enforcement of the DEI ban will be a high priority in the 2025 legislative session, and Gov. Abbott has also promised that more laws will be passed to ensure schools are removing DEI from their campuses.
5. Judge-Shopping Claims in Texas Courts Get National Attention
The Amarillo division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas became a center of controversy in 2024 due to allegations of “judge shopping” as conservative plaintiffs continue to seek national injunctions on several federal issues championed by the Biden administration.
The tactic is not new; plaintiffs’ counsel for years have filed cases in courts where they expect to find the most sympathetic ear for their arguments. More recently, the Waco division of the Western District of Texas became a preferred destination for patent litigation as it was also home to a single federal judge, Alan Albright, who for a while was hearing a vast majority of those cases.
However, the practice has become more prevalent, and attracted more scrutiny, in recent years as conservative litigants are actively seeking courts and judges who are perceived to be favorable to conservative causes.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is particularly active in Amarillo, where there is only one judge hearing cases. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed to the court during the first Trump administration, has handed down multiple rulings derailing Biden-era policies addressing immigration, guns, birth control, abortion, healthcare access and more.
In response to the situation in Amarillo, Democratic senators in Washington, D.C., endorsed reforms aimed at ending judge shopping by requiring the random assignment of judges throughout a federal district, but Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey of the Northern District of Texas has steadfastly refused to follow the guidelines.
4. Surrogacy Scam Ensnares Hundreds of Families
The eager anticipation of pending parenthood turned to horror in June when hundreds of intended parents and their surrogates learned that the escrow accounts established to provide financial support for prenatal care and expenses had unexpectedly been drained.
The scandal centers on Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) and its owner, Dominique Side. Attorneys representing the affected families have uncovered troubling details about the misuse of millions of dollars earmarked for surrogates’ benefits.
In legal filings, attorneys representing some of the couples that lost money say Side and SEAM diverted funds from escrow accounts to finance Side’s lavish lifestyle and launch her music career as rap artist “Dom.” The lawyers estimate that more than $2.2 million reportedly went to music videos and social media campaigns, with another $6.2 million funding Vgn Bae Studios, a high-end recording facility now for sale as part of the efforts to retrieve the funds on behalf of the client families. The lawsuit also accuses Side of spending clients’ money on luxury cars, vacations, designer clothing and exclusive club memberships.
Affected families from the U.S., France, Italy and other countries face combined losses of approximately $11 million. A Harris County judge has issued a temporary restraining order, freezing SEAM’s assets and accounts associated with Side and her business partner, Anthony Hall.
3. Texas Business Courts Open for Business
The brand-new Texas Business Court and the 15th Court of Appeals, created by House Bill 19, went into action in 2024, with the first of the business courts opening in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Austin. Six more will follow by 2026.
These specialized courts are designed to handle specific types of business disputes, including governance cases of more than $5 million and commercial disputes in excess of $10 million. Their addition, according to Gov. Greg Abbott, will further cement Texas’ position as the “Headquarters of Headquarters.”
Business court judges must meet certain minimum requirements before being appointed for a two-year term by the governor, including prior service on the bench, 10 years’ experience in complex business litigation, experience practicing business transaction law or some combination of those three.
While most expect Delaware will maintain its supremacy in cases focused on commercial disputes – and the incorporations that go with them – having business courts in Texas will provide some docket relief for state district courts. The 15th will hear any appeals from the business courts.
In forming the Texas Business Court, the state becomes the 26th in the U.S. with specialized courts hearing commercial cases. A Bloomberg Law count earlier this month showed more than 50 cases filed in the business court in the first 100 days, the majority of them in Houston’s 11th Division.
2. Scheduled ‘Shaken Baby’ Execution Incites Clash between Legislators, Top Texas Officials
Barring an unlikely reprieve by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, it appears Robert Roberson will be executed in early 2025.
The 58-year-old Roberson, who is autistic, was sentenced to death in 2003 for killing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, following a trial featuring expert testimony claiming the infant suffered from “shaken baby syndrome.” In the intervening years, the diagnosis has been discredited as junk science and found to be unreliable as evidence of abuse by medical experts and some courts, including those in Texas.
A 2023 Texas law allows those convicted via evidence deemed no longer credible to seek legal relief. The law was key to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturning the conviction of another man in October, 25 years after he was found guilty of injuring a child by severe shaking.
Roberson has his defenders. A clemency petition was signed by 84 of 150 House members along with medical experts, attorneys, law enforcement officers and others. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers subpoenaed him to testify before a House committee regarding the junk science law, delaying his planned execution, but triggered a rebuke from the Texas Supreme Court for “exceeding their power.”
Roberson has remained on death row and is currently awaiting a new execution date. If put to death, he would become the first person in the United States to be executed based on a conviction tied to “shaken baby syndrome.”
1. Texas Abortion Ban Sparks Legal Battles and Looming Health Care Crisis
Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the health care landscape has changed dramatically in Texas, with reproductive decisions increasingly being decided in courtrooms rather than doctors’ offices.
State law bans all elective abortions except in cases where the procedure is deemed lifesaving. In May, the Texas Supreme Court ruled against 20 women who said they were denied abortions despite facing medical complications.
The court determined that the law’s exceptions were broad enough that doctors would be misinterpreting the law if they refused to perform an abortion when a mother’s health was at risk.
Amanda Zurawski, one of the plaintiffs, experienced preterm, pre-labor rupture of membranes. After being denied an abortion, she developed sepsis and although she survived, she is now struggling to conceive again. The case, Zurawski v. Texas, was the first legal challenge to a state’s abortion ban on behalf of women with complicated pregnancies.
Texas state law imposes severe penalties, including life in prison, fines of up to $100,000 and the revocation of medical licenses, on doctors who perform abortions not deemed medically necessary.
As a result, surveys suggest Texas is beginning to show signs of being in a health care provider crisis. A study released in October found that 70% of practicing OB-GYNs in Texas believe the abortion ban prevents them from providing high-quality care and has negatively impacted their practices. Additionally, one in five OB-GYNs has considered leaving the state, and 13% plan to retire early. Applications for OB-GYN residency programs in Texas dropped 16% during the last admission cycle.
Legal challenges and lawsuits related to abortion continue to emerge in Texas, including Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against a New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Texas woman. The lawsuit marks a significant challenge to interstate telehealth practices and is expected to be among further legal developments regarding the abortion issue in 2025.
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