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Texas
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May 10, 2013
TPG Rakes In $305M In Shriram Transport Finance Stake Sale
Texas-based TPG Capital unloaded its 10 percent interest in Indian commercial vehicle finance firm Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd., the buyer said Friday, raking in $305 million — a nearly sevenfold return on its initial buy-in to the company.
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May 10, 2013
App Designers Lifted Data Transfer Patents, Suits Say
“Smurfs' Village” developer Capcom USA Inc. and other game makers were sued in Texas federal court Thursday, becoming the latest targets of frequent patent litigator Lodsys Group LLC over allegations that their app games violate two data communication patents.
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May 10, 2013
Chemical Co. CEO Cops To Charges Over Employee Death
The CEO of defunct Port Arthur Chemical and Environmental Services LLC pled guilty in Texas federal court Thursday to failing to protect an employee who died from inhaling poisonous gas, with criminal charges still pending against the company.
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May 9, 2013
Texas Firms Face Steep Cuts In 'Nightmare' Tech Case
A Texas federal judge on Thursday told Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC, Dykema Gossett PLLC and Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP they should be prepared to face steep cuts in legal fees from a court-ordered receivership against the principal of bankrupt domain name registrar Ondova Ltd.
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May 9, 2013
5th Circ. Upholds Sanctions On Group Suing Bankrupt Lothian
The Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that sanctions imposed by a Texas bankruptcy court against a group of investors trying to sue bankrupt Lothian Oil should stand and that the group can't keep bringing actions against the oil company in state court.
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May 9, 2013
Arthrocare Exec Cops To $400M Securities Fraud Scheme
A former executive of surgical instrument maker ArthroCare Corp. on Thursday admitted he participated in a scheme to inflate company earnings by tens of millions of dollars and hid sales terms and commission payment information, leading to a $400 million loss for investors.
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May 9, 2013
Bryan Cave, AmEx Unit End Tax Shelter Class Action
Bryan Cave LLP and a unit of American Express Co. have reached a settlement in a putative class action over their roles in marketing life insurance-based pension plans that allegedly created an illegal tax shelter, according to documents filed Thursday in Texas federal court.
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May 9, 2013
Texas Court Revives Abraham Watkins Patent Malpractice Suit
A Texas appeals court on Thursday partially revived a malpractice suit against Abraham Watkins Nichols Sorrels Agosto & Friend LLP, ruling that it was unclear whether a former client’s claim that the firm mishandled patent litigation had been pursued too late.
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May 9, 2013
Hearing On ATP's $691M Asset Sale Pushed Back
A Texas bankruptcy judge Thursday delayed his review of ATP Oil & Gas Corp.’s proposed $691 million oil and gas leases sale to a group of lenders led by Credit Suisse AG, as the company answers creditor objections to the deal.
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May 9, 2013
Sidley Austin Nabs Capital Markets Pro In Houston Expansion
Sidley Austin LLP snagged an energy and capital markets expert as part of the firm's efforts to expand its Houston office and its energy practice, the firm said Thursday.
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May 9, 2013
Texas Court Axes $53M Award In Suit Over Real Estate JV
A Texas appeals court on Thursday reversed a commercial real estate investor’s $52.6 million judgment against his former business partner, ruling he hadn't sufficiently proved the value of his interest in a joint venture he claims was stolen from him.
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May 9, 2013
Apache Preps $4B In Asset Sales, $2B Stock Buyback
Texas energy giant Apache Corp. announced plans Thursday to sell roughly $4 billion in assets by the end of 2013 and buy back up to $2 billion of its own stock from shareholders, sending the stock surging as investors responded positively to the blockbuster share buyback plan.
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May 9, 2013
Centene Nurses Win Conditional Cert. In OT Action
A Texas federal judge on Wednesday conditionally certified a class of Centene Co. of Texas LP nurses who contend the Medicaid insurer wrongly denied them overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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May 9, 2013
SEC, Texas Probe Morgan Keegan Over Muni Bond Sales
Regions Financial Corp. on Wednesday said its former Morgan Keegan unit is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the states of Missouri and Texas over alleged securities law violations involving municipal bonds.
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May 9, 2013
Dallas, Waste Companies Settle Disposal Ordinance
The city of Dallas may no longer compel several waste management contractors to dispose of their waste at a city-owned landfill after the companies and the city reached a settlement, the National Solid Wastes Management Association said Wednesday.
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May 8, 2013
Texas Firms Duel Over Fees In Wake Of 5th Circ. Ruling
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC, Dykema Gossett PLLC and Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP began dueling in Texas federal court Wednesday over which firms are entitled to recover fees from the principal of bankrupt Ondova Ltd. related to a court-ordered receivership, after the Fifth Circuit ordered the receivership to wind down.
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May 8, 2013
5th Circ. Says ERISA Plan Gets 1st Dibs On Recovered Costs
The full Fifth Circuit ruled Tuesday that an administrator of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act plan could sue an employee’s special needs trust to recover medical expenses that the plan paid out but for which the employee later received a tort settlement.
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May 8, 2013
Chevron, Noble Say Enbridge Pipeline Rates Are Too High
Chevron Products Co., Noble Energy Inc. and other petroleum makers asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday to reject proposed rates for the 500-mile Seaway crude oil pipeline run by Enbridge Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners LP's, arguing that the prices are unreasonably high.
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May 8, 2013
Enron's Skilling Could Cut Decade Off Sentence Under Deal
Disgraced former Enron Corp. CEO Jeff Skilling could be released from prison as early as 2017 under a deal reached with prosecutors that would allow for more than $40 million in restitution to be distributed to the victims of Skilling’s fraud, according to documents filed in Texas federal court on Wednesday.
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May 8, 2013
GOP Donor's Suit Says ACA Breached Origination Clause
A prominent Republican donor on Tuesday sued the U.S. Health and Human Services Department in Texas federal court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, arguing that the landmark law failed to follow proper legislative procedures and impermissibly requires Americans to buy private insurance.
Expert Analysis
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When SEC Subpoenas Are Too Close For Comfort To Litigation
Recent orders from the Western District of Texas in the Life Partners case may have far-reaching implications for how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission conducts investigations while a related enforcement action is pending. At a minimum, the case offers a cautionary tale for the SEC and suggests that civil defendants should be alert to the possibility of investigatory overreaching, says Jennifer Tomsen of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
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What Obama’s Re-Election Means For Health Care Policy
With a second term in office, President Obama faces challenging choices regarding continued implementation of the Affordable Care Act. These issues must be considered in the broader context of the looming “fiscal cliff” that will hit on Jan. 2, 2013, if Congress and the Obama administration fail to reach agreement on either a short-term delay to the sequestration process and the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, or a long-term, comprehensive budget deal that puts the nation on more sound fiscal footing, say Alexander Hecht and Stephen Bentfield of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.
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Could CT's Approach To Clean Energy Be A National Model?
Given that ratepayers will be bearing the cost of whatever level of additional support of renewable energy resources are given, Connecticut’s renewable energy program may be a boon for developers who can now actually finance and develop projects using renewable energy credits, and for ratepayers who gain the benefits of diversified generation sources and reduced emissions but with controlled energy price supports, say Philip Small and John Wadsworth of Brown Rudnick LLP.
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Mapping The Pre-Election Landscape
Both parties are giving it everything they've got as we enter the final stages of the 2012 presidential campaign. The conventional wisdom among electoral vote counters is that it could be difficult for Governor Romney to find his way to 270 electoral votes without Ohio. It could be difficult for President Obama as well, but he has more scenarios under which he could win the election without Ohio's support, say attorneys with SNR Denton.
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Trends In Fracking Groundwater Contamination Litigation
Courts, while recognizing some natural gas-related activities are not ultrahazardous as a matter of law, have determined that the issue of whether hydraulic fracturing specifically is an ultrahazardous activity is undecided. They have been unwilling to make the determination at the motion to dismiss stage, finding the fact-intensive nature of the decision makes it better determined at summary judgment on a more fully developed record, says Nicole Vanderlaan Smith of Latham & Watkins LLP.
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Venue Implications Of The Patent Pilot Program
Since the Patent Pilot Program was initiated in January 2011, several courts deciding motions to change venue have discussed whether a district's participation in the program makes it a better venue for a patent case than a nonparticipating district. Courts have taken different positions on the issue, says Peter Scoolidge of Fisch Hoffman Sigler LLP.
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Nondischargeable Debts: Some Lies Matter More Than Others
Although a general goal of bankruptcy is to provide a “fresh start” for the debtor, there are limits. The Fifth Circuit ruling in In re Bandi illustrates that if an individual debtor has made any misrepresentations in connection with obtaining credit — including for an affiliate — bankruptcy may not provide the magic bullet enabling an escape from liability, says Vicki Harding of Pepper Hamilton LLP.
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Legal Industry Trends: Lawyer Salaries And Job Growth
An analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals that employment prospects for lawyers remain weak in the Northeast while the market for legal services is much stronger in the Mountain West and South Atlantic regions. Among other findings, lawyer salary increases in the Northeast are likely to lag, whereas those in the Mountain West and South Atlantic regions are likely to rise sharply, says Stephen Bronars of Welch Consulting Ltd.
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In Re Texas Rangers: Lenders Strike Out
A Texas bankruptcy court's recent decision in In re Texas Rangers Baseball Partners provides greater protection to the claims of professionals and clarifies that a “tail provision” for professional fees survives a bankruptcy filing, say Alicia Davis and Thomas Curtin of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP.
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Preserving Eminent Domain In Texas: Deadline Approaching
All public and private entities authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain in Texas must comply with a Dec. 31, 2012, deadline to submit a letter to the Comptroller of Public Accounts, or they will lose the power of eminent domain — a significant noncompliance penalty. Organizations need to make a detailed study of all of their affiliates, partnerships and joint ventures, say Antroy Arreola and Kenneth McKay of Locke Lord LLP.