Texas

  • August 09, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: Big 4 Market Views, Gas-Ban Backfire, AI

    Catch up on this week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including what the largest commercial real estate brokers expect from capital markets in the second half of the year, how municipalities are reacting to the Ninth Circuit striking down Berkeley, California's natural gas-hookup ban, and why Brookfield Corp. is betting big on AI.

  • August 09, 2024

    Migrant Detentions In Texas Too Long, DHS Watchdog Says

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's struggles with holding detainees at its long-term detention facilities have caused prolonged detentions at three U.S. Border Patrol facilities near the Texas-Mexico border, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog revealed on Thursday.

  • August 09, 2024

    Pitney Bowes' E-Commerce Arm Can Tap $47M DIP In Ch. 11

    A Texas bankruptcy judge on Friday gave DRF Logistics LLC the go ahead to borrow $45 million under a Chapter 11 loan funded by its former parent, shipping company Pitney Bowes Inc., which let go of its majority stake in DRF to wind down the unprofitable e-commerce division in bankruptcy.

  • August 09, 2024

    Tesla Sued Over Gigafactory Worker's Electrocution Death

    The widow of an electrician who was fatally electrocuted this month while working at Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, has filed a wrongful death suit in Texas state court, claiming the company negligently allowed a dangerous condition to exist at the automaker's global headquarters.

  • August 09, 2024

    Texas Justices To Answer SMU Law Prof's Defamation Query

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday agreed to answer a question posed by the Fifth Circuit regarding the interpretation of the state's human rights act in a case involving a former Southern Methodist University law professor who sued the school and several administrators after being denied tenure.

  • August 09, 2024

    Vidal Can't Be Used Against Ex-Client At PTAB, Fed. Circ. Says

    The Federal Circuit said Friday that the initial involvement of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal in a handful of patent challenges during her private practice days at Winston & Strawn LLP isn't enough to prevent the patent board from ever deciding on those petitions.

  • August 09, 2024

    Biz Groups Urge Keeping CFPB's $8 Late Fee Cap On Ice

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and other trade group plaintiffs have urged a Texas federal judge to leave in place an injunction staying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule capping most credit card late fees at $8, saying the lowered fee would not serve as a sufficient deterrent for consumers.

  • August 09, 2024

    Colony Ridge Mortgage Co. Says It Was 'Office Geek' For Site

    A Texas mortgage company pushed Friday to be released from a lawsuit accusing a Houston-area real estate developer and lender of predatory lending practices, telling a federal judge that it never met with the Hispanic consumers allegedly preyed on through the scheme and that the company was "just doing paperwork."

  • August 09, 2024

    5th Circ. Blocks Transfer Of SpaceX NLRB Suit

    The Fifth Circuit blocked an order transferring SpaceX's first constitutional challenge to the National Labor Relations Board's powers and protections while it considers whether the district judge wrongly withheld an injunction blocking an agency prosecution.

  • August 09, 2024

    4 Firms Guiding Italian IT Firm Almaviva's $335M Iteris Buy

    Italian digital innovation group Almaviva S.p.A. has agreed to purchase Austin, Texas-based infrastructure management provider Iteris Inc. for approximately $335 million equity value, Iteris said in a statement Friday. 

  • August 09, 2024

    Marketer Seeking Dismissal Of Mass. Data Privacy Suit

    Texas-based online marketing company InMarket Media LLC is asking a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a proposed class action by two women who say the company secretly collected and sold location data through its apps, arguing in a motion to dismiss that the court lacks jurisdiction over the company.

  • August 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Makes Case For Restarting FERC Gas Policy Revamp

    The D.C. Circuit's recent wipeout of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals of gas infrastructure projects is a sign that the agency should restart a stalled effort to update its decades-old pipeline approval policy, FERC watchers say.

  • August 09, 2024

    Jury's $1M Paralysis Verdict Against Insurer Overturned

    A Texas federal judge overturned a jury's verdict and decided an insurer didn't have to cover a $1 million settlement between a former high school gymnast who became quadriplegic after taking LSD and the owners of the home where he ingested the drugs.

  • August 09, 2024

    Ads Group Nixes Anti-Hate Initiative Days After Musk Suit

    The World Federation of Advertisers is pulling the plug on an initiative aimed at avoiding advertising next to hate speech and other "illegal or harmful content," days after drawing a lawsuit from Elon Musk's X Corp. calling the program an anticompetitive group boycott.

  • August 09, 2024

    Barnes & Thornburg Taps Trial Atty As Dallas Office MP

    When Thomas Haskins joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP in 2015, he'd practiced law about six years. More than nine years later, the firm where he first became a partner has named him its Dallas office managing partner and elected him to the firmwide management committee, according to an announcement Friday.

  • August 09, 2024

    5th Circ. Affirms Engineering Co.'s Loaders Don't Get OT

    A group of workers for a screw pile engineering company fell under the Motor Carrier Act overtime exemption because they performed loading duties often enough to be covered by the carveout, the Fifth Circuit ruled, backing a Texas federal court's dismissal of their suit.

  • August 08, 2024

    Jurors Weigh $200M For Carbon Monoxide Leak Victims

    Counsel asked jurors during closing arguments Thursday in a Dallas County court to give his two child clients a voice after a carbon monoxide leak allegedly left them partially mute, saying that while his clients can't speak, the jurors can deliver a verdict to "speak for them."

  • August 08, 2024

    Auto Paint Co. Faces Investor Suit Over Competition Woes

    Vehicle paint protection company XPEL Technologies misled investors about the extent of competition it faced in the marketplace and how the changing demographics of electric vehicle buyers would affect the business, according to a proposed class action filed Thursday in Texas federal court. 

  • August 08, 2024

    CFPB Urges 5th Circ. To Revive Anti-Bias Exam Policy

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has appealed to the Fifth Circuit to reinstate a 2022 policy that expanded the scope of the agency's anti-discrimination oversight, saying a Texas federal judge's decision to strike it down last year could allow even so-called debanking to go unexamined.

  • August 08, 2024

    Texas Acts Like It Has 5th Circ. In 'Back Pocket,' Judge Says

    U.S. District Judge David Ezra accused a Texas state attorney of misleading the Fifth Circuit by hinting that he may ignore the appellate court's decision to overrule his order for the state to move a barrier deterring migrants from crossing the Rio Grande.

  • August 08, 2024

    Valve Says 'Enough Is Enough,' Seeks Patent Suit Sanctions

    Video game maker and online game store operator Valve Corp. urged a Texas federal judge to punish a Texas company that Valve called a "patent troll" in its sanctions motion for allegedly re-arguing "frivolous" legal theories and purposely taking its barcode patent infringement suit to an allegedly improper venue.

  • August 08, 2024

    CenterPoint Accused Of Mishandling Worker Retirement Plan

    A group of CenterPoint Energy employees hit the company with a proposed class action on Wednesday, alleging the entity mismanaged their employee retirement plan and cost participants millions of dollars.

  • August 08, 2024

    Texas LNG Investor's Estate Sues In Del. Over Stake Valuation

    The estate of a deceased investor who had a minority stake in a long-delayed liquified natural gas export project in Texas has sued his investment company and co-investors in Delaware's Chancery Court, alleging they are attempting to short-change the estate by undervaluing his stake in the project.

  • August 08, 2024

    Pitney Bowes Spins Off E-Commerce Biz Into Ch. 11

    A former unit of shipping company Pitney Bowes Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Thursday in Texas bankruptcy court with more than $100 million in debt and plans to liquidate its assets.

  • August 08, 2024

    Calif. Atty Says Lending Groups Illegally Threatened Fee Suit

    A California attorney is accusing his former clients of illegally threatening a lawsuit over a $91,000 invoice, according to a suit filed in a Texas federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorneys' Busiest Times Can Be Business Opportunities

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    Attorneys who resolve to grow their revenue and client base in 2024 should be careful not to abandon their goals when they get too busy with client work, because these periods of zero bandwidth can actually be a catalyst for future growth, says Amy Drysdale at Alchemy Consulting.

  • In The World Of Legal Ethics, 10 Trends To Note From 2023

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    Lucian Pera at Adams and Reese and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight identify the top legal ethics trends from 2023 — including issues related to hot documents, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — that lawyers should be aware of to put their best foot forward.

  • Lessons Learned From 2023's Top ADA Decisions

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    This year saw the courts delving into the complexities of employee accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act in the post-pandemic workplace, going beyond bright-line rules with fact-intensive inquiries that are likely to create uncertainty for employers, says Linda Dwoskin at Dechert.

  • A Year Of Transition At The Agenda-Setting 5th Circ.

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    Under the spotlight of hot issues this year, the Fifth Circuit has appeared to be an ideological court generating controversial decisions and attracting certiorari-grants — but in the shadows and liminal spaces of the everyday issues, the court and its members operate in a much more nuanced and less-divisive way, says Tad Bartlett at Fishman Haygood.

  • The Key Laws Retailers Should Pay Attention To In 2024

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    2024 promises to be another transformative year for retailers as they navigate the evolving regulatory landscape, particularly surrounding data privacy and sustainability laws, meaning companies should make it a practice to keep track of new legislation and invest in compliance efforts early on, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • What's Ahead For Immigrant Employee Rights Enforcement

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s increased enforcement related to immigration-based employment discrimination is coupled with pending constitutional challenges to administrative tribunals, suggesting employers should leverage those headwinds when facing investigations or class action-style litigation, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season

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    Attorneys should consider a few key tips to speed up their work during the holidays so they can join the festivities — from streamlining the document review process to creating similar folder structures, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • 5 Trends To Watch In Property And Casualty Class Actions

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    In 2023, class action decisions have altered the landscape for five major types of claims affecting property and casualty insurers — total loss vehicle valuation, labor depreciation, other structural loss estimating theories, total loss vehicle tax and regulatory fees, and New Mexico's uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage sale requirements, say Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.

  • Series

    Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Parsing 2023's Energy Markets Enforcement

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    A review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's and Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recently released fiscal year 2023 enforcement reports highlight the significant energy market enforcement activities, litigation pursued and settlements reached by both agencies, as well as their respective strategic goals and focus areas, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • FDA's Recent Litigation Records Are Strong, But Imperfect

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notched its share of litigation wins in recent years thanks to a number of key advantages, but the FDA has been less successful in certain highly visible arenas, Jonathan Berman and Colleen Heisey at Jones Day.

  • ESG Investing Caught In Culture War Crosshairs In 2023

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    As 2023 draws to a close, ESG investing remains a raging battleground in the U.S. culture wars, as illustrated by the array of legislative efforts across the country aimed variously at restricting or promoting the use of ESG investing — but it remains to be seen what practical impact, if any, these laws will have, say Amy Roy and Robert Skinner at Ropes & Gray.

  • Lessons From DOJ's Wave Of Labor Market Prosecutions

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    Attorneys at Patterson Belknap consider lessons learned and future meaningful challenges following the U.S. Department of Justice's first six criminal antitrust cases targeting employee no-poach and wage-fixing agreements, in which just one case resulted in a guilty plea.

  • How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Insurer's '600-Lb. Life' Win Shows Why Fraud Suits Don't Stick

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    A Texas federal court’s recent ruling that Philadelphia Indemnity Co. did not fraudulently induce Megalomedia, the production company behind reality show “My 600-Lb. Life,” into purchasing insurance, demonstrates why a policyholder’s fraudulent inducement claim against an insurer will rarely succeed, says Robert Tugander at Rivkin Radler.

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