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Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee responds to new federal air quality standards
HOUSTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has announced new air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), an airborne pollution typically emitted in large quantities at refineries and plants, construction sites, and other industrial facilities, a press release states.
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Texas AG announces $350M opioid settlement with Publicis, state to receive $21M
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a $350 million national settlement with Publicis Health to resolve investigations into the global marketing and communications firm’s role in the prescription opioid crisis. Texas will receive approximately $21 million.
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Annual Legal Analytics Survey reveals: client demand continues to drive high usage of legal analytics
In the 2024 Annual Legal Analytics Survey, 80 percents of Legal Professionals reported that clients required or expected them to use Legal Analytics, and twice as many Legal Analytics users felt prepared for generative AI compared to non-users
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SCOTUS to review Trump ballot eligibility case
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined 26 other attorneys general in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing against a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in the upcoming presidential primary election in that state.
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Liberty Justice Center urges SCOTUS to rule in favor of the First Amendment in online free speech cases
AUSTIN – On Dec. 6, the Liberty Justice Center filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the combined cases Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, arguing that the use of state power to suppress dissenting views online violates the First Amendment, a press release states.
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Louisiana State Police opens criminal probe into embattled Houston law firm
A Louisiana State Police unit has opened a criminal investigation against Houston-based law firm McClenny, Moseley & Associates for alleged property insurance fraud practices in the state over the past three years.
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Lex Machina releases 2023 Real Property Litigation Report
The trend of real property case filings has exhibited a general decrease over the last eight years with a small uptick in 2022, reflecting the depressing effect of the pandemic and the recent recovery
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Business groups send letter over Texas bill seeking to prohibit employers from adopting COVID-19 vaccine mandates
AUSTIN - Numerous groups and associations have sent a letter to the Texas Senate Health & Human Services Committee in regards to Senate Bill 7, which seeks to punish employers for requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
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Court rejects hedge funds' petition to intervene in MMA disciplinary case
A judge has denied a bid by Florida hedge funds to intervene in federal disciplinary proceedings in Louisiana against a Houston law firm accused of unethical and illegal actions for mass-filing hurricane-damage claims in the Bayou State.
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Texas AG goes after Yelp over alleged discrimination against crisis pregnancy centers
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Yelp, alleging the company violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act by appending inaccurate and misleading language to listings on pregnancy resource centers appearing in the search results on Yelp’s app and website.
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Texas governor’s executive orders constitute laws, OAG opines
AUSTIN - The Office of the Attorney General recently released an opinion finding that a court is likely to conclude that executive orders authorized by the governor’s statutory emergency powers constitute “laws” under the Penal Code.
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Institute for Justice representing Texas driver in unreasonable search & seizure case
HOUSTON - The Institute for Justice is representing a Houston man in hopes of enforcing a Fourth Amendment principle: “You cannot interrogate drivers and search their cars without any justification and get away with it.”
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MMA law firm obtained $40 million through private investors, testimony reveals
A Houston law firm that has been repeatedly sanctioned for mass-filing more than 1,500 hurricane-related damages claims in Louisiana received as much as $40 million from a Florida hedge fund, according to court transcripts and those familiar with the legal proceedings.
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Harris County announces settlement in Volkswagen emissions lawsuit
HOUSTON – Yesterday, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee announced the county is set to receive north of $18 million in settlement of its claims over Volkswagen’s emissions-evading technology.
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Texas OAG secures $10.76M judgment against pyramid scheme operators, defendants accused of exploiting consumers during Covid-19 pandemic
AUSTIN – The Office of the Attorney General secured a $10.76 million final judgment and permanent injunction against BINT Operations (Blessings in No Time) and its owners, LaShonda and Marlon Moore of Frisco, Texas, for the perpetration of an illegal pyramid scheme, a press release states.
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Texas OAG reaches $168M opioid settlement with Walmart
AUSTIN – The Office of the Attorney General of Texas finalized a settlement with Walmart for $168 million for the company’s alleged negligent practices that contributed to the nationwide opioid crisis.
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Harris County Attorney Menefee supports EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor Plan’ in amicus filing
HOUSTON - Together with a coalition of states, Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee filed an amicus brief in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor Plan.”
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Texas secures $300M in opioid settlement with CVS
AUSTIN – The Office of the Attorney General has reached a $5 billion multistate settlement with CVS for the company’s role in the national opioid epidemic, including inadequately monitoring opioid prescriptions, a press release states.
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'California Knows Best:' SCOTUS says California can use Prop 12 to regulate pork producers across the country
Dissenting justices warned California should now expect other states to respond in kind, following California's "blueprint" to use state laws and market power to bypass Congress and bend the rest of the country to the will of voters in just one or a handful of states
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Ex-Texas GOP Chair: 'Gov. Abbott has boxed out the legislature'
Lt. Col. Allen West is now American Constitutional Rights Union executive director