John O'Brien News
Feds face wrongful death claim after failing to report illegal entries of mass shooter
AUSTIN - A failure of border policy is to blame for an April 2023 mass shooting in a Southeast Texas city, lawyers hoping to force the federal government to pay up say.
Appeal: Student punished for dreadlocks hopes to overturn ruling
GALVESTON - The high school student sentenced to a year-long detention because his dreadlocks are too long is appealing his recent court loss.
Refusing COVID vax because of medical condition not a disability, judge rules
HOUSTON - A former FMC Technologies who refused the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic and says he was forced to quit as a result has now lost his disability discrimination lawsuit.
Broken chairs, hidden cameras and SpaceX dirty water: 5 new cases to know
HOUSTON - Environmental advocates take on SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site and another woman comes forward with sexual assault allegations against a Spring physical therapist are among the stories from five recently filed cases in Southeast Texas.
High school senior punished for dreadlocks can't block Barbers Hill hair-length policy
GALVESTON - A high school student who spent an entire year in detention because his hair is too long has failed to obtain a court ruling that would get him out.
Manufacturer for Boeing 737s close to blocking AG Paxton's investigation
AUSTIN - A federal magistrate judge has recommended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempt to investigate a company that builds fuselages used in Boeing 737s be blocked.
Lender had to know about hurricane lawyers' scheme, class action plaintiff argues
HOUSTON - A lender that fronted millions of dollars to a legal marketing company caught up in allegations property owners were taken advantage of by a Texas law firm shouldn't be let off the hook, the plaintiff in a class action lawsuit says.
5 new cases to know: Is this joke from a Starbucks barista racist?
Recently filed cases in Southeast Texas include a possibly racist note left on the Starbucks order of a Black man, plus the murder of a British man in a Houston Airbnb.
Deputy who shot and killed troubled man in Greenspoint loses bid for backpay
HOUSTON - A former deputy sheriff waited too long to sue Harris County for shortchanging him on backpay, following the 2018 fatal shooting of a man whose wife had drowned two of their children.
Trampoline injury case has one defendant in arbitration, others in court
HOUSTON - Part of a case of a young girl hurt at a Beaumont trampoline park must proceed in arbitration, an appeals court has ruled, despite the girl not signing away her right to sue in open court.
Fifth Circuit laments federal government's failure to respond to citizens
NEW ORLEANS - It's not her fault the federal government dragged its heels, an appeals court has ruled in reviving a white woman's discrimination lawsuit against a Houston hospital.
Circuit split: Fifth, 'gritting' its teeth, follows 1980 precedent in poaching case against personal injury lawyer
NEW ORLEANS - Houston state court is the place for a dispute between a personal injury lawyer and his former employer, a reluctant federal appeals court has found in creating a 2-2 split on a technical issue.
Lawsuit rejected from shortstop who dove face-first into fence
HOUSTON - A city in Fort Bend County won't be liable for the severe injuries suffered by a teenage girl whose face was sliced open while playing softball at one of its parks.
Texas the venue for lawyer suing ad firm over award-nominated 'kicking the crap out of insurance companies' campaign
HOUSTON - A Houston personal injury lawyer won't have to travel to Delaware to pursue his lawsuit against an advertising firm he says cheated him - though their campaign of "kicking the crap out of insurance companies" was nominated for an attorney marketing award and he thanks the company on his website.
'Overweight lover': Ex-mayor's jab at cop has Arcola getting deeper into lawsuit
HOUSTON - A former officer in Arcola can't allege sex discrimination after the mayor called her an "overweight lover" to those at a barbecue but can proceed with the rest of her claims.
TPC investors can't be sued in Texas for 2019 Port Neches plant explosion
BEAUMONT - Investors in a company caught up in mass tort litigation over an explosion at a petrochemical processing plant in Port Neches have won a victory that would keep them out of Texas courts.
Appeal filed as insurers try to save RICO case against Houston chiropractors
HOUSTON - Insurers whose effort to allege a racketeering scheme among Houston chiropractors was rejected by a federal judge have appealed.
Lawyer in hot water over insurance claims deserved a hearing, Fifth Circuit rules
NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - A lawyer who worked at a Houston law firm that has run afoul of the law will get a second chance to show he shouldn't have been suspended for nine months.
Houston-area chiropractors get good news in RICO case alleging they ripped off insurance companies
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) - Insurers who footed the bill for personal injury settlements shouldn't succeed in recouping their losses from health care providers they alleged conspired to inflate the cost of care, a federal magistrate judge says.
Investor in Watts' BP litigation flop fails in latest attempt to get millions back
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) - An investor who lost millions of dollars when lawyer Mikal Watts claimed to have put together 40,000 clients but instead ended up fighting criminal charges won't be able to blame his own attorneys for not recouping his money.