Karen Kidd News
Exception allowing Tyler to provide sewer services unconstitutional, Texas appeals court rules
HOUSTON – The city of Tyler will not be able to provide sewer services within its own limits based on an exception to the state's water code passed by the state legislature because that exception is unconstitutional, according to a recent Texas appeals court ruling.
Appeals court affirms ruling in ladder injury case against KLI over process service
HOUSTON – A state appeals court has rejected a man's appeal in his failed personal-injury case, saying he was not diligent enough in his attempts to serve process on one of two companies he alleged were liable in his claims.
Insurers ask court not to toss suit against Shrader & Associates over asbestos suit fees
GALVESTON – Three private health insurance companies have asked a federal judge to deny a Houston-based law firm's motion to dismiss the companies' lawsuit over allegations the firm didn't pay its share in asbestos litigation settlement funds.
Three-justice panel reverses dismissal of negligence case against Houston fitness club
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has revived the negligence lawsuit of a woman against a Houston fitness club after a Harris County district court dismissed the case.
Judge dismisses Dallas tax attorney's $5 million discrimination suit against Georgetown University over job fair ban
DALLAS – A federal judge earlier this month dismissed the case of a Dallas-based international tax attorney who sued a Washington, D.C. university, his alma mater, he claimed discriminated against him when it banned his firm from attending a job fair following "mischaracterized information" on his resume.
Federal Circuit affirms Texas judge's ruling that database patents failed Alice/Mayo test
WASHINGTON – Three indexing software patents allegedly infringed by a Wisconsin-based party supply company are invalid because they only contain abstract ideas, a federal appeals court ruled in an East Texas case earlier this month.
Appeals court sends homeowners association's lawsuit over flood damage back to Harris County
HOUSTON – A homeowners association's lawsuit to recover the cost of flood damage to a reserve tract in a Harris County community is on its way back to a local district court after a Texas appeals court ruled, in part, that the lower court had been wrong to find for defendants in the case.
Texas appeals court rules it lacks jurisdiction in attorneys' fee case involving Liberty construction companies
HOUSTON – The case of an insurance company and a former Delaware insurance official against two Liberty construction companies and their owners is on its way back to Chambers County after a Texas appeals court ruled it had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal in the case.
Houston must face pension system lawsuit following state Supreme Court ruling
The City of Houston will have to face up to litigation in its ongoing dispute with the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System following a Texas Supreme Court decision earlier this month that found the city has no immunity in the case.
District court erred in ruling Amerril Energy and U.S. KingKing are alter egos, appeals court says
HOUSTON – A dispute between a Houston-based oil well operator and four of its servicers is on its way back to a Harris County court after a three-judge Texas appeals panel found the trial court had not proven alter ego status between the well's operators.
Appeals court reverses Harris County district court decision denying dismissal of TCPA case
HOUSTON – A Harris County district court was too quick to deny a motion to dismiss a Flower Mound-based staff leasing and human resources countersuit in Texas Citizens' Participation Act (TCPA) litigation with a former employee, a Texas appeals court recently ruled.
Pepperidge Farm asks that Texas distributor's case be dismissed in favor of arbitration
SAN ANTONIO (Legal Newsline) – Pepperidge Farm has asked a federal court to dismiss a potentially $1 million case filed by a Bexar County, Texas distributor and to force him to arbitrate outside of court after the company decided in February to buy back the distributor's "club rights."
Wireless phone companies must pay local access charges, federal judge rules
DALLAS – Wireless call carriers like Verizon and Sprint must pay local access charges even when its users are placing local calls, a federal judge based in Dallas said in a recent order.
Appeals court reverses $8 million jury award against DuPont, saying cancer victim shall 'take nothing'
DALLAS – A Texas man who received a multimillion dollar jury award in 2015 after his leukemia was found to have been caused by years of exposure to benzene in the paints and paint thinners he used on the job will receive nothing, a state appeals court ruled earlier this month.
Federal judge mulling Carpatsky dismiss motion filed well after $145.7 million arbitration award
HOUSTON – A federal judge in Houston is considering a Texas oil company's motion to dismiss a Ukrainian oil company's nine-year-old lawsuit over a failed energy development deal following an arbitrator's $145.7 million award.
State appeals court sides with Masonic grand lodge in property dispute with lodge members
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court recently affirmed a Freemason Grand Lodge's ownership of property and assets of a constituent lodge in Houston, despite assertions to the contrary by members of that lodge.
Judge reduces $15.7 million damages award in Rembrandt-Samsung patent dispute
MARSHALL – Rembrandt Wireless Technologies can expect a few millions dollars less than a federal jury in Texas awarded a little more than three years ago in the company's patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics following a judge's recent decision.
Texas has no jurisdiction in case between Texas, Georgia and Louisiana companies, appeals court rules
BEAUMONT – Texas courts have no business reviewing an action brought by Georgia-based Majors Management and six Louisiana convenience stores, referred to as Store LLCs in the opinion, against a Texas distributer, a Texas appeals court ruled last month.
Appeals court affirms summary judgment in Harris County fraud and breach of settlement case
HOUSTON – A Harris County trial court's summary judgment in the fraudulent inducement and breach of a settlement agreement case of a Richmond physician and his wife against a former would-be employee has been affirmed by a state appeals court.
Texas appeals court affirms $2.7 million jury award to couple whose son was injured at birth
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court recently affirmed a $2.7 million jury award in Harris County, mostly for the future medical expenses of a child injured during his birth in 2011, according to a recent ruling.