WACO — Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today released its annual Patent Litigation Report, which found that nearly a quarter of all the patent cases filed last year were heard by Judge Alan Albright.
AUSTIN - The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has publicly reprimanded a judge in Harris County for reportedly having two lawyers on two separate occasions escorted to the jury box and shackled.
After two years, the extraordinary government measures—federal, state, and local—taken in response to the COVID pandemic, some of which were supposed to be temporary, have finally begun to abate, along with the fear and panic that inspired them.
AUSTIN - While California municipalities bringing climate change lawsuits argue Texas courts lack jurisdiction over litigation brought by ExxonMobil, one group is arguing that their suits are “actually part of a coordinated, nationwide campaign targeting Texas businesses.”
AUSTIN - On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed a ruling in favor of BlueStone Natural Resources in a mineral dispute involving a “frequently litigated issue: whether and to what extent a royalty interest bears a proportionate share of postproduction costs.”
AUSTIN - While the California municipalities bringing climate change lawsuits against oil companies are arguing Texas courts lack jurisdiction because of a lack of contacts within the state, ExxonMobil contends their use of “lawfare” has in fact established sufficient contacts “to be held to account here.”
ORANGE - A Nacogdoches family has recovered $8.5 million in settlement funds for a February 2020 crash that claimed a man’s life. The family, represented by Ferguson Law Firm managing partner Paul ‘Chip’ Ferguson, secured the settlement four days before trial in the case was to begin in district court, a press release states.
The return of nuclear verdicts to Texas courts (and attorney television advertising) and the recently launched efforts of the medical malpractice plaintiff’s bar to convince the federal courts to strike down Texas’ cap on noneconomic damages in medical liability cases (which is likely to play out over several years) could potentially raise an issue for state lawmakers: is it time to consider codifying at least some objective standards and levels of proof for mental anguish damages?
AUSTIN - Because of a lack of contacts within the state, Texas courts lack jurisdiction over the California municipalities bringing climate change lawsuits against oil companies, according to a merit brief filed yesterday.
We all do it: self-diagnose. Before we go to the doctor, we try to figure out on our own what condition we have and what may have caused it. Then we go to the doctor and share our findings. He asks us why we bothered coming to see him if we already knew what we had, and we tell him that we wanted a second opinion.
CANYON LAKE – The estate of Comal County resident Bobby Garner has filed suit in state court in San Antonio against a local hospital and its statewide health network, alleging battery and gross negligence in the death of Bobby Garner, a patient who the complaint alleges was left a quadriplegic after an assault by a male nurse, a press release states.
DC – A rule requiring for-hire charter boat captains off the Gulf of Mexico to install vessel monitoring systems (VMS), a kind of GPS tracking device, on their boats to supply 24/7 location information to the U.S. Government has been put on hold, a press release states.
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a $290 million statewide opioid settlement agreement with Johnson & Johnson to resolve opioid-related claims.
Lex Machina has expanded its federal practice area coverage by including over 8,000 cases that involve claims under the False Claims Act, as well as related claims under state law.
HOUSTON — A man who allegedly suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling on the floor while using a step exercise box is claiming product liability.
HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston State University is the subject of a federal complaint lodged with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture by a national research watchdog after a FOIA report showed that SHSU confessed to the negligent deaths of 10 cows, a press release states.
The news over the past few years has offered little to cheer about, but a recent story reporting an unprecedented 43 percent decline in membership in the Boy Scouts of America from 2019 to 2020—from 1.97 million Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts to 1.12 million—was especially dispiriting.
WASHINGTON — The nation’s two leading money-in-politics data organizations have joined forces to help Americans hold their leaders accountable at the federal and state levels, a press release states.
