SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

MARSHALL – A dispute over an oil well drilling patent continues to be fought, despite motions filed on both sides.

AUSTIN – The Austin Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas has dismissed a second amended securities fraud class action against Whole Foods.

HOUSTON – A man alleges he was diagnosed with mesothelioma because of exposure to asbestos.

GALVESTON – Two Friendswood property owners allege that their insurer failed to fully compensate them for damage to their home because of a fire.

GALVESTON – A San Leon woman is alleged to have failed to sign documents needed to transfer her property to a buyer.

HOUSTON - More than one type of storm hit Texas in August, as two law firms have combined to flood courts with more than 200 weather-related lawsuits in an apparent rush to beat the state’s newest tort reform measure.

HOUSTON – Current and former employees of an industrial waste service collector allege that they are owed unpaid overtime.

US MONEY RESERVE INC, ATTY PORTNER, CHRISTOPHER M vs. CECIL A ROBERTS ET AL, ATTY HALLMARK, JESSICA L

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton applauded a Sept. 5 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that preserves Texas’ voter ID law.

HOUSTON – A cattle owner alleges that he is currently not able to retrieve his cattle after a breach of a sublease.

GALVESTON – A former tenant of a League City property alleges toxic mold caused health issues and forced him from the apartment.

HOUSTON – A crane operator alleges he was injured as a result of a chemical exposure in Chambers County.

HOUSTON – A Houston man alleges a debt collector harassed him with phone calls.

GALVESTON – A Harris County woman alleges she was injured because of liquid left on the floor of a Houston electronics store.

HOUSTON – An Oklahoma woman and estate representative has filed a suit after her husband was killed in a helicopter crash in Africa.

HOUSTON – A Tomball woman is seeking damages of more than $1 million from the owners and operators of a pool after her decedent died of an infection.

During the Gilded Age, so-called “captains of industry” such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan led an industrial revolution that transformed the nation with technological innovation, creating for Americans unparalleled improvements in the average standard of living and amassing great personal fortunes in the process. The spectacular success—and enormous power—of these newly minted tycoons earned them the sobriquet “Robber Baron,” even as their ruthless business tactics, such as Rockefeller’s cartelization of the oil industry through trusts, fostered new laws to regulate anti-competitive business practices, notably the 1890 Sherman Act. These measures are called “antitrust” laws, an often-forgotten tribute to the dynastic Standard Oil Trust, which at its peak controlled the refining of 90 to 95 percent of all oil produced in the United States.

BEAUMONT – Two Beaumont businesses are facing a suit from an employee seeking more than $1 million after he was injured while working.

HOUSTON – A Desoto man alleges he was shot while returning to his car at a Houston after-hours strip club.

BEAUMONT – A Louisiana driver is facing a suit seeking more than $200,000 in damages from five individuals who allege they were injured in a collision on Interstate 10.