Appellate Courts News
Appellate Courts
Baytown cop beats lawsuit after traffic stop turns ugly
NEW ORLEANS - A federal appeals court has ruled for a Baytown cop who had his dog go after a suspect in a traffic stop on Valentine's Day.
NEW ORLEANS - A federal appeals court has ruled for a Baytown cop who had his dog go after a suspect in a traffic stop on Valentine's Day.
Appellate Courts
Fifth Circuit rules telehealth veterinarian’s constitutional rights were violated by Texas state law
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has decreed that a requirement from the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners for those conducting such exams of pets do so in person, does in fact violate the constitutional rights of a telehealth veterinarian.
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Appellate Courts
First District appeals court affirms decision of Consumer Credit Commissioner to fire examiner
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to concur with the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner’s decision to fire one of its examiners for using a business credit card for personal use, and to reject the plaintiff’s allegations of discrimination and retaliation.
Appellate Courts
Fourteenth Court of Appeals affirms dismissal of claims against engineering firms, connected to rail yard contamination
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has affirmed the dismissal without prejudice of claims lodged against two professional engineering firms, stemming from environmental contamination at the Union Pacific Englewood Rail Yard near residential neighborhoods in Houston.
Appellate Courts
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.
Appellate Courts
Fifth Circuit affirms lower federal court ruling on Department of Labor’s authority on “White Collar Exemption”
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld a Texas federal court’s ruling to grant summary judgment to the U.S. Department of Labor, in response to litigation which had challenged the Department’s authority to define the so-called “White Collar Exemption” in the Fair Labor Standards Act to include a minimum-salary requirement.
Appellate Courts
Fifth Circuit appeals court finds constitutional rights of minor parties in Texas were not violated
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has joined a lower federal court in finding that the constitutional rights of minor political parties and their candidates in Texas were not violated by numerous provisions of the Texas Election Code.
Appellate Courts
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.
Appellate Courts
Fifth Circuit remands lone excessive force claim against Harris County law enforcement, to trial court
NEW ORLEANS – A majority component of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has reversed a Texas lower court’s granting of qualified immunity-related summary judgment, in an excessive force and false arrest action against Harris County and members of its law enforcement.
Appellate Courts
Supreme Court of Texas finds defendant hit with $21.6M judgment is instead entitled to new trial
AUSTIN – A defendant who was hit with a $21.6 million verdict at a one hour-long bench trial has successfully appealed that result to the Supreme Court of Texas, which found proper notice procedures were not followed and thus, the defendant is entitled to a new trial.
Appellate Courts
First District appeals court affirms dispute between employee and petroleum company belonged in arbitration
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to refer to arbitration a dispute between a woman who alleged her employer violated settlement terms when it targeted her with adverse employment actions, after it investigated her sexual assault claim, and the company itself.
Appellate Courts
Fourteenth Court of Appeals dismisses wrongful death suit from daughters of man struck by police car
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has reversed the denial of summary judgment to the City of Houston and, on jurisdictional grounds, instead dismissed a case brought by plaintiffs whose father was struck and killed by a Houston police officer while crossing the street, in the vicinity of a nearby police action.
Appellate Courts
First District appeals court dismisses man's disability discrimination and retaliation suit against former employer
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to throw out the disability discrimination, harassment and retaliation action of a man who claimed he was treated unfairly and later fired by his employer, for taking medical leaves of absence and bereavement leave.
Appellate Courts
Ninth District appeals court throws out legal malpractice claim against Brent Coon and his firm
BEAUMONT – A Texas appeals court has thrown out an appeal related to a long-standing legal malpractice case against prominent trial lawyer Brent Coon, whose former clients alleged he had mishandled their case related to an oil spill by BP.
Appellate Courts
After home caregiver was killed by feral hogs, appeals court says evidence didn’t prove dogs attacked her first
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has upheld a trial court’s dismissal of a negligence and strict liability case surrounding the gruesome mauling and death of an in-home caregiver by feral hogs on her patients’ property, finding that submitted evidence didn’t show that dogs on the premises attacked the decedent first.
Appellate Courts
First District appeals court upholds dismissal of man's acrylic liquid nitrogen exposure injury suit
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to throw out the personal injury action of a man who claimed he suffered permanent injuries as a result of work-related exposure to liquid acrylic nitrogen.
Appellate Courts
First District appeals court finds rodeo group's performer payments are a protected trade secret
HOUSTON – In an issue of first impression, the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas has found that a nonprofit rodeo group is not bound to disclose the amount of money that it pays to its entertainment performers, finding that information to be a protected trade secret.
Appellate Courts
Texas appellate court affirms ruling which denied a new trial to man who fell in restaurant
HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision to refuse a new trial on the subject of additional damages for past physical pain, impairment and mental anguish, to a man who won a jury verdict of more than $111,000 in a premises liability, slip-and-fall case.
Appellate Courts
Federal appeals court strikes down FCC’s Universal Service Fund as unconstitutional
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has struck down the Federal Communication Commission’s “Universal Service Fund”, ruling that the measure is unconstitutional under the non-delegation doctrine and legislative vesting clause.
Appellate Courts
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.