Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Texas
-
August 09, 2024
Texas Justices To Answer SMU Law Prof's Defamation Query
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday agreed to answer a question posed by the Fifth Circuit regarding the interpretation of the state's human rights act in a case involving a former Southern Methodist University law professor who sued the school and several administrators after being denied tenure.
-
August 09, 2024
Vidal Can't Be Used Against Ex-Client At PTAB, Fed. Circ. Says
The Federal Circuit said Friday that the initial involvement of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal in a handful of patent challenges during her private practice days at Winston & Strawn LLP isn't enough to prevent the patent board from ever deciding on those petitions.
-
August 09, 2024
Biz Groups Urge Keeping CFPB's $8 Late Fee Cap On Ice
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and other trade group plaintiffs have urged a Texas federal judge to leave in place an injunction staying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule capping most credit card late fees at $8, saying the lowered fee would not serve as a sufficient deterrent for consumers.
-
August 09, 2024
Colony Ridge Mortgage Co. Says It Was 'Office Geek' For Site
A Texas mortgage company pushed Friday to be released from a lawsuit accusing a Houston-area real estate developer and lender of predatory lending practices, telling a federal judge that it never met with the Hispanic consumers allegedly preyed on through the scheme and that the company was "just doing paperwork."
-
August 09, 2024
5th Circ. Blocks Transfer Of SpaceX NLRB Suit
The Fifth Circuit blocked an order transferring SpaceX's first constitutional challenge to the National Labor Relations Board's powers and protections while it considers whether the district judge wrongly withheld an injunction blocking an agency prosecution.
-
August 09, 2024
4 Firms Guiding Italian IT Firm Almaviva's $335M Iteris Buy
Italian digital innovation group Almaviva S.p.A. has agreed to purchase Austin, Texas-based infrastructure management provider Iteris Inc. for approximately $335 million equity value, Iteris said in a statement Friday.
-
August 09, 2024
Marketer Seeking Dismissal Of Mass. Data Privacy Suit
Texas-based online marketing company InMarket Media LLC is asking a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a proposed class action by two women who say the company secretly collected and sold location data through its apps, arguing in a motion to dismiss that the court lacks jurisdiction over the company.
-
August 09, 2024
DC Circ. Makes Case For Restarting FERC Gas Policy Revamp
The D.C. Circuit's recent wipeout of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals of gas infrastructure projects is a sign that the agency should restart a stalled effort to update its decades-old pipeline approval policy, FERC watchers say.
-
August 09, 2024
Jury's $1M Paralysis Verdict Against Insurer Overturned
A Texas federal judge overturned a jury's verdict and decided an insurer didn't have to cover a $1 million settlement between a former high school gymnast who became quadriplegic after taking LSD and the owners of the home where he ingested the drugs.
-
August 09, 2024
Ads Group Nixes Anti-Hate Initiative Days After Musk Suit
The World Federation of Advertisers is pulling the plug on an initiative aimed at avoiding advertising next to hate speech and other "illegal or harmful content," days after drawing a lawsuit from Elon Musk's X Corp. calling the program an anticompetitive group boycott.
-
August 09, 2024
Barnes & Thornburg Taps Trial Atty As Dallas Office MP
When Thomas Haskins joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP in 2015, he'd practiced law about six years. More than nine years later, the firm where he first became a partner has named him its Dallas office managing partner and elected him to the firmwide management committee, according to an announcement Friday.
-
August 09, 2024
5th Circ. Affirms Engineering Co.'s Loaders Don't Get OT
A group of workers for a screw pile engineering company fell under the Motor Carrier Act overtime exemption because they performed loading duties often enough to be covered by the carveout, the Fifth Circuit ruled, backing a Texas federal court's dismissal of their suit.
-
August 08, 2024
Jurors Weigh $200M For Carbon Monoxide Leak Victims
Counsel asked jurors during closing arguments Thursday in a Dallas County court to give his two child clients a voice after a carbon monoxide leak allegedly left them partially mute, saying that while his clients can't speak, the jurors can deliver a verdict to "speak for them."
-
August 08, 2024
Auto Paint Co. Faces Investor Suit Over Competition Woes
Vehicle paint protection company XPEL Technologies misled investors about the extent of competition it faced in the marketplace and how the changing demographics of electric vehicle buyers would affect the business, according to a proposed class action filed Thursday in Texas federal court.
-
August 08, 2024
CFPB Urges 5th Circ. To Revive Anti-Bias Exam Policy
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has appealed to the Fifth Circuit to reinstate a 2022 policy that expanded the scope of the agency's anti-discrimination oversight, saying a Texas federal judge's decision to strike it down last year could allow even so-called debanking to go unexamined.
-
August 08, 2024
Texas Acts Like It Has 5th Circ. In 'Back Pocket,' Judge Says
U.S. District Judge David Ezra accused a Texas state attorney of misleading the Fifth Circuit by hinting that he may ignore the appellate court's decision to overrule his order for the state to move a barrier deterring migrants from crossing the Rio Grande.
-
August 08, 2024
Valve Says 'Enough Is Enough,' Seeks Patent Suit Sanctions
Video game maker and online game store operator Valve Corp. urged a Texas federal judge to punish a Texas company that Valve called a "patent troll" in its sanctions motion for allegedly re-arguing "frivolous" legal theories and purposely taking its barcode patent infringement suit to an allegedly improper venue.
-
August 08, 2024
CenterPoint Accused Of Mishandling Worker Retirement Plan
A group of CenterPoint Energy employees hit the company with a proposed class action on Wednesday, alleging the entity mismanaged their employee retirement plan and cost participants millions of dollars.
-
August 08, 2024
Texas LNG Investor's Estate Sues In Del. Over Stake Valuation
The estate of a deceased investor who had a minority stake in a long-delayed liquified natural gas export project in Texas has sued his investment company and co-investors in Delaware's Chancery Court, alleging they are attempting to short-change the estate by undervaluing his stake in the project.
-
August 08, 2024
Pitney Bowes Spins Off E-Commerce Biz Into Ch. 11
A former unit of shipping company Pitney Bowes Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Thursday in Texas bankruptcy court with more than $100 million in debt and plans to liquidate its assets.
-
August 08, 2024
Calif. Atty Says Lending Groups Illegally Threatened Fee Suit
A California attorney is accusing his former clients of illegally threatening a lawsuit over a $91,000 invoice, according to a suit filed in a Texas federal court.
-
August 08, 2024
Former In-House Atty Says Mortgage Co. Was 'Oppressive'
A former staff attorney for mortgage company Newrez LLC alleges in a Texas state court lawsuit made public this week that she was terminated last year after witnessing a deputy general counsel engage in sexually inappropriate conduct with an intoxicated subordinate attorney at a work-related gathering.
-
August 08, 2024
FedEx Sued By 15K Drivers After OT Collectives End
About 15,000 drivers who worked for FedEx across the U.S. through intermediary employers have filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts federal courts arguing the logistics giant is responsible for their lack of overtime wages as a joint employer, launching individual claims following a failed effort to sue as a collective.
-
August 08, 2024
Texas Co. Says Timex Infringed Wearable Device Data Patent
A Texas company took Timex Group USA Inc. to Connecticut federal court alleging that the watch company infringed its patent for "systems, methods and apparatuses for enabling wearable device users access to secured electronic systems" by putting out a line of smartwatches for families to keep track of their children.
-
August 07, 2024
5th Circ. Pushes DOL On Salary Thresholds For OT Eligibility
A Fifth Circuit panel told the government during oral arguments Wednesday that the Labor Department needed to provide more substantial reasoning as to how it determines workers' overtime eligibility, saying that just because it has set salary thresholds for nearly a century doesn't mean it gets carte blanche.
Expert Analysis
-
Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
-
FLSA Conditional Certification Is Alive And Well In 4th Circ.
A North Carolina federal court's recent decision in Johnson v. PHP emphasized continued preference by courts in the Fourth Circuit for a two-step conditional certification process for Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, rejecting views from other circuits and affording plaintiffs a less burdensome path, say Joshua Adams and Damón Gray at Jackson Lewis.
-
Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
-
Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
-
Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated
In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.
-
In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
-
Opinion
It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections
While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.
-
How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
-
Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC
In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.
-
Series
After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law
Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.
-
Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
-
Opinion
Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
-
When Patents As Loan Collateral Can Cost You Standing
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Intellectual Tech v. Zebra Technologies shines a light on loan default provisions' implications for patent infringement litigation, as a default may inadvertently strip a patent owner of constitutional standing to sue over a patent pledged as collateral, say Joseph Marinelli and Suet L. Lee at Irwin IP.
-
3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
-
Roundup
After Chevron
In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.