Texas

Lawyer hopes vanity license plate will add $2M to his bank account

A retired California lawyer hopes to cash in by selling his vanity “CASH” license plate for $2 million. The former patent lawyer has had the license plate for more than 50 years.

Feb 23, 2023 8:46 AM CST

Texas AG’s office agrees to pay $3.3M to resolve aides’ whistleblower allegations

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has reached an agreement to pay $3.3 million to resolve allegations by four former aides who claimed that they were fired after reporting abuse of office.

Feb 13, 2023 12:29 PM CST

Weekly Briefs: Judge orders reform of school-funding system; BigLaw malpractice suit settles

School-funding system violates state constitution, judge says A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that the state’s school-funding system, which is heavily dependent on local property taxes, violates the state constitutional rights of students in poor school districts. Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer said the system violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s education clause and…

Feb 10, 2023 2:44 PM CST

Meet the Texas judge who is a favorite of conservatives in hot-button lawsuits, including abortion-pill litigation

A conservative federal judge in Texas is at the center of attention because of a pending case in which he has been asked to rule that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should not have approved the medication abortion-drug mifepristone.

Feb 10, 2023 11:43 AM CST

Lawyer for Black man on trial for murder referenced ‘justifiable lynching’ in trial note, petition says

Updated: Racism pervaded the Texas murder trial of a Black man to such an extent that one of his lawyers appeared to suggest that he deserved to be lynched, according to a Jan. 30 habeas petition.

Feb 7, 2023 8:39 AM CST

After theft charges, former law school assistant dean accused of sexual conduct with minor

Edward Rene, who was charged in 2020 with theft involving an alleged scholarship scam while working as an assistant dean of admissions at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, was recently charged with additional crimes involving allegations that he induced a minor to engage in sexual acts.

Feb 2, 2023 1:26 PM CST

Federal sentence includes law school, and attorneys wonder why

Based on federal sentencing guidelines, people found guilty of trafficking large amounts of cocaine usually face lengthy sentences. However, a Texas defendant received what many say is an unusual punishment: five days in prison with credit for time served and direction from the judge to complete her JD.

Feb 2, 2023 12:22 PM CST

Chemerinsky: When can state governments sue the United States?

A recurring issue before the Supreme Court this term, including in two cases to be argued in the next month, concerns when state governments have standing to sue the United States. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion of such suits.

Feb 1, 2023 11:49 AM CST

Federal judge bans potentially inflammatory words, such as ‘yahoos’ and ‘fake news’

Lawyers in a case in the Eastern District of Texas can’t refer to jurors, the court or the jury pool as “yahoos” or by other similar, derogatory references, according to a motion granted by a federal judge last month.

Jan 30, 2023 3:03 PM CST

Weekly Briefs: Suit claims janitor infected water bottles with STD; Ohio allows ex-jailhouse lawyer to take bar

Suit alleges janitor infected worker’s water bottles with STD More plaintiffs have been added to a lawsuit claiming workers at a Houston office building were infected with a sexually transmitted disease after a nighttime janitor rubbed his penis on and in their water bottles. The janitor’s conduct was discovered after…

Jan 27, 2023 3:00 PM CST

Google has monopoly in digital advertising technology, DOJ antitrust suit claims; are consumers harmed?

The U.S. Department of Justice has joined with eight states in a civil antitrust lawsuit alleging that Google is monopolizing the digital advertising industry, bringing harm to website publishers, advertisers and ultimately consumers who get less content for free.

Jan 25, 2023 9:06 AM CST

Judge won’t sanction Texas lawyer for missteps after mistaken disclosure of info about Sandy Hook families

Updated: A Connecticut judge has declined to sanction a Texas lawyer representing Infowars host Alex Jones for failing to take proper action after his paralegal mistakenly released confidential documents to the opposing counsel.

Jan 19, 2023 9:41 AM CST

Cashed check costs United Healthcare more than $2M

United Healthcare of Texas can’t pursue a claim of more than $2 million after its check-processing contractor cashed a $24,000 check offered as a settlement, a Texas appeals court has ruled.

Jan 11, 2023 9:43 AM CST

Mistaken disclosure of confidential documents leads to suspension for lawyer representing Infowars host

Updated: A Connecticut judge has ordered a six-month suspension for a lawyer representing Infowars host and founder Alex Jones because the attorney “carelessly” handled confidential documents mistakenly released to the opposing counsel in a defamation trial against Jones.

Jan 9, 2023 2:04 PM CST

Federal appeals court strikes down ATF rule banning rapid-fire bump stocks

Updated: The en banc 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans has struck down a Trump administration ban on bump stocks, which are used to accelerate gunfire on semi-automatic weapons.

Jan 9, 2023 9:55 AM CST