Newsroom
Another Dallas Court of Appeals Decision Will Undergo Review at SCOTX
We have previously reported on two problematic mental anguish damages cases from the Dallas Court of Appeals, in which the Texas Supreme Court granted review on September 2. In this same group of granted petitions, SCOTX has also decided to review a third case,...
Federal Class Action Challenges Constitutionality of Texas Anti-Abortion Statutes
As we previously reported, in August of this year the Texas SB 8 Litigation MDL Plaintiffs filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, against the Attorney General and county and district attorneys. The action...
SCOTX Grants Review in Dispute Over Arbitration Agreement
The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in September in a case likely to be of significant interest to TCJL members. Total E&P USA, Inc. v. MP Gulf of Mexico, LLC (No. 21-0028) involves, among other things, the interpretation of an arbitration...
Why Judge Peeples Found SB 8’s Civil Procedures Unconstitutional
As we reported yesterday, Judge David Peeples found constitutional fault with SB 8’s procedural requirements and barriers. Today we look more closely at the three fatal infirmities that he identified in the law. Standing. In this space we have previously conveyed...
Trial Court Rules That SB 8 Is Unconstitutional
In an almost 50-page opinion, retired District Judge David Peeples, sitting by assignment in the 98th District Court in Travis County, has issued an order striking down SB 8’s procedural requirements as violating the Texas Constitution. Importantly, the opinion...
SCOTX Grants Review of Controversial Dallas Court of Appeals Decision on Mental Anguish Damages
The Texas Supreme Court will review a controversial en banc Dallas Court of Appeals opinion filed in late November 2020. In addition to the very significant substantive law issue in the case—what standards must a trial court and jury follow in evaluating mental...
SCOTX Grants Review in Case Raising Batson, Mental Anguish Damages Issues
The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to review a Dallas Court of Appeals decision affirming a multi-million dollar judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in a fatality accident on IH 35. Among other things, the case raises troubling issues regarding the trial court’s...
Discovery Rule Applies to Suit Over Botched Paternity Test
A 2019 lawsuit filed against the company that performed an incorrect paternity test in 2001 can go forward, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals. The trial court had granted the company’s summary judgment on statute of limitations, collateral attack, and collateral...
Austin Court of Appeals Upholds TCEQ Permit After SCOTX Reversal
In case on remand from the Texas Supreme Court, the Austin Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s judgment reversing TCEQ’s order granting a permit to a coal mining company. The Austin Court of Appeals previously affirmed the trial court’s reversal and...
Washington Legal Foundation Publishes TCJL Op-Ed on Talc Litigation
The Washington Legal Foundation has published an op-ed authored by TCJL in connection with the mass talc litigation pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. The consumer products division of Johnson & Johnson, the target defendant in almost 40,000...
SCOTX Denies Rehearing on Pipeline Easement Valuation Issue
The Texas Supreme Court has declined to revisit its recent decision in Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline Partnership, LLC (No. 20-0567). Although the Court reversed a Houston [1st] Court of Appeals decision holding that evidence of a common carrier pipeline's contract with...
TCJL Files Brief in Case Challenging Contractual Arbitration Provision
TCJL has filed an amicus curiae brief in a case that seeks to nullify an arbitration provision in a contract between two offshore oil producers. The issue in TotalEnergies E&P USA, Inc. v. MP Gulf of Mexico, LLC (No. 21-0028) is whether a contract language that...