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The Waco Court of Appeals has held that an employer’s lawsuit against a former employee for misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference with continuing and prospective business relations, and conversion falls within the “commercial speech” exemption of...

In State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. & State Farm County Mutual Ins. Co. of Texas v. Greg Rumbaugh(No. 06-21-00065-CV), the Texarkana Court of Appeals held that a 12% statutory penalty imposed by §1952.157, Insurance Code, on an insurer for failing to pay...

In a somewhat puzzling case, the Dallas Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court order certifying a class action against USAA under Rule 42, TRCP. We say “puzzling” because the court of appeals’ opinion does not refer to the law governing USAA’s standard...

The Texas Supreme Court has answered in the negative to a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concerning the scope of the “employee exception” to application of the Texas Anti-Indemnity Act (§§151.101, et seq. or TAIA). The...

In two cases concerning waiver of governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act, the Texas Supreme Court has held that the TTCA does not waive the liability of a city for injuries arising from the use of a law enforcement vehicle. The decision reverses the...

The U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has certified yet another unsettled question of Texas law to the Texas Supreme Court. This is a big one that should have the attention of every employer that offers employee health plans and every entity that provides...

Several times in the past year the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the Texas Supreme Court for its opinion on a matter of first impression or significant ambiguity in Texas law. The procedure is called a “certified question,” and a federal appellate...

The Texas Supreme Court has reversed a decision by the Austin Court of Appeals in Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Dos Republícas Coal Partnership v. Maverick County, City of Eagle Pass, Environmental Defense Fund, Walter Herring, Ernesto Ibarra,...

The Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) won a victory in the Third Court of Appeals in its effort to reverse the appraisal review board’s decision to reduce the 2019 appraised value of a Texas Disposal Systems’ landfill from $21.2 million to $2.8 million. In...

In a rare departure from the “law of the case doctrine,” under which a court of appeals is bound by its initial decision in a subsequent appeal in the same case, the Dallas Court of Appeals has held that the state’s electric grid operator is not entitled to...

Based on the number of appellate opinions grappling with the reach of the Texas long-arm statute (§17.042, CPRC) that have been handed down in just the first six weeks of this year, we have begun to wonder whether we are seeing a trend, particularly in commercial...

Judicial races are “down ballot.” What this means is that they’re typically at the end of a very long list of items needing voters’ attention. The Texas Civil Justice League is reminding Texans that ballot fatigue is bad for our state — we are urging voters to...