Texas Atty And Firm Accused Of $1M Investment Scam

By José Luis Martínez

A New York couple have accused an of counsel at Texas-based firm Naman Howell Smith & Lee PLLC of duping them out of $1 million after being lured into a purported profitable investment program, a scheme the couple said has previously targeted other victims.

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Texas Hospital Creates 'De-Transition Clinic' After Settlement

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas attorney general announced a settlement with Texas Children's Hospital that will see the creation of a detransition clinic, saying Friday that the hospital will pay $10 million for billing Texas Medicaid for "illegal 'gender-transition' interventions."

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Texas Oil Co. Defeats Race And ADHD Bias Claims

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge on Friday ended a former Apache Corp. employee's race and disability discrimination suit before jurors could deliberate, granting motions for judgment by the company and its parent that said the ex-employee was not able to offer evidence on any of her claims.

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Texas Justices Revive Anti-SLAPP Bid In Abortion Fund Suit

By José Luis Martínez

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday revived a woman's anti-SLAPP bid in an abortion fund's suit against her, holding that the suit was filed in response to the woman's earlier attempt to investigate the fund's deputy director for potential violations of state abortion law.

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Judge Says Jones Can't Appeal Infowars Bankruptcy Order

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge on Friday dismissed Alex Jones' appeal over whether Infowars operator Free Speech Systems LLC's assets are part of his Chapter 7 estate, a move that continues to allow the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to pursue assets through state-court collection efforts that would help satisfy judgments exceeding $1 billion.

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Texas Justices Say Home Depot Owes No Duty In Fatal Crash

By Linda Chiem

The Texas Supreme Court said Friday that Home Depot cannot be held liable for a deadly 2024 collision involving a Werner Enterprises Inc. truck hired to transport the retail giant's goods, saying state law doesn't impose a duty of care on passive shippers under the alleged circumstances.

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Judge Permanently Blocks NLRB In Constitutionality Case

By Braden Campbell

A Texas federal judge on Friday permanently blocked the National Labor Relations Board from prosecuting a social services platform, saying agency officials' job protections are unconstitutional and inseparable from federal law, and that the board's pursuit of novel remedies flouts its targets' jury rights.

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Fed. Circ. Drops A Theme Song, Talks Guest Judges

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's full lineup came together Friday to provide practitioners with insight about their experience sitting on other courts, in a conference where the chief judge dropped the court's first (and only) single.

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Brief

Texas Justices Give Delta-8 THC Cos. More Time To Fight Ban

By Jonathan Capriel

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday gave hemp companies more time to pull together a counter-attack against its prior ruling giving the state's health commissioner the power to ban manufactured delta-8 THC goods.

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Judge Splits From Texas High Court In Jail-Courtroom Case

By Parker Quinlan

A judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has dissented from his colleagues' decision not to accept a petition from a man who said the decision to hold his murder trial inside a county jail violated state law.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: Justices To Revisit Sentencing Rules

By Orlando Lorenzo

The U.S. Supreme Court will take a closer look at a circuit split over the deference that should be allotted to U.S. Sentencing Commission commentary, and a man convicted in the killing of an infant has been released after 27 years served over evidence that points to pneumonia as the likely cause of death.

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Alex Jones Can 'Freely Compete' With Infowars, Court Told

By Aaron Keller

The operator of Infowars says bankrupt broadcaster Alex Jones has a legal right to "freely compete" with his former outlet, telling a Texas appeals court the website shut down because a court-appointed receiver failed to pay a third-party streaming service, not because Jones absconded with its property.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Infrastructure Districts, UpCodes, Tariffs

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including the rising popularity of infrastructure districts to meet funding needs, tech-based solutions for developers to navigate building laws, and one BigLaw leader's view of how tariffs are affecting capital in real estate deals.

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American Airlines Must Face Suit Over Teen's In-Flight Death

By Gina Kim

The Fifth Circuit partially revived a lawsuit claiming American Airlines caused a teen's death when an on-flight defibrillator used to shock his heart allegedly malfunctioned, ruling that a genuine dispute remains whether the airline equipped the flight with a working defibrillator as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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5th Circ. Faults NLRB's Take On Starbucks Worker's Language

By Braden Campbell

The Fifth Circuit has ordered the National Labor Relations Board to rethink a ruling that Starbucks unfairly fired a union backer who sent profane messages and opened its mail, saying the board did not grapple with evidence showing his "extreme" words were an outlier in a workplace that tolerated some profanity.

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MMA Law To Shutter Under Ch. 11 Liquidation Plan

By Alex Wittenberg

Houston firm MMA Law has filed a Chapter 11 liquidation plan in Texas bankruptcy court, saying it plans to shut down its business and appoint an administrator to prosecute claims against multiple law firms.

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Analysis

More Cases, Fewer Staffers Pinch US Bankruptcy Watchdog

By Vince Sullivan and Clara Geoghegan

The federal bankruptcy watchdog program is being squeezed by staffing and budget cuts at the same time as insolvency filings are on the upswing, raising questions about whether the already austere Office of the U.S. Trustee can continue executing its mission of ensuring the integrity of the country's bankruptcy system

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Judge Blocks Part Of Texas Migrant Arrest Law Once More

By Britain Eakin

A Texas federal judge blocked key provisions of a state law criminalizing unauthorized entry or reentry of noncitizens into the state Thursday, ruling for the second time in less than three years that the legislation likely intrudes on an area of law controlled by the federal government.

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Jury Says Hardware Co. Owes $9.4M In Texas Patent Trial

By Adam Lidgett

A Texas federal jury said that a decorative hardware company owes more than $9.4 million for infringing a series of patents relating to electrical outlet cover plates that include other functions like LED lights and USB chargers.

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A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

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3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

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Murdaugh Sues Ex-Court Clerk Who Tried To Sway The Jury

By Jack Karp

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is suing the court clerk whose attempt to influence the jury in his murder trial led the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his murder conviction.

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Barred From Harvard Suit Over AI Error

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts judge on Monday said a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney may not appear before him in a suit against Harvard University over the theft of body parts donated to its medical school, saying the lawyer did not learn his lesson after signing off on briefs in another case with fake case law generated by artificial intelligence.

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Trump Seeks Circuit Seats For 2 Judges He Appointed

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's recent picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits mark the first time in his second administration that he's seeking to elevate judges he appointed in his first term.

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Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

By Elliot Weld

A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

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Wyoming Prosecutor Confirmed Despite Misconduct Rebuke

By Courtney Bublé

Just a few days ago, federal judges tossed nine criminal indictments after President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. attorney's office of Wyoming was accused of prosecutorial misconduct. On Monday evening, he was confirmed to permanently lead the office.

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Analysis

Half The Nation's Bar Apps Could Remove Rape Questions

By Cara Bayles

By next year, it's possible that about half of U.S. jurisdictions will have amended character and fitness questions to avoid dredging up aspiring lawyers' sexual trauma. But while advocates hail the reforms as progress, concerns linger about the patchwork this could create across the country.

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Ex-Willkie Atty Banned By SEC For Insider Trading

By Emily Sawicki

A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney who earlier this month admitted to taking part in a widespread BigLaw insider trading scheme will be barred from representing a client before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a minimum of four years, according to an order the agency issued Monday.

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NY Judge Largely Halts Manhattan Immigration Courts Arrests

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge Monday largely barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouses, finding there was no good reason why "unfettered discretion" by ICE officers was better than a policy with arrest limitations.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of celebrity estate litigation, merger disputes, investor suits, record demands, sanctions fights and questions over corporate moves away from Delaware.

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