Texas High Court Takes Down Hurdle On Campaign Prosecutions

By Brandon Lowrey

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that prosecutors do not need referrals from the Texas Ethics Commission to bring campaign misconduct charges, reversing its own recent decision that had thrown out a grand jury indictment against a former judicial candidate.

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Texas AG Can't Question NGO Over Alleged Border Crossing Aid

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appellate court shot down the state attorney general's request to take a presuit deposition from an aid organization that allegedly helped unauthorized immigrants cross the southern border, saying in a Thursday split decision the attorney general failed to show adequate evidence.

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Trump To Get Texas Vacancy With Judge Taking Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge David Godbey of the Northern District of Texas, who was at the center of a debate on judge shopping last year, will take senior status on Sept. 17, according to an update posted on the federal judiciary's website on Thursday.

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Receiver In Nate Paul Dispute Not Entitled To $2.8M In Fees

By Catherine Marfin

A state appeals court said Thursday that a receiver in a dispute involving companies owned by real estate investor Nate Paul can't recover $2.8 million in fees because the sum the fees stem from never came into his possession.

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Texas High Court Restores 35-Year Sentence In Pit Bull Attack

By Parker Quinlan

The highest criminal appeals court in Texas has put back in place a sentence for a man convicted after his pit bulls attacked a 10-year-old boy, following an intermediary appeals court's reversal of his conviction based on its reading of Texas criminal law.

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Appeals Court Says Dallas Must Release Discrimination Records

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that the city of Dallas has to turn over records on a federal housing discrimination investigation to The Dallas Morning News, saying the information was not exempt from public disclosure.

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Houston Urges Texas Justices To Reject Pappas Contract Row

By Catherine Marfin

A lower appellate court got it right when it ruled that the city of Houston was shielded from a lawsuit over an airport concessions contract under the state's government code, the city told the Texas Supreme Court.

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States Urge 2nd Look At $185M Metals Fraud Ruling

By Jessica Corso

State regulators are asking a Texas federal judge to reconsider a ruling that threatens a $185 million fraud case before it can be brought to trial in October, saying that the judge contradicted ruling precedent when he decided that metals like gold and silver don't qualify as commodities in some instances.

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Kanner & Pintaluga Seeks Sanctions Over Accident Data Suit

By Hope Patti

Kanner & Pintaluga PA asked a Texas federal court to sanction a Houston couple and their counsel in a proposed class action accusing the firm and since-dismissed Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. of conspiring to share auto crash victims' private information, saying the claims are based on unverified and inadmissible hearsay.

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Family Urges 5th Circ. To Hold Penske Liable For Fatal Crash

By Linda Chiem

The family of a man killed in a 2018 collision has told the Fifth Circuit that freight broker Penske cannot claim ignorance to escape liability for negligently hiring the unsafe motor carrier and driver who caused the Texas accident.

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Healthcare Co. Modivcare Hits Ch. 11 To Cut $1.1B Of Debt

By Vince Sullivan

Technology-enabled healthcare services company Modivcare Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas bankruptcy court with plans to recapitalize its balance sheet and cut $1.1 billion of debt.

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WDTX Judge Won't Send Nvidia Patent Case To California

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal court has declined to send a patent dispute between an artificial intelligence startup and chipmaking giant Nvidia to a California federal court, saying it would be no more convenient there than it would be to litigate in Texas.

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Baker Donelson Adds Womble Bond Energy Ace In Houston

By Lynn LaRowe

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC announced Thursday that it has added a former Womble Bond Dickinson attorney to its corporate group who brings particular expertise in energy commodities.

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4 Questions For Insureds To Overcome Flood Exclusions

In a year of record flash flooding in the U.S., affected policyholders, who may assume that their policy's flood exclusion precludes recovery for losses, should look to the many factually and legally nuanced cases presenting pathways to coverage, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

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Series

Quilting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Turning intricate patterns of fabric and thread into quilts has taught me that craftsmanship, creative problem-solving and dedication to incremental progress are essential to creating something lasting that will help another person — just like in law, says Veronica McMillan at Kramon & Graham.

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Judge Finds Habba Unlawfully Serving As NJ's US Atty

By Matthew Santoni

Alina Habba, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and his pick to remain the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, was unlawfully given an extension of her temporary post after her "interim" appointment expired, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Thursday.

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SEC Taps Military Judge To Head Enforcement Efforts

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced the appointment of a senior judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to lead its enforcement division.

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OnlyFans Flags Bogus Citations In RICO Fraud Suit

By Emily Sawicki

Attorneys for a proposed class of OnlyFans subscribers alleging racketeering by the company notified a California federal judge Thursday that they would be seeking permission to fix earlier filings found to have errors created by artificial intelligence, days after the web platform's parent company notified the court of the citation errors.

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NY Appeals Court Throws Out Trump's $500M Fraud Penalty

By Phillip Bantz

A divided New York state appeals court panel on Thursday tossed a nearly $500 million civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump and his sons, companies and their executives, ruling that the fine was "excessive," but kept in place a judge's finding of liability.

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9th Circ. Dissenters Rip Judge's 'Weaponization Of Sanctions'

By Jeff Overley

A half-dozen Ninth Circuit judges Thursday denounced six-figure sanctions against attorneys for prominent politicians challenging Arizona election procedures, accusing a lower court of "twisting and contorting" allegations in order to punish lawyers "based on the nature of the complaint and the clients that they represented."

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Odell Beckham Wants Attys Sanctioned In Diddy Assault Suit

By Adrian Cruz

NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. is looking to sanction attorneys representing a woman accusing him in California federal court of participating in a Bay Area gang rape alongside rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs, claiming the allegations are frivolous and the attorneys willfully ignored available evidence in making them.

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Analysis

Employer Plans In Limbo As Courts Grapple With Trans Care

By Kellie Mejdrich

Despite appellate courts' apparent willingness to allow states to ban gender-affirming care for minors, employers are still waiting for clarity on whether federal anti-discrimination laws require health plans to cover transgender healthcare access, experts say.

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California Bar Board Of Trustees Gets 1st Nonattorney Chair

By Rose Krebs

The California Supreme Court announced Thursday that for the first time ever, a nonattorney will lead the State Bar of California's Board of Trustees starting Sept. 21.

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Ex-Prosecutor Sworn In As Ga. US Atty In Southern District

By Emily Johnson

A longtime Georgia attorney, who served as chair of Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles and previously served as a district attorney, was sworn in this week as interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

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Ethics Case Reasserted Against Fla. Judge Over Deepfake

By Matt Perez

A Florida judicial ethics panel has reasserted allegations that a state judge in Broward County violated the state's Code of Judicial Conduct during her 2024 election campaign, ahead of a final hearing set for Dec. 16 by the hearing panel chair of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.

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