In the News

Four more people have been indicted on charges of staging a $4.7 million vehicle accident in New Orleans, in a widening federal investigation of “slammers,” “spotters” and crooked lawyers accused of conspiring to bilk insurance companies for damages.

Rebeca Huddle is Gov. Greg Abbott’s pick to fill a vacancy on the Texas Supreme Court. “Rebeca Huddle brings remarkable experience to the Court,” Hecht said, “a litigator who has spent her career in the courtroom, seven years as an appellate justice and, most recently, managing the flagship office of one of Texas’s oldest and largest law firms. She will serve the people of Texas with distinction and the Court is proud to have her join us.”

Johnson & Johnson urged the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reverse a landmark $465 million verdict in the state’s opioid lawsuit, saying no company will be safe from public nuisance claims if the ruling stands. If allowed to stand, the verdict would allow government lawyers to sue virtually any company selling a legal product that is capable of causing harm, including alcohol, automobiles and food, J&J said.

Earlier this year, a conflicted appellate court ruled it does not have jurisdiction over California cities and counties pursuing climate change lawsuits against the energy sector. Now the Texas Supreme Court will ultimately decide if ExxonMobil has the authority to investigate those who allegedly orchestrated the litigation on its home turf.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez received $118,125 for the few weeks of work he put in on a construction defect lawsuit, not a bad payday when considering his yearly salary in Congress is $174,000.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a lower-court decision sending Baltimore’s climate lawsuit back to state court, potentially resolving where the politically controversial litigation will be decided. The Supreme Court’s interest cheered the energy industry, which is facing a growing number of lawsuits by cities and states, many of them represented by private lawyers who stand to earn billions of dollars in fees if they are successful.

As the U.S. continues to recover from the COVID-19 downturn, it’s important for politicians to take a long, hard look at how trial lawyers can so easily squeeze multi-million dollar verdicts from private businesses that serve as the backbone of the American economy. Litigation reform is needed for the future of American innovation.

Negotiations over yet another coronavirus relief bill are picking up again. With them comes the possibility that Congress will pass legislation shielding businesses from civil lawsuits alleging they exposed consumers or workers to COVID-19. Liability protections have long been a demand of the business community, which has said that, absent congressional action, a “litigation wave” could delay economic recovery.

Garrison, 54, was shot dead Tuesday night, four days after a federal grand jury indicted him in a group of nine defendants accused of orchestrating scores of staged car accidents into moving buses, tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles for insurance settlements that can run well into six figures. The indictment says Garrison was a “slammer” whose job it was to collide with those big vehicles, and prosecutors allege he staged more than 50 accidents in exchange for $150,000 from an unnamed co-conspirator.

Cornelius Garrison grew increasingly concerned for his safety as federal authorities zeroed in on him for allegedly having a hand in a sprawling scam involving staged car accidents, according to his attorney. Four days after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans filed charges accusing Garrison of staging over 50 wrecks in exchange for $150,000, he was shot to death Tuesday inside an apartment in the St. Bernard neighborhood of Gentilly, his lawyer, federal public defender Claude Kelly, said late Wednesday.