In the News

Men have dominated Texas courts for decades. Now, in Democratic-controlled areas of the state, they seem headed for extinction. The corrective for years of gender inequity on the bench has proven rather simple: voters.

Although she’s under felony indictment, 164th Civil District Judge Alexandra Smoots-Thomas earned enough votes in the Democratic primary to advance to a runoff election for her bench. “I don’t think the average voter had any idea that Judge Smoots-Thomas was under indictment,” said Schaffer, a partner in Schaffer Carter & Associates in Houston. “I didn’t hear it mentioned at all.”

District Court Judge Tim Sulak’s stunning primary loss to Madeleine Connor angered many in the legal community who suspect voters were unaware of the flaws in Connor’s candidacy but picked her in the down-ballot race because they preferred a woman to a man. Connor’s victory fuels the ongoing debate about Texas’ process for picking judges through elections rather than appointments.

Drug companies, state attorneys general and some local government entities are vigorously opposing an attempt by certain lawyers to secure a significant percentage of a probable multibillion-dollar global settlement stemming from nationwide opioid litigation.

Trucking generates more than $700 billion in annual revenue in the United States and is responsible for transporting nearly 70% of the nation’s freight annually. For many years, trucking was the lifeblood of US trade, but the glory days have come to an end. The industry is now facing a potentially life-threatening clot in the form of insurance costs that have risen so high, they’ve rammed some trucking firms off the road.

The amount of new civil litigation in Houston jumped 23% over the past five years. Some practice areas like real property, motor vehicle and contract matters, saw double-digit gains from 2015 to 2019, while others like asbestos silica and other product liability cases saw major declines, according to data from the Texas Office of Court Administration.

Imagining the future of the Texas judiciary and ensuring that it reflects a high-level vision and mission were the topics of a group of lawyers and judges who met in Austin. Members of the strategic vision committee of the Texas Judicial Council, which is the policymaking body of the state’s judiciary, met and brainstormed a list of topics to cover in a new strategic planning document.

If you’re looking for a doctor in Texas, it seems you’re in luck. Texas’ physician workforce is expanding at a record-setting pace, according to the Texas Medical Association. “Physicians are drawn to Texas as a direct result of our medical liability reform victory,’ Dr. Fleeger said. “To sustain the improving physician-to-patient ratio, we must continue to advocate to protect that reform.”

Attorneys can expect a $30 million payday once the dust finally settles in Yahoo’s $177.5 million settlement of a data breach class action, approved by a federal judge in California last summer.

Texas’ 14 intermediate appellate courts saw more appeals than ever in 2019, while the Texas Supreme Court saw more petitions for review than it has seen since 2002, according to a new report on the Texas judiciary. Those numbers emerged from the most recent Annual Statistical Report for the Texas Judiciary, which covers the state’s fiscal year of Sept. 1, 2018, to Aug. 31, 2019.