Texas

Suit by cheerleaders who sued over Bible banners isn’t moot, Texas high court rules

The Texas Supreme Court has reinstated a lawsuit by middle-school and high-school cheerleaders who were temporarily banned from displaying Bible-themed banners. The court said the cheerleaders’ suit isn’t moot because the Kountze Independent School District could impose a new ban on religious messages at school-sponsored events in the future, report…

Feb 1, 2016 8:17 AM CST

Lawyers for indicted activists behind Planned Parenthood videos blame ‘runaway grand jury’

Updated: Lawyers for anti-abortion activists behind controversial videos attacking Planned Parenthood say the case is legally flawed, the New York Times reports. David Daleiden, director of the anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress, and Sandra Merritt ended up being indicted by a Houston grand jury looking into their claims of wrongdoing…

Jan 28, 2016 1:20 PM CST

Judge fines prominent lawyer $133,000 for alleged push poll before trial

A Texas judge has found that a poll conducted at the behest of Dallas lawyer Bill Brewer was intended to influence jurors in an upcoming trial rather than gauge sentiment on issues in the case. The judge, Ruben Reyes, ordered Brewer to pay a $133,000 sanction that would increase to…

Jan 26, 2016 8:24 AM CST

Grand jury investigating Planned Parenthood instead indicts creators of undercover videos

A grand jury in Houston investigating Planned Parenthood has instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who created undercover videos in an attempt to show the group sells fetal body parts. The Harris County grand jury on Monday indicted David Daleiden, the director of the Center for Medical Progress, and one of…

Jan 26, 2016 7:23 AM CST

Texas eighth-grader suspended after leaving classroom with student who was having asthma attack

A 15-year-old Texas boy has been suspended from school for two days for carrying a classmate having an asthma attack to the school nurse. Anthony Ruelas, an eighth-grade student at Gateway Middle School in Killeen, was reprimanded for violating a teacher’s order not to leave class, the Washington Post, KCEN-TV…

Jan 25, 2016 3:55 PM CST

Former law librarian sues Texas school, alleging racial, gender discrimination

A former law librarian at South Texas College of Law is suing the Houston school for alleged racial and gender discrimination. Joseph Kelly Plumbar, who is black, claims that three white co-workers created a hostile work environment and eventually forced him out of his job, the National Law Journal reports.…

Jan 25, 2016 3:20 PM CST

Texas courthouse gun bans are being reconsidered based on state AG’s opinions

Recent opinions by the attorney general of Texas has officials in charge of courthouses around the state rethinking gun bans. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has written several recent opinions relating to the state’s gun laws. Under a 2003 state law, firearms are prohibited in “the premises of any government…

Jan 21, 2016 2:00 PM CST

Houston lawyer and his son are set on fire; man is charged

A Houston man has died and his father, a lawyer, is hospitalized after they were set on fire, allegedly by a man who was living with them, police say. Houston lawyer Kirby Taylor, 67, ran out of the home to retrieve a garden hose after the incident, a neighbor told…

Jan 20, 2016 7:03 AM CST

Reprimand of federal judge for conduct toward court worker ‘far too lenient,’ lawyer says in appeal

A disciplinary group for a federal appeals court was “far too lenient” on a longtime federal judge reprimanded last month for making unwanted sexual advances toward a court employee in 1998, the attorney who made the ethics complaint says. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr., who sits in Waco,…

Jan 19, 2016 10:45 AM CST

Orrick to open Houston office with 20 lateral partners from a half-dozen firms

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is opening a new office in Houston with 20 lateral partners hired from approximately a half-dozen other law firms. Exactly which attorneys and which firms, Orrick isn’t saying at this point, pending notification of soon-to-be-former employers by the exiting laterals, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog…

Jan 19, 2016 10:15 AM CST

Texas lawyer files suit to see if Ted Cruz is a ‘natural born citizen’ qualified to be president

Seeking an official determination of whether a Republican candidate for U.S. president is a qualified American citizen, a Texas lawyer on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit in Houston asking for an expedited declaratory judgment on the issue. Because Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Texan, was born in Canada to an…

Jan 15, 2016 3:15 PM CST

Taking selfie with Lady Justice atop courthouse put man behind bars, sheriff says

Sheriff’s deputies searched a Texas courthouse Tuesday night after a man was spotted by witnesses climbing up an exterior fire escape and then sliding back down. However, it appears that a 19-year-old Baylor University freshman now facing a criminal trespass charge never went inside, Instead, Jack Minrod Decker III is…

Jan 13, 2016 3:00 PM CST

2 attorneys, partners in law and life, seek 1 judicial seat in opposing primaries

Two Texas attorneys have come up with an unusual strategy apparently intended to enhance their chances of unseating the judge currently on the bench in Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 1. F. Richard Leach is running in the Democratic primary for the job currently held by Judge Clyde…

Jan 13, 2016 1:25 PM CST

Debt-collection law firm to pay $3.4M to settle class action

A debt-collection law firm in Texas will pay $3.4 million to settle accusations it practiced law in California without having any lawyers there, according to a settlement approved by a federal judge on Jan. 8. The Austin-based law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson agreed to pay $2 million to…

Jan 13, 2016 8:26 AM CST

Texas governor opposes plan to deny CLE credit for program on Christian ethical perspectives

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is accusing the state bar of religious discrimination for a decision to deny continuing legal education credit to a program on faith and law. The State Bar of Texas notified St. Mary’s University School of Law in November that it would no longer give lawyers CLE…

Jan 8, 2016 7:13 AM CST