Litigation-Personal
Two New Cases: Fractional Royalty, Fraction of Royalty, or Mineral Interest?
Insight
Two new opinions, one from the San Antonio Court of Appeals and one from the El Paso Court of Appeals, again tackle the task of construing mineral and royalty conveyances and reservations, reports John McFarland in his Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog.
Void Contracts: Court Nullifies CFO’s Employment Because of Prior Extortion Conviction
Insight
The doctrine of void contracts arose recently in an employment case in Florida, writes Jason M. Knott for Zuckerman Spaeder LLP.
Chadbourne Sex-Bias Class Action Adds Six Partners as Defendants
News
Chadbourne & Parke is facing new accusations and a new plaintiff in a gender discrimination class-action lawsuit. And six high-ranking members of the firm have been added as named defendants.
Class-Action Attorneys Awarded $555.2 Million for Work in BP Suits
News
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier pointed out that award represents about 4.3 percent of the estimated $13 billion that BP is expected to pay under the ongoing settlements, reports The Times-Picayune.
Casino Could Face Liability Claim in Crash That Killed Charter Bus Passengers
News
A California casino could be held responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen casino customers following the crash of a charter bus with a questionable safety record, says Dallas bus crash lawyer Frank Branson.
Alabama Supreme Court Justices Recuse Themselves in Roy Moore’s Fight to Return to Office
News
The Alabama Supreme Court will recuse itself from suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore’s appeal of his ethics convictions, and defer to a special court to hear the appeal, according to a report by the Montgomery Advertiser.
Judge Richard Posner On SCOTUS: ‘The Supreme Court Is Awful’
News
Above the Law covered Judge Richard Posner’s interview at a Chicago bookstore on the occasion of the publication of a biography of the outspoken jurist.
Is Claustrophobia a Disability? Yes, Says the EEOC
Insight
To avoid litigation, employers need to learn what conditions qualify as a disability according to the EEOC, writes Cortney Shegerian, an attorney with Los Angeles based Shegerian & Associates.
The Comprehensive Guide to E-Discovery Preservation
E-Book
Exterro has published “The Comprehensive Guide to E-Discovery Preservation,” an e-book that discusses how to incorporate preservation principles into the legal process that will enable defensible and proportional policies.
Class Action Launched Against Samsung Over Note 7 Debacle
News
The ongoing fallout from Samsung’s Note 7 debacle now includes a possible class-action lawsuit against the company in the U.S., according to a report by digital Trends.
Talisman Energy Facing Texas Federal Lawsuit Over Unpaid Oil, Gas Royalties
News
Attorneys representing oil and gas royalty owners with interests in the Texas Eagle Ford Shale have filed a federal lawsuit against Talisman Energy USA Inc. based on claims that the company manipulated oil and gas production volumes by as much as 20 to 30 percent and consistently shorted royalty payments, according to a news release posted by Androvett Legal Media and Marketing.
China Contracts: Why Choice of Foreign Law is So Often a Bad Idea
Insight
What will actually happen is that the parties will be required to prove Chinese law in a U.S. court, a difficult, time consuming and expensive process, writes Dan Harris in the China Law Blog.
DLA Piper Adds White-Collar Partner Matthew Graves in Washington, DC
News
Matthew Graves has joined DLA Piper’s Litigation and White Collar practices as a partner in Washington, DC. Graves previously served as the acting chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section at the DC US Attorney’s Office.
19 E-Discovery Tips for Fixing Troublesome Transitions
E-book
This e-book contains a series of tips and best practices to smooth out those bumps that fall in the gaps between the well-defined parts of the e-discovery process before the review stage, including transition tips.
Law Firm Violated Layoff Notice Law for 700 Employees, Judge Rules
News
When the firm closed, about 700 employees in Dallas, Orlando, Miami, Tampa and other locations were told in a conference call that they would not be paid for their final three weeks at work, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
Expert Says Positive Train Control Eliminates Human Factors
Insight
Installation of positive train control “was something that was mandated years ago, and the railroads just kept avoiding doing it,” says train safety Carl Berkowitz, Ph. D.
Truck Accident Lawyer Steve Laird Scores Two More
News
Fort Worth lawyer Steve Laird has once again been recognized by his peers and independent researchers, who have named him to the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Texas and Best Lawyers in America.
Roy Moore, Alabama Chief Justice, Suspended Over Gay Marriage Order
News
The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, was suspended on Friday for the remainder of his term in office for ordering the state’s probate judges to defy federal court orders on same-sex marriage, reports The New York Times.
Wells Fargo Customers May Never See Their Day in Court, Experts Say
News
Mandatory arbitration contract clauses may protect the bank from class-action suits brought by customers who had bank or credit card accounts opened in their names without their knowledge, reports NBC News.
Folksy SC Lawyer Stares Down Duke Energy, Other Utility Giants
News
Frank Holleman never thought he’d become a nationally recognized authority on coal ash, a toxin-riddled waste that has power companies under scrutiny across the country, but five years after taking a job with a regional conservation group, Holleman is perhaps the one person utilities hate to see coming, writes Sammy Fretwell for The State of Columbia, S.C.
