Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
The rule of "capture" has meant for a long time in Texas that the oil and gas lying beneath your land belong to you. Now it also means you own the subterranean water. The Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, No. 08-0964 (Tex. Feb. 24, 2012).
The Court ruled, 9-0, that limiting landowners' right to…
Do you think a Supreme Court justice who has given good wishes, outside of court, to one side or the other should sit in judgment of the case?
Should we hold the justice who chooses to remain on the case accountable for his or her recusal decision?
The Chief Justice of the Court devoted his…
You run a nightclub. You also drive a Jeep. And sometimes you use the Jeep to bring cocaine and cocaine base to your nightclub.
The police suspect you. They get a warrant to put on your Jeep a device that will allow the police, by using global positioning satellite technology, to track where your Jeep…
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 provides that a private person who claims a violation of the act may sue "in an appropriate court of [a] State" so long as "the laws or rules of court of [the] State" permit the suit. 47 U.S.C. §§ 227(b)(3) & (c)(5). May the person also bring her…
A federal law says firms that offer "credit repair" have to tell customers about their "right to sue a credit repair organization that violates" the law. The statute also voids "[a]ny waiver by any consumer of any protection provided by or any right of the consumer under this subchapter".
May a consumer still waive …
Blawgletter's trial starts back in a little while, but before we walk the block to the courthouse we wanted to share with you the Third Circuit's views about "fleeting obscenity" on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court. See CBS Corp. v. Federal Communications Comm'n, No. 06-3575 (3d Cir. Nov. 2, 2011).
You know that word choice matters. Twain's lightning versus lightning bug comes to mind.
What about spelling? Well, the tumult over a key part of a way to complete a sideways oil and gas well shows that spelling matters too.
The Supreme Court of Texas explains the process thus:
As in other shale formations, wells…
Talk about cutting a backlog.
The Supreme Court of Texas issued rulings in 19 cases this week, setting a record for the year if not for all time. The oldest case, City of Dallas v. Albert, No. 07-0824 (Tex. Aug. 26, 2011), started its Supreme Court journey in April 2007 — four years and…
The Supreme Court today struck down a class action for 1.5 million women who claimed that Walmart Stores based employment decisions on gender. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, No. 10-277 (U.S. June 20, 2011).
The Court ruled 5-4 that no "common" questions existed under Rule 23(a)(2) because the plaintiffs didn't offer proof of a discriminatory company-wide policy.
Say you write a press release. It says your firm just won a beauty contest. It claims you expect the contract to increase the firm's net income by X percent.
But your note to the fourth estate doesn't mention that the deal will raise firm costs by an Awful Lot. So much in fact that…