John Council

August 15, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

When litigants attempt to vacate arbitration awards, they usually don't get much help from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Yet the court recently ruled that two defendant corporate officers were not individually bound by arbitration agreements and overturned the awards against them. Jeff Boggess represents the defendants in the 5th Circuit case.

By John Council

4 minute read

February 23, 2001 | Law.com

Bill Johnston is one of the main reasons that attention was refocused on the government's actions in the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound. The Waco, Texas-based Assistant U.S. Attorney wrote a letter to then-AG Janet Reno informing her that he believed evidence in the raid had been shielded from her by DOJ officials. He recently spoke about what the Branch Davidian case has done to his career.

By John Council

5 minute read

April 13, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

Dallas' Shamoun & Norman is suing former client Albert G. Hill Jr., alleging he failed to pay the firm a multimillion-dollar "performance incentive bonus," but Hill alleges he never signed a contract agreeing to it.

By John Council

7 minute read

March 08, 2002 | Texas Lawyer

In one of the most fractious decisions of its term, the Texas Supreme Court has issued an opinion that lays down the procedure for defendants who do not settle to obtain settlement credits.

By JOHN COUNCIL

6 minute read

December 11, 2009 | Law.com

Legislators rarely send amicus briefs to the Texas high court explaining why a law was passed, because the court usually doesn't listen anyway, experts say. But one lawmaker has done so in a case involving the constitutionality of a law waggishly known as "the pole tax," which puts a $5 tax on each customer who enters a sexually oriented business that serves alcohol. Even the lawyer who helped craft the amicus brief says such briefs by legislators attempting to explain why the Legislature passed a law are controversial.

By John Council

7 minute read

April 04, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

While Rick Magnis' father always wanted to be a lawyer, he never got around to earning a J.D., instead working his way up in the commercial airline industry and becoming a chief financial officer. So it was up to Magnis and his sister to become lawyers: Rick now is judge of Dallas County's 283rd District Court, and his sister, Nancy Magnis Thursby, is regional counsel for the State Bar of Texas in Dallas.

By John Council

6 minute read

May 23, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

Thanks to an Austin lawyer's appellate work, her client will get to litigate his whistle-blower suit — a case that contains two issues of first impression — in state court. In 2008, Clarence Enochs sued Lampasas County in state district court, alleging he was fired from his deputy sheriff job after he reported alleged wrongdoing, according to his state court petition.

By John Council

4 minute read

October 04, 1999 | Law.com

It's a process that's supposed to ensure a released criminal defendant shows up for trial, as well as protect the community. But pre-trial bond hearings are becoming the no man's land of Texas criminal law - producing wildly different rulings based on the most nebulous standards. "It's always been amazing to me that one of the most important decisions for the public - the safety of the community - is the most randomly made," says John Bradley, Williamson County, Texas' first assistant district attorney.

By John Council

10 minute read

July 07, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

The Supreme Court's ruling in a Maryland case addresses one of the most common claims found in Texas death-penalty appeals -- a defense attorney's alleged failure to introduce mitigating evidence at a client's sentencing.

By John Council

7 minute read

June 30, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Two software companies have sued a Dallas mortgage-lending law firm and one of its partners, alleging they misappropriated a database of legal documents to make "millions" in profits in residential loan transactions. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. William Reid (pictured) is an attorney who represents the plaintiffs in the case.

By John Council

4 minute read