John Council

September 15, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

James DeAnda, who was the second Mexican-American ever appointed to the federal bench and who co-founded the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in 1968, died in Houston on Sept. 7 of prostate cancer. He was 81.

By John Council

2 minute read

October 06, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

New York-based Union Carbide on Sept. 29 became the first litigant in Texas to take advantage of an untested provision of the H.B. 4 tort reform law when it filed a motion seeking to refer five asbestos cases it is defending to a new statewide multidistrict litigation panel.

By John Council

5 minute read

November 05, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

A surge of Harris County voters who packed the polls to vote for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for president helped the Democrats in a near sweep of the more than 20 civil and criminal benches, tossing out some longtime Republican incumbents. And some surprises cropped up in intermediate appellate court races in large urban counties. Woodie Jones, a Democrat, won election to the Austin Court of Appeals.

By John Council

3 minute read

October 07, 2009 | Law.com

U.S. District Judge T. John Ward was going to hold a temporary injunction hearing today in a case in which the plaintiffs have accused Toyota of hiding evidence in automobile products liability litigation. But the hearing is off because the defendants have agreed to litigation holds. However, former Toyota in-house attorney Dimitrios Biller, who has alleged discovery abuses by Toyota, has tendered four boxes of documents to Ward's court for in camera inspection -- and plaintiffs have asked to examine that information.

By John Council

3 minute read

May 09, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

On April 26, 44th District Court Judge Carlos Cortez filed a motion to seal his deposition and two witness statementsin his defamation case. Cortez argues that the information, if released, could lead to "improper use by political opponents" and beused by "litigants attempting to gain an unfair advantage" in his court.

By John Council

7 minute read

December 11, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

As a mediator, Norman Roser is well equipped to negotiate his way out of a simple property dispute. But a case involving his own Houston residential lot ended up in the Texas Supreme Court, which released a decision marking the first time in 20 years the court has ruled on adverse possession, an arcane legal concept that awards property rights to people who occupy land they do not own.

By John Council

8 minute read

February 02, 2004 | Law.com

For years, claims of "ineffective assistance of counsel" were routinely attached to death penalty appeals -- and just as routinely rejected. Then last June, the Supreme Court handed down Wiggins v. Smith. By a 7-2 vote, the court found that a defense lawyer's failure to investigate and present mitigating evidence about the defendant at sentencing amounted to a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Now, what was once a boilerplate grounds for appeal has gained new bounce.

By John Council and Tony Mauro

11 minute read

February 20, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

After he was snared in a net of swirling controversies, including an e-mail scandal and the high-profile indictment of a sitting Supreme Court justice followed by an immediate move to dismiss that case, Harris County, Texas, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal resigned from office on Friday.

By John Council, Mary Alice Robbins and Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

9 minute read

February 23, 2004 | Texas Lawyer

Abhay "Rocky" Dhir founded Dallas-based Atlas Legal Research, a legal business that provides affordable services such as brief writing to small firms and solo practitioners. But it's a business with an unusual twist -- the bulk of the research is performed by lawyers in Dhir's native India.

By John Council

10 minute read

July 05, 2004 | Texas Lawyer

With mental retardation at issue, the U.S. Supreme Court once again has found that lower courts are getting it wrong when deciding capital murder cases in Texas. And this time the source of the high court's ire is the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

By John Council

7 minute read