John Council

November 08, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Judge Carlos Cortez (pictured) has filed a defamation and extortion suit against Dallas attorney Coyt Randal "Randy" Johnston, alleging that Johnston and three of Cortez's fellow state district judges created rumors about Cortez to attract a political opponent against him.

By John Council

7 minute read

April 07, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

On Monday, March 30 at 9 a.m., brand-new Democratic Judge Al Bennett of the 61st District Court in Harris County was ready for a jury trial and raring to go. A simple car wreck case was set for trial. Minutes after Bennett took the bench, he was faced with his first complication of the day when one of the defendant's lawyers rose and asked for a continuance.

By By John Council

13 minute read

June 27, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

Judge Angela King says she has had it with Dallas County's electronic court records system for misdemeanor cases.

By John Council

7 minute read

August 11, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

After a frightening incident sent him to the hospital on May 2 U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer is back at work, putting in full weeks just as he has done for the past 24 years as Dallas' longest-serving active federal judge.

By John Council

3 minute read

August 24, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

In the span of two weeks, two justices on the Texas Supreme Court announced their retirements. But it just took a few days after each of those announcements for a stack of suitors to announce their candidacies for the spots now occupied by Republicans Harriet O'Neill and Scott Brister (pictured).

By John Council

4 minute read

August 27, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

The arbitration process is supposed to make short order of endless, messy litigation. But if Positive Software Solutions, et al. v. Susman Godfrey, et al. stands for anything, it's that a dispute can become endless and messy precisely because of arbitration. Plaintiffs allege Susman Godfrey counsel withheld evidence and offered false testimony during a 2004 arbitration hearing. Defendants deny the allegation.

By John Council

8 minute read

June 01, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Four years after he became eligible, U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen kept coming up with excuses for not taking a well-deserved retirement: There was always something that needed to be done in the Laredo Division of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, he says.

By John Council

13 minute read

September 06, 2007 | Law.com

For nearly six years, a prominent plaintiffs firm has battled a former client in an attempt to recover a contingent fee. But after trial, it was the former client who won the war and netted $1.4 million in damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The firm, The Law Offices of Windle Turley, had a couple of things going against it during the trial, including the fact that the former client was a 73-year-old widower.

By John Council

9 minute read

July 25, 2005 | Texas Lawyer

In a case of first impression, Fort Worth's 2nd Court of Appeals recently ruled that the author and the publisher of a financial newsletter deserve First Amendment protection from claims alleging they printed bad investment advice.

By John Council

7 minute read

March 17, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Before Cisco Systems Inc. in-house lawyer Richard Frenkel outed himself in February as the Patent Troll Tracker blogger, he posted blog entries in October 2007 that alleged two East Texas lawyers conspired with the Eastern District Clerk's Office to alter the filing date of an infringement suit. That suit was filed against Frenkel's employer, Cisco.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, John Council and Miriam Rozen

13 minute read