Dallas Austin

Last month, Grammy-winning and platinum-record producing rapper Megan Pete, professionally known as Megan Thee Stallion (“MTS”), filed a lawsuit against her recording label, 1501 Certified Entertainment (“Label”), seeking a declaration that her most recent release, titled “Something for Thee Hotties,” constituted an “Album” as defined in MTS and the Label’s Recording Agreement (the “Agreement”). This scenario is another example of how even some of the most “basic” contract provisions need to be negotiated and clarified prior to execution of the contract. Even the most

What does allegedly attempting to murder your boss (who happens to also be an attorney) and free speech have in common?  Apparently, not much according to the Austin Court of Appeals in Szymonek v. Guzman. At the time of the alleged attempted murder in 2019, Arturo Guzman, an attorney and solo practitioner, had employed Ashley Szymonek as his paralegal and “right-hand person” for about 10 years.  In that capacity, Szymonek acted as Guzman’s primary contact with the law firm’s bank, accountant, and insurance agent, using her personal email account for much of the firm’s electronic c

Since the ill-fated Fyre Festival, the federal as well as state governments have grappled with what liability, if any, to assign to internet influencers.  The Texas Attorney General has recently decided to better define that liability by filing suit against the now-disgraced influencer Brittany Dawn Davis for misrepresenting fitness and nutrition plans she promoted and sold to Texans. In its lawsuit against Davis, Texas claims that Davis’s fitness plans violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), a broad consumer protection statute, and misled individuals with eating disorders.

On January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court stayed the vaccine mandate requiring all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure that their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19.  The highly anticipated ruling came after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed enforcement of the mandate and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals then lifted the stay, requiring so-called “large” employers to comply with the mandate or face significant penalties.  The Supreme Court’s opinion continued the stay, eviscerating the mandate. The Supreme Court found that  the Department of Labor

On January 3, 2022, after seven days of deliberation, a California jury found Elizabeth Holmes guilty of 4 of 11 counts related to her industry-disrupting blood testing technology and her company, Theranos.  The jury found her not guilty for defrauding patients, but guilty of more than half of the counts relating to defrauding investors.  Holmes is now subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison and a sizable fine. As a quick recap, Holmes started Theranos when she was 19 years old, after dropping out of Stanford. Her stated goal was to disrupt the conventional blood testing in