Dallas Austin

Is a contract between an employer and employee to pay the employee a $100,000 bonus for delivering a healthy harvest of 1,400 pounds of recreational pot enforceable? The Houston Court of Appeals recently held, no. In BRCC Enterprises LLC v. Jesse Skie, Skie sued his employer, BRCC Enterprises LLC, for breach of an oral contract made in Houston under which BRCC agreed to pay Skie a $100,000 bonus upon the healthy harvest of 1,400 lbs. of dry cannabis crop. Skie moved from Houston to Oregon and obtained state licenses to work on a marijuana farm. Among other things, he fenced the two-acre plot,

What is the status of the Federal Trade Commission’s recent rule banning non-compete agreements as unfair competition? The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently set aside the rule, preventing the rule from taking effect. As reported in a prior article, Ryan, Inc. and the US Chamber of Commerce filed suit to prevent the FTC’s non-compete ban from taking effect. On July 3, 2024, the Court granted a temporary injunction to prevent the rule from going into effect. On August 20, 2024, the Court granted Ryan’s and the US Chamber’s (now an intervenor in Ryan

On July 19, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) voluntarily dismissed a pending appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, effectively capitulating enforcement of its 2023 ‘joint-employer rule’. The joint employer rule is used to determine whether an employee has multiple employers. The National Labor Relations Act governs labor relations between employers and employees. It assists in determining and evaluating the employer-employee relationship and depending on the circumstances who governs the actions as an employee. This determination also allows

Earlier this May, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, held that a federal law, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (“EFAA”) that went into law in March 2022, barred a requirement of a former nurse to arbitrate claims connected to her termination after reporting that a patient sexually and inappropriately touched her. In SJ Medical Center, LLC dba St. Joseph Medical Center v. Olanma Destiny Anozie, Anozie worked at St. Joseph’s Center for Behavioral Health (“St. Joseph”) as a registered nurse. In December 2022, as Anozie was walking past a mental hea

In yet another appeal of a nuclear verdict, the Texas Supreme Court recently remanded a $13.7 million verdict on the basis that the trial court may have used the wrong definition of “employee” and insufficient evidence supported piercing the veil of 3 separate corporations. In JNM Express, LLC, ANCA Transport, Inc., Omega Freight Logistics, LLC, Jorge Marin, and Silvia Marin v. Lauro Lozano Jr. and Irene Lozano, Mr. Lozano, an independent contractor truck driver, sued three related corporations alleging each was his employer. Each corporation had common ownership by Jorge and Silvia Marin,