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On September 1, 2024, the Texas Business Court and Fifteenth Court of Appeals, created by the Texas Legislature will begin hearing cases.  The purpose of the new Business Courts was to provide specialized venue for commercial disputes presided over by judges experienced in commercial disputes. Reviewing the structure and function of the Texas Business Court may assist in deciding whether a case is appropriate to be moved to these Courts. The Business Courts are divided into eleven regions but only 5 of the Districts currently have judges appointed.  Those regions are in the First, Third, Fo

The Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals recently agreed that a claim brought by a former sea captain, Marek Matthews, against his former employers, Tidewater Crewing, Ltd. and Tidewater Inc. (collectively, Tidewater), for alleged exposure to toxic chemicals should be litigated in England, not the US. How did this happen? Matthews, a Florida resident, initially brought suit in Louisiana State Court, but the case was removed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Tidewater then moved to dismiss the case on the basis of inconvenient location, or forum non conveni

In May 2024, the Texas Supreme Court in Alonzo v. John overturned a $12 million jury verdict because Plaintiffs’ counsel made incurable arguments to the jury. The personal injury case stemmed from a 2012 car accident where Defendant, Robert Alonzo, rear ended a couple in his tractor trailer.  One of Plaintiffs in the case was an African American woman.  Alonzo and his employer, New Prime Inc., admitted liability prior to trial.  As a result, the trial was simply to determine the amount of damages to be awarded to Plaintiffs. At the 2020 trial, defense counsel argued that Lewis, an African

Is a Texas city liable for breach of a verbal contract? The Corpus Christi Court of Appeals in City of Pharr v. Garcia recently answered the question, no. How did this happen and what is the significance to construction contractors in Texas? In Garcia, Pajaro Promotions sued the City of Pharr alleging that the City failed to pay expenses and a 20% promotor’s fee associated with a Toby Keith concert at the City’s convention center. The City argued that Pajaro’s claims were barred due to sovereign immunity. When the trial court denied the City’s plea to the jurisdiction, the City filed a

When is a policy limits demand insufficient to invoke the Stowers doctrine? The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Golden Bear Insurance Co. v. 34th S&S, LLC d/b/a Concrete Cowboy et al. recently held that plaintiffs’ settlement demand did not meet the requirements of the Stowers  doctrine and, therefore, did not expose the insurer to extracontractual damages. Under the nearly 100-year old Stowers doctrine, an insurer may be liable for damages in excess of its policy limits (extracontractual damages) for negligently failing to settle a third-party claim that resul