Bringing Family Law Expertise to SCOTX | Justice Debra Lehrmann | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Potential Changes to SCOTX Petition Practice | Justice Evan Young | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
An Unexpected Path to the Appellate Bench | Justice Rebeca Huddle | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Texas Supreme Court Draws Line on Attorney Immunity Privilege
Handling the Texas Supreme Court’s Public Information | Osler McCarthy | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Paths to Texas Judicial Selection Reform | Chief Justice Tom Phillips | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
In In re Trust A & Trust C, a beneficiary sued a trustee for breach of fiduciary duty and sought a constructive trust over assets that were transferred out of the trust. 690 S.W.3d 80 (Tex. 2024)....more
In Eho360 LLC v. Opalich, an employer sued its former employee for breaching fiduciary duties and other related claims regarding the former employee setting up a competing business. No. 3:21-CV-0724-B, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS...more
On January 13, 2023, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services of Nevada, Inc. v. Triex Texas Holdings, LLC, __ S.W.3d __, 2023 WL __ (Tex. Jan. 13, 2023) (per curiam)...more
A Delaware bankruptcy court recently held that Texas’s “trust fund doctrine” remains applicable for companies that have not availed themselves of Texas’s formal dissolution process. Nonetheless, fiduciary claims by a...more
In In re Estate of Poe, shortly before his death, Dick, who was the sole director of Poe Management, Inc. (PMI), authorized the corporation to issue new shares that he bought for $3.2 million. No. 20-0178, 2022 Tex. LEXIS 544...more
Corporate officers and directors owe a fiduciary duty to the corporation that they serve, and they can be held liable if they breach that fiduciary duty. Fiduciary duties are not codified in the Texas Business Organizations...more
On January 31, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court (the “Court”) affirmed the 2017 judgment of the Dallas Court of Appeals that Texas law upholds the rights of contracting parties to agree not to be partners unless certain...more
In Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. v. Enter. Prods. Partners, L.P., one pipeline company sued another for breaching a duty of loyalty that allegedly arose out of a partnership to develop a pipeline. No. 17-0862, 2020 Tex....more
Disputes often arise over whether parties have agreed to, or by their conduct they have, committed themselves to a transaction. On January 31, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court delivered its decision in Energy Transfer Partners,...more
Plaintiffs in civil litigation often seek punitive or exemplary damages. “Exemplary damages” means any damages awarded as a penalty or by way of punishment but not for compensatory purposes....more
Many Texas lawyers and their private company clients continue to refer to the claim for shareholder oppression as if it remains a viable cause of action under Texas law. And yet, for all practical purposes, the claim for...more
On June 28, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court agreed to review a ruling from the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas in the case of Energy Transfer Partners LP et al. v. Enterprise Products Partners LP et al, No. 529 S.W.3d 531...more
In This Issue: Buyer Beware: Court Upholds Punitive Damages Waiver in Case Alleging Fraud for “New” Aircraft Sale - Embraer v. Dougherty Air Trustee: Avoiding Foot Faults in Your Residual Value Guarantee Contract - ...more
Almost five years have passed since the Texas Supreme issued its decision in Ritchie v. Rupe in 2014 abolishing shareholder oppression as a claim under common law by minority shareholders in private Texas companies....more
Joint liability for breach of fiduciary duty claims is a rather confusing area of law in Texas. Texas courts have discussed three different theories that allow for joint liability: knowing participation in breach of fiduciary...more
Today, the Texas Supreme Court denied review in Wells Fargo v. Militello, No. 05-15-01252-CV, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 5640 (Tex. App.—Dallas June 20, 2017, pet. denied). In Militello, the court of appeals affirmed a trial...more
In Pinto Tech. Ventures, L.P. v. Sheldon, the Texas Supreme Court held that business tort claims, including breach of fiduciary duty, were subject to a forum-selection clause in a shareholders agreement. No. 16-0007, 2017 WL...more
On July 18, 2017, the Dallas Court of Appeals reversed a 2014 jury verdict that resulted in a $535 million judgment in favor of Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (“ETP”) against its counterparty (appellate decision linked here)....more
In Longview Energy Co. v. The Huff Energy Fund, LP, Longview Energy Company sued two of its directors and their affiliates after discovering one affiliate purchased mineral leases in an area where Longview had been...more
In First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont v. Parker, a church hired an attorney to defend it against sexual abuse allegations. 2017 Tex. LEXIS 295 (Tex. March 17, 2017). During the same time, the church also engaged the...more
The Texas Supreme Court granted the petition for review in Longview Energy Co. v. The Huff Energy Fund, 482 S.W.3d 184 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2015, pet granted). In this case, the plaintiff asserted a breach of fiduciary duty...more
Plaintiffs often seek discovery on a financial institution’s policies and procedures with an eye towards using that evidence against the institution. If a financial institution’s representative or representatives did not live...more
In Great American Food Chain, Inc. v. Andreottola, a corporate officer and director negotiated and accepted employment with a competitor while still employed with his prior employer. No. 3:14-CV-1727-BK, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS...more
A court of appeals recently issued an opinion rejecting a fiduciary’s claims regarding the excessiveness of the trial court’s judgment that awarded disgorgement and exemplary damages. In Swinnea v. ERI Consulting Engineers,...more
For this edition of the Deeper Dive, we travel to Texas for a look at some interesting cases involving healthcare providers decided on appeal in 2015. Some of these decisions may be surprising – and perhaps even troubling –...more