I have written about Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas here and here. He has earned a reputation as a Judge who consistently makes anti-plaintiff comments in court, who makes disparaging comments about minorities – and even once barred a female attorney from his court room apparently simply passed on her name.
In another crazy twist to the Ken Paxton lawsuit, the AG has filed an Answer that essentially admits liability. AG Paxton issued a press release with the Answer that again defames the plaintiffs. Paxton’s Amended Answer comes soon after the presiding judge ordered AG Paxton to appear for his deposition. And, even before that order
Alex Jones’ attorneys committed a serious error during his trial. I talked about that error here. Andino Reynal’s law firm sent the wrong link to the opposing attorney. Reynal’s law firm was trying to produce requested documents. Instead of sending access to the requested documents, the law firm sent a link to Alex Jones’
The Fifth Circuit has again tried to rein in Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District in Houston. In Bailey v. KS Management Services, No. 21-20335 (5th Cir. 5/26/2022), Judge Hughes again prohibited discovery by the plaintiff. As the Fifth Circuit noted, this is the third time some plaintiff has appealed a no-discovery order
The death penalty sanction is very rare in litigation, but it does happen. In Hornady v. Outokumpu Stainless U.S., No. 18-00317-JB-N (S.D. Ala. 11/18/2021), the court specifically found the defendant had obstructed discovery for years. The lawsuit concerned a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action – a class action lawsuit. As part of every
In most employment lawsuits, the defense has all the pertinent records. So, as one might expect, some defendants resist producing those documents. In Hernandez v. Clearwater Transportation Ltd., No. 18-CV-00319, 2021 WL 148053 (W.D. Tex. 1/15/2021), the defendant objected to several requests seeking information about other employees who were pregnant. The plaintiff herself was
Alex Jones and InfoWars provide a good lesson in how not to conduct a lawsuit. Alex Jones and InfoWars are being sued for making false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre was not real. One of the parents of the murdered children, Neil Heslin, sued Mr. Jones for defamation in Travis County, Texas.
Depositions are usually pretty mild. But, sometimes they include some drama. Jonathan Langley sued IBM for age discrimination. He alleged that a reduction in force was used to pare the number of older workers. At his deposition, he relied in part on some documents given him by current employees of IBM. These documents included slides
One of the aspects unique to employment suits is the simple fact that a fired person will, one hopes, soon find new employment. Generally, for most folks, one job will follow another. That presents new sources of evidence. In Mesa v. City of San Antonio, No. 16-CV-870 (W.D. Tex. 1/23/2018), Abel Mesa worked for
In every civil lawsuit, we have this process known as “discovery.” One side can ask the other side for the evidence or potential evidence it possesses. For the discovery process to work, there must be some minimal level of cooperation between the two sides. That requirement allows some room for unscrupulous lawyers to ignore or