Category Archives: Legal matters

Paxton prosecutors take their shot at a do-over

Posted on December 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck. In a fiery filing that amounts to a legal Hail Mary, the attorneys appointed to prosecute Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton implored the state’s highest criminal court to take the unusual step of considering their case again because … Continue reading →

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Recapture reinterpretation lawsuit update

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is a bit in the weeds, so bear with me. Houston ISD likely will keep an additional tens of millions of dollars more in property tax revenues each year following a widely expected Texas appeals court decision Friday. Judges … Continue reading →

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Restraining order lifted on firefighter pay referendum

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Back to the planning stage. A state district judge on Tuesday dissolved a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of the voter-approved charter amendment granting pay parity to Houston firefighters and denied further attempts by the city and police union to … Continue reading →

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The ACA decision

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Utterly ridiculous, and likely to be short-lived. A federal judge in Texas threw a dagger on Friday into the Affordable Care Act, ruling that the entire health-care law is unconstitutional because of a recent change in federal tax law. The … Continue reading →

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Spec’s sues TABC

Posted on December 9, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Another lawsuit to watch. The state’s largest liquor chain — Spec’s Wine, Spirits and Finer Foods — is suing the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission for “abusive regulatory overreach” over an enforcement action that dragged on for almost two years before … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over Driver Responsibility Program

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. A national civil rights organization on Wednesday sued Gov. Greg Abbott and four top officials at the Texas Department of Public Safety, arguing that the state’s Driver Responsibility Program traps many of Texas’ most vulnerable … Continue reading →

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Moving forward on Section 3

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

There’s still redistricting litigation action happening. Late Friday afternoon, the coalition of voting rights groups that have fought the state for fairer legislative districts since the last round of redistricting in 2010 filed a pair of new briefs with the … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues San Antonio over “sanctuary cities” law

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is gonna be ugly. Texas is suing the city of San Antonio for an alleged violation of the state’s new anti-“sanctuary cities” law, in the state’s first enforcement action against a city under the controversial statue. The lawsuit, filed … Continue reading →

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HPOU files first Prop B lawsuit

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

And away we go. Courthouse officials were scrambling to find a judge Friday afternoon to hear a lawsuit by the Houston Police Officers Union against the city of Houston and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, that seeks an immediate … Continue reading →

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AG rules Confederate plaque can be removed

Posted on November 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s get a move on then. The Texas Legislature or a state board chaired by Gov. Greg Abbott can remove a plaque in the Capitol honoring Confederates, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a published opinion Wednesday, providing clarity to a longstanding question … Continue reading →

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Buc-ee’s and Choke Canyon settle

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Our long animal mascot-based intellectual property litigation nightmare is finally over. Popular Texas convenience store chain Buc-ee’s and Choke Canyon, a competing store that was found by a federal jury to infringe Buc-ee’s beaver logo, agreed Thursday to dismiss the … Continue reading →

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The Innocence Project and the prosecutor

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Fascinating case. Attorneys with the group that helped exonerate Texan Michael Morton two decades after he was wrongly convicted of killing his wife were back at the Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday. But this time, instead of uncovering prosecutorial misconduct, … Continue reading →

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There better be a bail lawsuit settlement

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, duh. The Democratic sweep of Harris County leadership posts in the midterm election could prompt a settlement in the protracted legal dispute over how judges handle bail for poor people arrested for petty offenses, according to statements made … Continue reading →

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Second trimester lawsuit appeal heard at the Fifth Circuit

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Elections or no elections, the world keeps spinning. The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Monday morning about whether Texas should be able to ban doctors from performing the most common second-trimester abortion procedure, called dilation and evacuation. … Continue reading →

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A step forward in Waller County

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Some progress. Two days after students at Prairie View A&M University sued Waller County over allegations that the county is suppressing the voting rights of black residents, the rural county said it is expanding early voting opportunities for students at … Continue reading →

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Prairie View students sue over lack of on campus EV site

Posted on October 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The fight continues. Five students at Prairie View A&M University are suing Waller County, which is home to the historically black university, over allegations that the county is suppressing the voting rights of its black residents. In a lawsuit filed … Continue reading →

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World’s worst pastors file suit against Austin’s equal rights ordinance

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Exactly what you’d expect from these jerks. A Houston-based religious nonprofit behind the so-called bathroom bill is suing the City of Austin over its anti-discrimination hiring ordinance. The U.S. Pastor Council filed suit in a federal district court late last … Continue reading →

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Dallas County gets the Harris County treatment in its bail lawsuit

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We have a precedent, even if everything is still a work in progress. Taking a cue from the rulings on Harris County’s bail-setting practices, a U.S. district judge in Dallas issued a temporary order Thursday evening saying the county’s post-arrest … Continue reading →

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Dallas lawsuit over candidate eligibility officially mooted

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: On Thursday, September 20, 2018, the Fifth Court of Appeals issued an Order in Dallas County GOP v. Dallas County Democratic Party, stating that any relief related to the November election is moot, and that the appeal, … Continue reading →

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Now how much would you pay to fix Houston’s sewer system?

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We may be about to find out. Federal and state authorities sued the city of Houston over its long-running struggle to limit sewage spills on Friday, marking the beginning of the end of a years-long negotiation that could force the … Continue reading →

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Distributing the VW settlement money

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good for some, less good for others. Texas cities will soon get millions of dollars to help clean up air quality, but Houston officials say the plan for distributing all that money isn’t fair. The money is coming from a … Continue reading →

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Voter ID lawsuit officially ends

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

That’s all there is, at least until the next atrocity. A federal judge formally dismissed the lawsuit challenging the Texas voter ID law Monday, the final step in a yearslong fight that will allow the state to enforce a weakened … Continue reading →

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Southwest Key sues city over permit for child detention warehouse

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Screw them. The Austin-based nonprofit trying to open a shelter to house migrant children east of downtown sued the city of Houston Friday, alleging a discriminatory, baseless and politically motivated campaign to prevent it from opening the facility. Southwest Key … Continue reading →

Posted in La Migra, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Partisan statewide judicial elections upheld

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I’d totally forgotten about this lawsuit. A federal judge has rejected a race-based challenge to the way Texans fill seats on the state’s highest courts. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi handed the state of Texas a … Continue reading →

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The hearing for the lawsuit to kill Obamacare

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. At the hearing Wednesday, Texas aimed to convince U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to block the law across the country as it continues to fight a months- or years-long legal case that could land before the … Continue reading →

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The city has its own bail lawsuit

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not going well. Houston city officials intentionally destroyed evidence, wiping crucial data from the computer drives of top police commanders that is potentially relevant to a lawsuit about the detention of suspects beyond the 48-hour deadline for a magistrate … Continue reading →

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“Fetal remains” law tossed

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Very good. U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra struck down a Texas law on Wednesday that would have required hospitals and clinics to bury cremate fetal remains, causing another courtroom setback for state leaders and anti-abortion groups. Under Senate Bill … Continue reading →

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DACA lives another day

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

But don’t relax just yet. A federal district judge on Friday denied the state of Texas’ request that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program be put on hold after Texas and nine other states sued to halt the Obama-era … Continue reading →

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Going for Section 3

Posted on August 31, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but Lord knows this is desperately needed. The voters of color, civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers who have long challenged the validity of Texas’ political maps were dealt a bruising loss earlier this … Continue reading →

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Nelson attacks Paxton over Obamacare lawsuit

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Democrat challenging Ken Paxton is denouncing the attorney general for suing to wipe out the Affordable Care Act‘s health care protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. Justin Nelson, a Houston attorney, plans to hold a rally outside the federal courthouse in Ft. … Continue reading →

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Trump administration seeks to dismiss MALDEF lawsuit over Census citizenship question

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s hard to keep all these Census lawsuits straight. As multiple court fights over the addition of a citizenship question to the once-a-decade census heat up, the Trump administration is working to keep several Texas groups representing Latino and Asian … Continue reading →

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Using one civil rights law to negate another

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

You have to give them credit for evil creativity, I guess. A majority-black county in rural Georgia announced a plan last week to close seven of its nine polling places ahead of the November election, claiming the polls cannot continue to operate … Continue reading →

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Dallas County “discrimination against white voters” lawsuit dismissed

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It was always a silly idea. A federal judge Thursday dismissed a landmark lawsuit that accused Dallas County commissioners of discriminating against white voters. The lawsuit sought to dismantle the boundaries the county uses to elect commissioners, claiming that the … Continue reading →

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Appeals court allows city to post video of pay parity hearing

Posted on August 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Probably doesn’t matter much at this point, but there it is. A Texas appeals court on Thursday ordered a state district judge to rescind his temporary restraining order requiring the city of Houston to remove video from its website that … Continue reading →

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