Category Archives: Legal matters

Yet another Obamacare lawsuit

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Some things never get old. n Texas’ latest salvo against Obamacare, Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit over a fee states must help cover to pay for the sweeping federal health reform law. Texas joins Louisiana and Kansas in … Continue reading →

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State goes fishing against Planned Parenthood

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. Days after Texas health officials announced they want to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program, state investigators on Thursday visited Planned Parenthood facilities in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Investigators with the Texas Health … Continue reading →

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Thanks but no thanks, Ken

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County will continue to pursue its own lawsuit against VW. Harris County has responded to Ken Paxton’s request to drop its lawsuit against scandal-plagued Volkswagen. Its answer? A polite no. […] In a reply to Paxton dated Oct. 15, … Continue reading →

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Texas vs Planned Parenthood, part one million

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This was going to happen sooner or later. Texas health officials say they are kicking Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program entirely over what they called “acts of misconduct” revealed in undercover videos filmed earlier this year. Republican … Continue reading →

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Are we ever going to get a redistricting ruling?

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From the Texas Election Law Blog: As Rick Hasen has reported, [Wednesday] the plaintiffs in the 2011 redistricting lawsuit asked the three-judge panel for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division to enjoin the State of Texas from using … Continue reading →

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Paxton wants to sue VW all by himself

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Really? Seeking to fight scandal-plagued Volkswagen alone, Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking two Texas counties to halt their lawsuits against the automaker — a move highlighting friction between Texas and local governments pursuing tens of millions of dollars in … Continue reading →

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State of Texas sues VW

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Bandwagon time! Following in the footsteps of Harris County and the city of Dallas, the state announced Thursday it is suing Volkswagen in connection with the German automaker’s admitted use of software that allowed its vehicles to circumvent emissions limits. … Continue reading →

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Full Fifth circuit denies HBU in contraception lawsuit

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Still no joy for them. A federal appeals court will not reconsider its ruling, delivered in June, that the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive rules do not violate the religious freedom of church-based organizations in Texas. The religious organizations, including two … Continue reading →

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State asks SCOTUS to not take up HB2 appeal

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

They win by default that way, so why would they want to have to take their chances? Texas attorney general Ken Paxton on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to turn away a legal challenge to the state’s abortion restrictions … Continue reading →

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County sues VW for $100 million

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Harris County on Tuesday set in motion a $100 million environmental lawsuit against Volkswagen, claiming emissions from 6,000 diesel cars circulating on roadways in the region have caused harm to the population. County Attorney Vince Ryan said his review … Continue reading →

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Oral arguments in birth certificate lawsuit

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman heard oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by a group of undocumented parents and their U.S.-citizen children against the state Department of State Health Services, which has effectively blocked the children from … Continue reading →

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Craft beer lawsuit

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. On the same day merger talk surfaced regarding the world’s two biggest beer companies, a small Dallas brewery announced its own effort to shake up the industry in Texas. Deep Ellum Brewing Co. launched the … Continue reading →

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$8 million and counting for voter ID litigation

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Ka-ching. Republicans used their majority in 2011 to muscle through the Legislature a controversial voter ID law and new redistricting maps — and Texas taxpayers haven’t stopped picking up the bill for the state to defend those measures in courts … Continue reading →

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When might we get a Supreme Court ruling on school finance?

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

When they’re damn good and ready is the usual answer for Supreme Court rulings, but in the case of school finance lawsuits they usually act with some measure of speed. Given past rulings and politics — three justices on the … Continue reading →

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Paxton loses again on same sex marriage

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Turning aside objections from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Travis County judge approved an out-of-court settlement Tuesday that recognizes the eight-year relationship of two Austin women as a common-law marriage. The settlement accepted by Travis County Probate Judge … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks judge to block EPA water rules in Texas

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The basic story: Texas has asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new rule that expands authority over which water bodies the U.S. government can regulate. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made the request Tuesday in an 88-page … Continue reading →

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DPS seeks dismissal of Sandra Bland lawsuit

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The expected response by the defendants. The Texas Department of Public Safety and Trooper Brian Encinia filed motions Tuesday to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit in the death of Sandra Bland, five days after Waller County filed court papers rebutting … Continue reading →

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Paxton still fighting same sex marriage

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Some things never change. Despite his recent pledge to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling, Attorney General Ken Paxton is already seeking to prevent the decision from being applied in an Austin estate case. Paxton’s office filed … Continue reading →

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The stakes in the voter ID appeal

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Hasen lays it out. Don’t worry, Chief Justice John Roberts assured the American public in that 2013 case, Shelby County v. Holder. Although states with a history of racial discrimination would no longer be subject to federal “preclearance” of … Continue reading →

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Uber’s class action lawsuit woes

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. Uber’s business model is on the rocks late Tuesday after a federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit targeting the company’s treatment of drivers as independent contractors. The case is one of several high-profile suits brought by … Continue reading →

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State gets the bill for fighting same sex marriage

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Please pay promptly. The attorneys for same-sex couples who successfully challenged Texas’ gay marriage ban in federal court are seeking nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in fees and costs from the state. In a 27-page motion filed Friday, attorneys … Continue reading →

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Paxton’s contempt saga officially ends

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure he’s so relieved. A federal judge has canceled next week’s contempt-of-court hearing for Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying it is not needed because Texas government agencies have begun acknowledging same-sex marriages. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia had ordered … Continue reading →

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Churches and recall elections

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. Are Texas churches prohibited from campaigning to recall politicians? The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals [weighed] that question Thursday in a case set to clarify if and how a church as a corporate entity … Continue reading →

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Abortion providers go to SCOTUS

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I sure hope this works out. Texas abortion providers on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their legal challenge to two provisions of the state’s strict abortion law. After losing at the appellate level, a coalition of … Continue reading →

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Houston pleads its case to the Supreme Court

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see how they did. “The point of all this is to protect the public and the environment, to have clean air, and the TCEQ, for the Texas Clean Air Act, envisions that it be vigorously enforced,” [Houston attorney Robert] … Continue reading →

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Once again to the Supreme Court for school finance

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Like deja vu all over again, and again and again and… The Texas Supreme Court is again faced with determining whether the state’s method of funding public schools is unconstitutional, the latest in a series of school finance challenges stretching … Continue reading →

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Houston’s environmental protection ordinances go to the Supreme Court

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Where, sadly, they’ll likely get killed. State environmental regulators don’t adequately enforce air pollution laws, the city of Houston believes, and on Wednesday it will ask the state’s highest civil court to let it keep trying to do the job … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court to hear school finance appeal

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We near the end of the road. This road, anyway. Shut out by lawmakers in their efforts to overhaul the state’s troubled education funding system, more than 600 school districts are now pinning their hopes for relief on the Texas … Continue reading →

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State asks for full Fifth Circuit review of voter ID ruling

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As you’d expect them to do. Continuing to protect a voter identification law that courts say discriminates against Hispanics and African Americans, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked a full federal appeals court to hear his arguments about why … Continue reading →

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Does your JP still do marriages?

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Some do and some don’t. Last Wednesday, Judge Dale Gorczynski, a justice of the peace in Harris County, heard 19 eviction cases, sent 147 traffic and misdemeanor cases to trial and presided over five weddings: Three for same-sex couples and … Continue reading →

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Divorce granted to same sex couple in Tarrant County

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

At some point, stories like this will cease to be news. It took two Tarrant County women nearly two years to legally end their failed marriage because of the tangle of state and federal law. But on Thursday, Brooke Powell … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks to be excused from contempt hearing

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

He promises he’s been a good boy, so can he please come out of time out now? Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office says he shouldn’t face a contempt hearing for failing to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage … Continue reading →

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DOJ asks to get voter ID remedy ASAP

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I concur. The Obama administration and several civil rights groups are urging a federal appeals court to fast track the process of temporarily fixing Texas’ voter ID law in time for the upcoming Nov. 3 elections. In court filings Thursday, … Continue reading →

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State ordered to pay fees in redistricting litigation

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

They don’t seem to be interested in doing that, however. In a scolding tone, a federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., ordered the state of Texas on Tuesday to pay more than $1 million in attorneys’ fees in a … Continue reading →

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