Category Archives: Legal matters

School finance retrial wraps

We’re back where it all began. The Texas Legislature failed to bridge funding gaps between wealthy and poor school districts despite partial restoration of funds that were cut, lawyers representing schools told a state district judge Friday. “They have put … Continue reading

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The cost of fighting the inevitable

Trib headline: Anti-Regulation Politics May Have Hurt Energy Industry. Oh, the irony. Businesses in energy-related industries in Texas say they have been unable to take full advantage of the natural gas boom that is roaring across the state because of … Continue reading

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Federal judge denies Abbott motion to consolidate same sex marriage lawsuits

From Lone Star Q: A key hearing in a federal lawsuit challenging Texas’ same-sex marriage bans will go forward next month in San Antonio. U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia, of the Western District of Texas, on Wednesday rejected Texas … Continue reading

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City sues HFRRF again

From the inbox: In the face of growing concern about its ability to meet long-term retiree pension obligations, the City of Houston filed a lawsuit today against the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF), one of three pension systems … Continue reading

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Abbott inserts himself in Houston same sex benefits lawsuit

Not a surprise. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed briefs arguing that a state court should be given an opportunity to declare Houston’s new policy of granting benefits to some same-sex partners of employees unlawful under Texas’ marriage laws. … Continue reading

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School finance retrial, Day One

And they’re off, again. Back in the courtroom after a 2013 legislative session in which lawmakers added money back to the state public education budget, lawyers representing nearly two-thirds of Texas school districts argued on Tuesday that the funding boost … Continue reading

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School finance retrial starts today

Back in the saddle again. A fight over the state’s controversial school funding system is headed back to court Tuesday before the same judge who declared it unconstitutional nearly a year ago, with state lawyers hoping they can persuade him … Continue reading

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Davis beats Abbott in court again

That’s probably the simplest way to understand this story. A San Antonio federal court has ordered Texas to pay more than $260,000 in attorney fees to the legal team that helped state Sen. Wendy Davis beat back Republican attempts to … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit pretends to hear HB2 appeal

We’re all sure what their decision will be, right? Appellate judges on Monday challenged lawyers over provisions of Texas’ new abortion law and whether they have unduly caused the closure of about a dozen abortion clinics. The three-judge panel of … Continue reading

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HHSC publishes rules relating to HB2

HHSC is all in on the omnibus anti-abortion bill passed during the special session this summer. Texas health officials have a message for the more than 19,000 folks who wrote in to oppose new abortion regulations: Each individual commenter failed … Continue reading

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HBU wins contraception mandate lawsuit

This is very disappointing. The federal government cannot force Houston Baptist University to pay for emergency contraception services as part of its employee health insurance plans, according to a ruling Friday by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal. The decision is … Continue reading

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City moves anti-same sex spouse benefits lawsuit to federal court

Interesting. Mayor Annise Parker and the city of Houston have moved a lawsuit challenging same-sex benefits out of Republican Judge Lisa Millard’s court after she allegedly halted the benefits without giving the city proper notice. City Attorney David Feldman filed … Continue reading

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School finance trial do-over set to start soon

Once more into the breach. Hundreds of school districts in North Texas and across the state will resume their courtroom battle over funding in January, arguing that new money and reduced testing did little to fix Texas’ school finance system. … Continue reading

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Lambda Legal sues Houston over same sex spouse benefits

I didn’t see this coming. Lambda Legal [Thursday] filed a federal lawsuit against Houston Mayor Annise Parker and the City of Houston seeking to preserve spousal benefits, including health insurance, covering the same-sex spouses of city employees. The lawsuit was … Continue reading

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More on the local GOP’s lawsuit against same sex spouse insurance benefits

Family Court? What’s up with that? City Attorney Dave Feldman said Wednesday that the city of Houston and Mayor Annise Parker were not given notice before a family district court judge halted a recent policy change extending health and life … Continue reading

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Harris County GOP sues over same sex spouse benefits for city employees

When Mayor Parker announced that legally married same sex spouses would be eligible to be added to city employees’ health insurance plans, I was certain that there would be legal action taken against that decision. The Harris County GOP has … Continue reading

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Ashby plaintiffs score a win

Most of them, anyway. A Harris County jury sided with residents of a neighborhood near Rice University and awarded some of them damages totaling close to $1.7 million in their fight to keep developers from building a 21-story high-rise in … Continue reading

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Hearing set for gay marriage lawsuit

Mark your calendars. A San Antonio judge Tuesday scheduled a hearing in February to consider temporarily blocking Texas’ same-sex marriage ban. […] Federal District Judge Orlando Garcia set the Texas hearing for February 12 at 9:30 a.m. at the John … Continue reading

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Ashby trial update

We’re more than two weeks into the Ashby highrise lawsuit trial, and the defense is now presenting its case. Let’s check in on them, shall we? One of the developers hoping to build a high-rise near Rice University made a … Continue reading

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Same-sex divorce in other states

Texas isn’t the only state where this is playing out. Lauren Beth Czekala-Chatham wants to force Mississippi, one of the America’s most conservative states, to recognize her same-sex marriage. She hopes to do so by getting a divorce. She and … Continue reading

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Will Texas wind up advancing the cause of same sex marriage?

Not voluntarily, of course, but it could happen. One couple wants to get married, while the other just wants theirs recognized. A third couple wants a divorce, while the fourth wants theirs finalized. If all win their lawsuits, they could … Continue reading

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Thanksgiving weekend voter ID update

Some statistics to throw some cold water on the claims that there were “no problems” with the voter ID law. Delays at the polls this month due to glitches with voters’ identifications could signal a bigger problem to come next … Continue reading

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City settles longstanding litigation with strip clubs

From the Mayor’s press release: Recognizing Houston is a hub for human trafficking, the City and 16 area topless clubs have entered into a novel settlement agreement aimed at addressing this heinous crime, ending litigation dating back to 1997 when … Continue reading

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Crane sues McLane

This ought to be fun. Jim Crane’s Astros ownership group filed a state court lawsuit Thursday against former Astros owner Drayton McLane, Comcast and NBC Universal, accusing them of fraud and civil conspiracy and accusing McLane’s corporation that owned the … Continue reading

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SCOTUS declines to reinstate the injunction against HB2

Dammit. U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday rejected a request by abortion providers to intervene in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of new abortion regulations in Texas that took effect in November. “Reasonable minds can perhaps disagree about whether the … Continue reading

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Voter ID trial set for September

Texas Redistricting: At [Friday] morning’s scheduling conference, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos set trial in the consolidated Texas voter ID cases for September 2, 2014, adopting the date proposed by Congressman Marc Veasey over a proposed March 2015 trial date preferred by the … Continue reading

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Another lawsuit filed against the voter ID law

The Observer reports. Election Day last week brought plenty of complaints at the polls about Texas’ new voter ID law, but it also brought one major complaint in Corpus Christi federal court, where nine voters joined La Unión Del Pueblo Entero … Continue reading

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SCOTUS to review request to reinstate injunction against HB2

It’s never a good thing to have one’s fate in Justice Scalia’s hands, but that’s where we are. State attorneys filed a response on Tuesday to abortion providers’ request for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the ongoing legal … Continue reading

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Piling on Judge Pratt

Boy, an awful lot of lawyers have it in for Judge Denise Pratt, and they wrote all about it in a letter sent to other lawyers asking them to call on her to resign. The letter, signed by 32 prominent … Continue reading

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Texas Supreme Court hears gay divorce case

Seems like a slam dunk to me, but who knows what our Supreme Court will do. Two same-sex couples who were legally married in Massachusetts urged the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow them to get divorced in Texas. … Continue reading

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Abortion providers petition SCOTUS for injunction review

We’ll see what happens. Abortion providers on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a lower federal court’s injunction that blocked Texas from implementing strict new abortion rules. “Right now, women in vast swaths of Texas are being turned … Continue reading

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Second lawsuit filed against Texas Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage amendment

From San Antonio. A federal lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of gay couples challenges the state’s constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage and seeks to bar Texas officials from enforcing it. “In Texas, Plaintiffs cannot legally marry their partner before family, … Continue reading

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Who judges the judges?

Meet the guy that’s been going after judges with behavioral issues. The photograph at the top of Greg Enos’ monthly email newsletter is always the same: A pack of mongooses confronting a reared-up cobra. The Webster family lawyer says the … Continue reading

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Have I mentioned lately that the Fifth Circuit sucks?

The only mystery is that it took them this long. Texas abortion providers’ Monday victory was short-lived. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a federal district court ruling that found part of the state’s new abortion … Continue reading

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