Richman, J. (Richman, Willett, Douglas), Americans with Disabilities Act, sec. 1983, expert witness Affirming district court’s exclusion of plaintiff’s expert witness and grant of Rule 50 motion dismissing plaintiff’s ADA claim. William Carter, a paraplegic man, was jailed for eight days in the Shreveport City Jail for unauthorized use of 911. Prior to his incarceration, … More July 21, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Higginson, J. (Graves, Higginson, Wilson), Age Discrimination in Employment Act, sec. 1983 Affirming dismissal of ADEA claim for failure to exhaust and to respond to a timeliness challenge, and dismissal of sec. 1983 claim for failure to plead a protected property interest in at-will employment. Jose E. Amstutz, a former Harris County … More July 17, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Douglas, J. (Dennis, Oldham, Douglas), Dennis, J., dissenting; sec. 1983, pretrial detention Affirming dismissal of claims by pretrial detainee regarding the alleged misuse of suicide watch protocols by county and county officials. Ronnie Alexander, a pretrial detainee at Henderson County Jail, was moved to a “violent cell” after he falsely claimed to … More July 10, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Granting en banc rehearing of unpublished February 26, 2025, panel opinion (Barksdale, Southwick, Graves, per curiam) reversing denial of summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff’s implied-false-certification claim and remanding for dismissal of case. Higginson, J. (Davis, Higginson, Douglas), search and seizure, administrative law, standing Vacating summary judgment in favor of airplane part manufacturer … More June 26, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Ramirez, J. (Dennis, Haynes, Ramirez), Dennis, J., concurring; First Amendment, Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause, ripeness, standing, sovereign immunity Affirming district court judgment of facial unconstitutionality and preliminary injunction of state law requiring display of Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms. In June 2024, Louisiana enacted H.B. 71, mandating the display … More June 20-21, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication per curiam (Jones, Oldham, Hendrix, by designation), Sarbanes-Oxley Act, employment law, timeliness, Rule 59(e) Reversing dismissal of employee’s Sarbanes-Oxley anti-retaliation claim against employer, but affirming dismissal of claim against employer’s parent company, and remanding for further poceedings. The case involves a Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) whistleblower retaliation claim brought by Vuoncino, a corporate … More June 3, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Duncan, J. (Haynes, Duncan, Wilson), foreign official immunity, Torture Victim Protection Act Affirming dismissal of TVPA claims against former Nigerian governor under foreign official immunity. In this case, the widows of men killed by Nigerian military forces during rallies in 2020 sued former Nigerian governor Willie Obiano in a Texas federal court … More May 29-30, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Oldham, J. (Richman, Oldham, Ramirez, JJ.; Judges Richman and Ramirez did not concur in footnote 5); Fourth Amendment, state-law immunity, state constitutional claims, qualified immunity On claims arising from alleged conspiracy to steal documents from a cloud-based file storage system against various Texas agencies and in official- and individual-capacity against officials of … More May 28, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Elrod, C.J. (Elrod, Jones, Stewart), administrative law, First Amendment Vacating FCC order requiring certain disclosures by broadcasters of employment demographics information. Petitioners challenged the FCC’s order requiring broadcasters to submit employment data through Form 395-B, raising four arguments, but the Court focused solely on the first: whether the FCC had statutory authority … More May 19, 2025, opinions
Designated for publication Higginbotham, J. (Elrod, Higginbotham, Southwick), personal tort, Federal Tort Claims Act Affirming judgment in favor of plaintiff in personal injury and death arising from an auto collision with a U.S. Postal Service vehicle that then caused the plaintiff to go forward and collide with his neighbor’s house. The Court analyzed a case … More May 16-18, 2025, opinions
