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Courts
Stay up to date on Texas courts with in-depth coverage of major rulings, judicial elections, criminal justice, and the judges shaping state law from The Texas Tribune.
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Criminal Justice
The Other BP Catastrophe
BP’s problem-plagued Texas City refinery — where a 2005 explosion killed 15 and injured 170 — now faces two civil lawsuits stemming from its release this spring of more than 500,000 pounds of cancer-causing pollutants over 40 days. One suit seeks $10 billion on behalf of 2,000 exposed workers; the other, filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, seeks more than $1 million in fines. Both aim to punish the company for one of the largest chemical emissions events the state has ever seen.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Seeking a “Smarter” Contract?
The Department of Information Resources appears to be giving up on IBM — once and for all.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: High Court Bucks
There’s big spending going on in Texas Supreme Court races, according to a new study.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Supreme Court Says No to Keller
On the same day the Texas Supreme Court denied Judge Sharon Keller’s request for intervention in her sanction from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, she has filed a second request to appeal the commission’s decision.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Stiles on Bill White’s donor-appointees, M. Smith on a form of meritless lawsuit that’s still legal in Texas, Ramshaw on what federal health care reform means for the future of physician-owned specialty hospitals, Galbraith’s interview with the chairman of the Public Utility Commission, Philpott on the latest flap over federal education funding, Grissom on the finally-in-compliance Dallas County Jail, Titus on the oiled pelicans of the BP spill, Hamilton’s interview with the new chancellor of the Texas State University System, Ramsey on the political and legal definitions of residency, Hu on Barack Obama’s visit to Austin and Aguilar on what the U.S. could be doing to aid Mexico: The best of our best from August 9 to 13, 2010.
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Criminal Justice
Sued Into Silence
Plaintiffs in so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, use the court system to bury opponents in a crush of legal fees and paperwork of Bleak House proportions. They’re not concerned about winning damages. They usually don’t expect to be successful, and the targets often don’t have the money to adequately defend themselves. Yet in otherwise tort-reform-happy Texas, there is no prohibition on filing this particular form of meritless suit — yet.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: No “Terror Baby” Records
State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston, says “former FBI officials” are the sources of her information about a terror baby plot. When the Tribune asked her office for records of any such conversations, her chief of staff said they don’t exist.
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Criminal Justice
Slideshow: Dallas County Jail Inspection
Sights and sounds from the two-day long test of the Dallas County Jail smoke evacuation system.
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Criminal Justice
Jailhouse Revival
Since 2004, the the Dallas County Jail has failed every year to meet state jail standards, racking up dozens of violations. But on Wednesday, more than six years and $138 million later, the massive lockup finally earned a certificate of compliance.