Subject:

U.S. Courts

  • Blogs

    April 30, 2012

    Rick Perry's War on Planned Parenthood Suffers Setback

    A federal judge has put a hold on Governor Perry's war on Planned Parenthood, in part because he doesn't believe Texas will keep Perry's promise to make up for lost federal funding. Texas, of course, has banned Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving Women's Health Program funds, beginning tomorr ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 4, 2012

    Junie Hoang: Actress' Suit Against IMDb For Revealing Her Age Allowed To Proceed

    A federal judge has refused to toss out the suit filed by texas actress Junie Hoang, who anonymously sued Amazon for revealing her true age on its subsidiary movie-info website IMDb. Hoang, 41, a Texas A&M graduate who studied martial arts in Houston, sued the site for taking her age from informati ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 27, 2012

    Judge Samuel Kent WikiLeaked: Had Halliburton Conspiracy Theory About His Sex-Abuse Scandal

    Today, WikiLeaks released the first few hundred of what promise to be 5 million e-mails belonging to Austin-based global security think tank Stratfor. One concerns not one but two Houston-area shit magnets, one formerly high-powered and one still very much high-powered: Halliburton and disgraced f ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 21, 2012

    Joel Osteen & Lakewood Mostly Win Copyright Suit Filed by Indie Duo

    A federal judge has ruled in favor of Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen, dismissing many of the copyright claims filed against them by an indie-music duo who said the church using their music would alienate their listeners. Richard Cupolo and John Emanuele, who perform as The American Dollar, had sai ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 13, 2012

    Patti LaBelle Airport Brawl: Her Son Can Sue Continental Airlines for Overserving West Point Cadet

    Pattil LaBelle's son will be able to accuse Continental Airlines in court of overserving the West Point cadet who got in a fight with the singer's entourage. Zuri Edwards, who is also his mother's bodyguard, was one of the people sued by the cadet, Richard King. LaBelle and several others have file ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 13, 2011

    Archie Bell Sues Legendary "Philly Soul" Duo Gamble & Huff

    Marc BrubakerArchie Bell at the Continental Club, September 3​In certainly one of the more interesting local items to come in over courthouse.com, a Web site that reports on notable, unusual or legally significant filings in the federal courts, Houston songwriter and performer Archie Bell has ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 17, 2011

    Red Light Camera Ban Tossed Out

    Red light cameras: Status back to "up in the air."​A federal judge has thrown out the city's ban on red light cameras because it came from a referendum, not a charter amendment. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes said the changes mandated by voters last November were not valid -- they could only ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 14, 2011

    Jamie Leigh Jones Finally Gets Her Day In Court Against KBR

    Jamie Leigh Jones' fight finally finds a courtroom​After years of delays, today Jamie Leigh Jones is finally getting her day in court against Halliburton and KBR. Jones -- we've done a number of stories on her -- has become famous through her attempts to hold the company responsible for the g ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 25, 2011

    Eminem's Victory Over Label Could Have Far-Reaching Effects

    Now a Recovery in more ways than one.​Eminem quietly scored a major victory in a case involving download royalties this week. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out an appeal filed by Universal Music Group, the world's largest music empire, against Eminem's former production company F.B.T. Productio ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 4, 2011

    Texas & Nuclear Waste: Federal Judge Opens Path For Expansion

    Nuclear waste in Texas: It's not just for Vermont anymore​Environmental groups are crying foul over a federal judge's decision to lift a ban on allowing a state commission to greatly expand Texas's ability to accept nuclear waste from other states. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said Tuesday ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 13, 2010

    Red Light Cameras: Judge Won't Let Activists Join In Suit

    It's the city vs. the red light camera company, no intervenors ​The city of Houston, which really doesn't want to give up red light camera revenue, will be the only party trying to convince a federal judge to stop the red light camera program as soon as possible. The people who really want re ... More >>

  • News

    December 2, 2010

    FAIR-y Tales: Fantasy Voter Fraud

    It's the city vs. the red light camera company, no intervenors ​The city of Houston, which really doesn't want to give up red light camera revenue, will be the only party trying to convince a federal judge to stop the red light camera program as soon as possible. The people who really want re ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 2, 2010

    Star Trek's Spock: The Texas Supreme Court Looks To Him For Guidance

    Objection, your honor​Some judges are as well-known for their literary prowess as they are for monumental civil and criminal rulings."There is no surer way to misread any document than to read it literally," Appellate Judge Learned Hand wrote in a 1944 ruling. In 1927, Supreme Court Justice L ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 5, 2010

    Federal Judge Jack T. Camp: Drugs & A Stripper Mean Our Sam Kent Has Been Topped

    Judge Jack Camp tops Judge Sam Kent​We thought the Houston area could cruise for a while with the title of World's Dumbest, Horniest Federal Judge.U.S. District Judge Sam Kent of Galveston made heroic efforts to set the bar high, what with all his after-lunch drunken groping of female staffers.Lis ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 3, 2010

    Judge Samuel Kent: I Obstructed Justice In A Sex-Offense Case, But I'm No Sex Offender

    Sam Kent, in prison and splitting hairs​U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, currently imprisoned in Florida, is asking a federal court to overturn his sentence because, he says, the court treated him as a sex offender."All sexual allegations against Sam Kent were dismissed by the prosecutor...Sam Ken ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 28, 2010

    KPFT Knocked Off Air -- Not By The KKK This Time

    No Elena Kagan hearings for KPFT listeners​Pacifica station KPFT-FM has been knocked off the air and may not be able to broadcast over the airwaves until tomorrow because of damage to its radio tower.Don't blame the KKK this time. Blame copper thieves.A group of what KPFT general manager Duane Bra ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 24, 2010

    Sonia Sotomayor Critiques The Chronicle

    Reads the Chron's sports section, at least when it's cited in legal briefs​The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Enron honcho Jeffrey Skilling's trial should not have been moved out of Houston, no matter what he thinks. (Skilling did better on other arguments, but overall nothing much changed.)Son ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 11, 2010

    Bellaire Cop Found Not Guilty In Robbie Tolan Shooting

    The Tolans say they'll move on to federal court​Jeffrey Cotton, the Bellaire police officer who shot Robbie Tolan in a controversial incident outside the Tolan home, was acquitted by a jury today after four and a half hours of deliberation.He had been charged with aggravated assault in the 2008 in ... More >>

  • News

    March 25, 2010

    Welcome to Arizona

    Judge who helped BP went on junket party on their tab.

  • Blogs

    March 18, 2010

    Some Judicial Action In Those Bad-Faith Worker's-Comp Insurance Cases

    ​In 2008 we wrote about the problems with Texas Mutual Insurance, a company accused of bad-faith dealings with people who had filed worker's comp claims through them.Two recent court actions have advanced things a bit, including what could be an important showdown at the Texas Supreme Court.The fi ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 17, 2010

    Judge Who Set Aside $100 Million Award Against BP Went On Junket Partially Funded By The Company

    ​A Houston federal judge who set aside a $100 million verdict against BP on Tuesday has taken an all-expenses-paid educational junket that was partially funded by the oil giant.In 2008, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt attended a three-day long program in Sedona, Arizona hosted by the George Ma ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 1, 2010

    Jeff Skilling Gets Even More Desperate To Prove Houston's Full of Hatahs

    ​Today is the big day before the U.S. Supreme Court for Jeff Skilling, former Enron exec, former Manhattan party animal, current federal inmate.Among other things, Skilling's lawyers are arguing that his federal trial should have been moved from Houston because we all were so affected by Enron tha ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 15, 2010

    Baylor Chooses A Sex-Obsessed Pornographer As Its New President

    ​Baylor has ended its search for a new president, and the straitlaced Baptist school has chosen a famous smut peddler.Kenneth Starr, the out-of-control special prosecutor who felt the need to salaciously include every last sordid detail about Bill Clinton's extra-marital activities, is the new ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 9, 2010

    Lawsuit On KBR's Deadly Iraq Convoys Is Revived

    ​We have written before about the issues surrounding people who drove truck convoys for KBR/Halliburton in Iraq, including a 2004 feature story.Basically, it was a tough, tough gig. And when six civilian drivers were killed in an incident six years ago, they their survivors sued in federal cou ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 29, 2009

    Federal Judge Dismisses Suit Involving Alleged Spy Shot By HPD Officers

    ​In the court of law, it never really mattered whether Roland Carnaby was a spy, as he claimed just before police gunned him down along the highway following a high-speed chase. After all, his widow, Susan, was suing the City of Houston and a pair of its police officers in federal court for excess ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 1, 2009

    Sikh Woman Who Wanted To Wear Ceremonial Dagger To Her IRS Job Suffers Setback

    ​A Sikh woman -- one of the members of the family that was harassed by Harris County Sheriff's deputies late last year -- had her claims that she should be able to wear a ceremonial dagger to her IRS job rejected by a federal judge.The Examiner website reports that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake tos ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 11, 2009

    Federal Judge Sam Kent Gets Less Than Three Years In Prison

    You're a federal judge with a lifetime job, pretty much as untouchable as God. You decide to use your powerful position to procure cheap feels on secretaries working for you (and dreading it, no doubt).Somehow, someone has the sack to come forward, and you plead guilty, with all the usual BS excuses ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 6, 2009

    Houston Lawsuit Calls Foul On Those "Low-Tar" Cigarettes

    Vincent Salazar, a Houston man, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against Philip Morris and its parent company, Altria Group, in Texas, making the state one of four where similar lawsuits were filed in the last two days. The suits are seeking damages allegedly caused by years of advertising w ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 8, 2009

    Harassment Suits Against The Harris County Sheriff's Department Live Again

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 7, 2008

    Fen-Phen Side Effects: Irritable Lawyers

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 14, 2008

    This Just In: Sometimes Voters Aren't Very Informed About Candidates

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 6, 2008

    Human Smuggler Gets A Longer Sentence

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 29, 2008

    Judge (No, Not That One) Pleads Guilty To Sexual Assault

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 28, 2008

    Judge Sam Kent Indicted On Sex Charges (Begone, Mental Image, Begone!)

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 16, 2008

    Stop the Presses!

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 11, 2007

    Parish Predators: Trial Set in Molestation Case Against the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

    When Sean and Erik Ibarra sued attorney Lloyd Kelley in October over legal fees, one of the questions was what would happen to a separate civil-rights lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including the Ibarras and April Walker, against the sheriff's department and certain deputies.(The original suit, ho ... More >>

  • Best of Houston

    September 25, 2003

    Best Court Ruling Best Court Ruling

    The Supreme Court's sodomy decision

  • Best of Houston

    September 26, 2002

    Best Court Ruling

    U.S. District Judge David Hittner

  • News

    February 14, 2002

    Enron's Judge Not

    U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal abruptly recuses herself without explanation

  • News

    July 19, 2001

    Murder, She Testified

    A federal grand jury aims at a fledgling author's notes in a long-running murder probe

  • News

    May 17, 2001

    Rush to Judges

    Texans long to secure seats on the bench

  • News

    September 7, 2000

    Home Sweet Cell

    Finally, a David Allen house with four walls

  • News

    September 3, 1998

    News of the Weird

    Finally, a David Allen house with four walls

  • News

    June 18, 1998

    Attacking the Taxman

    James Farmer and Cliff Williams do their best to irk the IRS

  • News

    May 14, 1998

    Taken to the Woodshed

    A federal judge rips three city attorneys and their bosses for how they handled the Barbra Piotrowski lawsuit

  • News

    April 9, 1998

    Horror Show

    Ruben Guerrero's plans to be a judge again are dashed, as local Democrats continue their inept ways

  • News

    March 14, 1996

    Pale Justice

    In a '50s rerun, all-white grand juries return to Harris County

  • News

    December 7, 1995

    Into the Mystic (Book)

    In a '50s rerun, all-white grand juries return to Harris County

  • News

    December 8, 1994

    Hanging the Judge

    Lupe Salinas made a lot of friends on his journey from a Rio Grande Valley childhood to becoming a dogged prosecutor and respected state district judge. Until he was tapped for a federal judgeship, he never knew how many enemies he had.

  • News

    November 24, 1994

    Out of the Soup

    Yes, the city's settlement of a lawsuit was a good deal -- for Helen Huey

  • More >>

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