NEWS
Congratulations to KD&P Partner, Peter Kelly, and Of Counsel, Dana Levy, who secured two reversals in the Fifth Circuit in the last two weeks of June!
The first, Garcia v. Wal-Mart Stores Texas, involved a slip-and-fall in which the Court reversed a summary judgment finding that circumstantial creation evidence—evidence that the owner of a premises created the dangerous condition—can support an inference of knowledge on the part of the owner. You can read that opinion here.
The second opinion, Littell v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist., involved a civil rights case in which, in the Court’s words, “[d]uring a sixth-grade choir class, an assistant principal allegedly ordered a mass, suspicionless strip search of the underwear of twenty-two preteen girls. All agree the search violated the girls’ constitutional rights under Texas and federal law. Even so, the district court dismissed the girls’ lawsuit against the school district for failure to state a claim. We reverse.” The school district argued that it had a constitutionally-qualified policy regarding body searches of students. Peter and Dana argued that having a written policy in a notebook on a shelf is useless unless teachers and administrators are actually trained in those policies. At oral argument, Peter quoted James Brown to make the point: “Sayin’ it and doin’ it is two different things.” The Fifth Circuit rejected the school district’s arguments, allowing all of the claims (1983, state constitutional, and injunctive) to proceed on the merits. This second win garnered Peter “Appellate Lawyer of the Week” honors from Texas Lawyer. You can read the opinion here, and John Council’s Texas Lawyer article about the case here.
Congratulations to KD&P associate Morgan McPheeters who won an important expunction case in the Texas Supreme Court, affirming the right of wrongfully accused people, acquitted of a crime, to have the records related to that acquitted offense expunged from public records. You can read a copy of the opinion here.
Congratulations to Kirk Pittard and Thad Spalding
who have been named “best lawyers” by D Magazine in the Appellate category for 2018.
Congratulations to Peter Kelly, who won an important case in the Texas Supreme Court this week addressing an employer’s responsibility for its employees’ conduct, convincing the Texas Supreme Court to reverse the El Paso Court of Appeals, clarify the standard for holding employers liable for their employees’ acts, and remanding the case for trial on the merits. You can read the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in Painter v. Amerimex Drilling I, Ltd. here .
Congratulations to KD&P associate, Jessica Foster, whose report on groundwater rules applicable to communities along the Texas-Mexico border was published today by Texas A&M School of Law! You can see the press release regarding Jessica’s paper here, and you can read the report here.
Congratulations to KD&P Associate, Morgan McPheeters, who was named a “Rising Star” in the Appellate Practice category by Texas “Super Lawyers” for 2018. You can see the short list of Appellate “Rising Stars,” including Morgan, here.
Congratulations to Peter Kelly and Dana Levy who received a great opinion in a medical malpractice case from Houston’s First Court of Appeals in Glenn v. Leal. The case is important because it rejects the application of a “willful and wanton” negligence standard to emergency medical care provided in an obstetrical unit where the patient is not first evaluated in an emergency room. This case also holds that the “paid or incurred” statute and the Affordable Care Act cannot be used in an effort to reduce the recovery of future medical expenses. You can read the opinion here.
KD&P is very proud of its associate, Morgan McPheeters, who presented argument today in the Texas Supreme Court on behalf of the Respondent in State of Texas v. T.S.N., an important case dealing with the expunction rights of the wrongfully accused. You can see Morgan’s briefing here and you can watch Morgan in action here.
Congratulations to KD&P Partner, Kirk Pittard, who won a significant victory in the Texas Supreme Court. In a funeral home negligence case, the supreme court rejected the argument that a contract is required to impose a duty on a funeral home to not mishandle the body of a deceased person. Instead, the court concluded that there exists a common law duty to the deceased’s next of kin. Chief Justice Hecht wrote the opinion for a unanimous court. You can read the opinion in SCI Texas Funeral Services, Inc. v. Nelson here.
KD&P is pleased to announce that Justin Kaufman and Rosalind Bienvenu have joined KD&P’s Santa Fe office, effective February 12, 2018. Justin, formerly a partner with Robins Cloud, joins KD&P as partner and will manage KD&P’s New Mexico practice from the Santa Fe office. Rosalind, formerly an associate with Robins Cloud, joins KD&P as an associate where she will continue to handle civil appeals and strategic litigation support in both state and federal courts.