By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case SummariesIn many employment disputes, the recovery of reasonable attorney’s fees is an element a prevailing plaintiff-employee can recover. Some plaintiffs attempt to show the reasonableness of their counsel’s rates and fees by comparing it to the rates and amounts billed by the employer’s counsel. In In re National Lloyds Ins. Co., et al., the Texas… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case SummariesAn element of a defamation claim is that the defamatory statement was published to a third party. Plaintiff-employees sometimes attempt to satisfy this element by arguing that, while the former employer never published any defamatory statements about the employee to a third party, the employee is compelled to self-disclose the reasons for his or her… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case Summaries,DisabilityThere have been two employment cases decided by the Texas Supreme Court in the last several months. However, because I expect them to have little impact on Texas jurisprudence, I have not been compelled to write about them before today. However, in the interest of keeping the blog up-to-date with each of the employment cases from the… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case Summaries,Jury WaiversThe Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion this morning holding that advising an at-will employee that his employment will be terminated if he does not sign a mutual waiver to resolve disputes without a jury is not unlawful coercion sufficient to sset aside the agreement. If you read this blog frequently, you know I am a big proponent… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Arbitration,Case SummariesI have written some of the disadvantages of arbitration over other procedural methods of resolving cases such as waivers of jury trial. (See post and post). However, in an opinion from the Supreme Court of Texas, one disadvantage of arbitration (i.e., the limited appellate review of arbitration awards that is available) can be minimized where the… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Judicial UpdatesDon Cruse at The Supreme Court of Texas Blog reports that the Court has agreed to determine whether a plaintiff making a Sabine Pilot claim (i.e., alleging that he or she was terminated solely for refusing to perform an illegal act) can recover exemplary damages.… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Judicial UpdatesThe Texas Supreme Court held that unilateral contracts can be formed with at-will employees when employers make promises to employees and those employees perform based on that promise. In Vanegas v. American Energy Services, Inc. the Supreme Court was asked to decide the enforceability of an employer’s alleged promise to pay five percent of the proceeds of… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in ArbitrationTexas courts strongly favor the resolution of disputes through arbitration. When parties to a dispute have signed an agreement to arbitrate covered disputes, Texas courts will rarely disregard that agreement. A recent per curiam opinion of the Supreme Court of Texas continues that trend by conditionally granting mandamus relief in a case alleging national origin discrimination… Continue Reading
