Blogs
Oil-and-Gas Case Law Round Up: January 2017
January has been a busy month for courts in Texas and beyond in the oil-and-gas segment. In today’s post, we summarize several significant developments from the last thirty days that can be expected to have a lasting impact on E&Ps, pipeline […]
Judge Blocks Overtime New Rules. So now what?
In my little corner of the law, overtime has been a central focus—in individual and class action lawsuits and, for over two years, in predicting and then ciphering the new regulations of the Department of Labor (“DOL”). The new rules would have […]
Earthquake Fracing Lawsuits Coincide With Renewed Scrutiny Of Texas Railroad Commission
I have written previously about the ongoing debate surrounding the causal role of hydrofracturing—”fracing” for short, as the industry spells it, without a “k”—in what critics have dubbed “man-made” seismic activity. The hot-button […]
What Trump’s Win Means For Employers
After pulling off a victory more surprising than Truman’s, Donald Trump will have the opportunity over the next four years to–among other things–change the landscape of employment law in the United States. With Republicans now controlling the […]
DOJ And FTC Issue Joint Guidelines For Human Resource Professionals
On October 20, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) (collectively the “Agencies”), who jointly enforce the antitrust laws, alerted human resource (“H.R.”) professionals that they might violate […]
Trade Secret and Non-Competition Lawsuits in the Energy Industry—Continued
In my October 12, 2016 blog posting, I discussed how C&S Energy Services, Ltd. v. McCoy demonstrated that courts in Texas will enforce non-competition agreements that are reasonably limited in scope and duration. A decision in a subsequent case […]
Regional and community banks: proposed federal cybersecurity regulations don’t apply to you (yet) but do offer valuable strategies.
Federal regulators have issued an advance notice of new proposed cybersecurity standards. The notice invites comment on enhanced cybersecurity standards for regulated entities with total assets of $50 billion and certain of their service providers. The […]
Three Reasons You May Want Your Employees to Sign a Non-Compete
Not all employers need non-compete agreements. Jimmy John’s Sandwiches learned this the hard way, when some franchisees reportedly required sandwich makers or cashiers to sign non-compete agreements. These agreements kept cashiers or sandwich […]
The Supreme Court Will Answer Whether Collection of Time-Barred Debt in Bankruptcy Violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Lots of people and companies buy old debt—for example, hedge funds, private equity firms, and even some commercial bank affiliates. Typically, this is debt that the original creditor has charged off and sold for a fraction of the legal balance. […]
Fifth Circuit holds bank overtime claims should be arbitrated, provides guidance on employer-friendly delegation clauses.
The Fifth Circuit’s October 4 decision in Reyna v. International Bank of Commerce, 2016 WL 5799283, has some valuable information for employers analyzing arbitration agreements with employees or facing Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims. In short […]
Trade Secret and Non-Competition Lawsuits in the Energy Industry
Trade secret and noncompetition lawsuits are common in the energy industry because non-public technology and the need to protect it can be important to an energy company’s success. One example of such a lawsuit is C&J Energy Services, Ltd. v […]