Spendthrift provisions protect trust assets from claims of creditors. These provisions prevent the beneficiary of a trust from selling, assigning, or otherwise transferring their interest in trust assets to a third party. They also prevent the beneficiary from using their inheritance as collateral for a loan…

The Agreement Is Unfair. The prenuptial agreement must be generally fair to both parties and not be unreasonable or oppressive; in the law, this is referred to as ‘unconscionable.’ What qualifies as unreasonable or unconscionable varies by case, but the prenup can be overturned if the judge decides the agreement is too one-sided to be fair…

Complex litigation about the settlement of a patent dispute led to two straightforward jurisdictional holdings in National Oilwell Varco, LP v Auto-Dril, Inc.: Res judicata still applies. While “[p]arties may not waive the issue of subject matter jurisdiction,” it is also true that “[a] party that has had an opportunity to liitgate…

Contentious litigation about the governance of the Jackson Municipal Airport again reached the Fifth Circuit in Jackson Municipal Airport Auth. v. Harkins, The Court accepted jurisdiction in a document-production dispute for reasons unique to governmental privilege, but its waiver reasoning is instructive more broadly…

Judge Gavel

Confirming and applying its previous opinion in In re Allstate Indemnity Insurance Co., the Texas Supreme Court granted a Petition for Mandamus in In re Chefs’ Produce of Hous., Inc., holding that the trial court abused its discretion by striking the counteraffidavits and testimony of Chefs’ Produce’s retained expert because the opinions expressed in a counteraffidavit need not be admissible to provide the reasonable notice required under Section 18.001(f), and that the inclusion of a…

Among other issues presented by an unsuccessful attempt to relitigate an unsuccessful state-court takings claim in federal court, the Fifth Circuit reminded rhat the word “final” can have many meanings:…