Blog

If it hasn’t hit you yet, it’s coming.  More and more business clients enter into Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFA) with their lawyers.  Clients like the idea of the certainty and predictability an AFA provides, and quite frankly, they like the idea that they can pick up the phone to ask you a question without…

Since a special appearance filed under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 120a seeks to challenge the court’s personal jurisdiction over the defendant in a case, the merits of the special appearance argument focus on the basis for jurisdiction. Generally speaking, the plaintiff is responsible for asserting the basis or bases for jurisdiction, and the…

A special appearance challenges a court’s personal jurisdiction over a defendant in Texas. Unlike many other types of pleadings or motions, the timing of the special appearance is essential. Generally speaking, the special appearance must be filed as the first responsive pleading or as part of the first responsive pleading. In other words, when…

In some lawsuits that are filed in Texas, the defendant wishes to contest the state court’s jurisdiction over his or her person or property. To do this, the defendant must file a “special appearance” according to the rules laid out in Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 120a. Special appearances are most often filed by…

Under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA), as well as under the common law, information could be treated as a “trade secret” only if it met two criteria: it wasn’t “generally known” or “readily ascertainable” to those who could benefit from it, and its owner took reasonable efforts, given the circumstances, to protect…

To be protected by Texas trade secret law under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA), information must be valuable because it is neither “generally known” nor “readily ascertainable” to third parties unless those third parties use improper means to get it. Clearly, this includes information that a third party could not acquire without…

In 2013, The Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA) went into law, making significant changes to a number of aspects of the law protecting trade secrets within the state. The TUTSA applies to misappropriations of trade secrets that take place on or after September 1, 2013 – cases before this date are still governed…