Partners Eileen O’Neill and Michelle Blair secured an appellate victory for a common carrier that had been sued for negligence when a passenger committed a crime after disembarking. The Eleventh Court of Appeals in Eastland affirmed summary judgment for the carrier, holding that common carriers do not have a duty to protect the general public from passengers and that there was an insufficient causal nexus between the carrier’s decision to remove its passenger and the crime committed by the passenger hours later. The opinion is Garrett v. Wal-Mart Stores Tex., LLC, No. 11-24-00058-CV, 2026 WL 842979 (Tex. App.—Eastland Mar. 26, 2026, no pet. h.).

The Texas Supreme Court has denied further review of a $1.2 million summary judgment for breach of contract granted in favor of Ware Jackson’s client, a residential developer, which was previously affirmed by the First Court of Appeals in Houston. Michelle Blair handled the appellate proceedings and was a member of the trial team that secured the summary judgment along with Avery Sheppard and Don Jackson.

Ware Jackson represented a residential developer in a suit for breach of a reimbursement contract against a county water utility district. The trial court granted summary judgment in the client’s favor based on the res judicata effect of a prior administrative decision on the issue and awarded our client over $1.2 million in damages, plus interest. The First Court of Appeals in Houston rejected the district’s arguments that the prior decision was not preclusive and affirmed the trial court’s ruling. See Harris County Water Control & Improvement District No. 89 v. 308 Furman, Ltd., No. 01-23-00177-CV, 2024 WL 5249161 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 31, 2024, no pet. h.). The trial team included Avery Sheppard, Don Jackson, and Michelle Blair, and Michelle Blair handled the appeal.