Category Archives: Litigation

Non-compete breach in business contract nets client $25.6M 

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Joe Ahmad

My colleagues at AZA and I won a $25.6 million breach of contract jury verdict in Houston court this week in a non-compete case pitting AZA client doctors’ group Fondren Orthopedic Ltd. against healthcare giant HCA Healthcare.   While the Federal … Continue reading →

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Tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch acquitted of defrauding HP; he was smart to testify 

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Joe Ahmad

A San Francisco jury that heard three months of testimony unanimously acquitted Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch of 15 criminal charges of conspiracy and wire fraud over the 2011 sale of his company to Hewlett-Packard. The government charged that Lynch misrepresented … Continue reading →

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Paxton and Succession – What if you are the coup target?

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Joe Ahmad

Though politics, in the more formal political party sense of the word, had a leading role in the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, there were definite similarities between that attempted takeover and what happens in the hit … Continue reading →

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Panel of Global Employment Lawyers Agrees on One Thing: U.S. Noncompete Laws Create Unique Challenges

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Joe Ahmad

The state-by-state patchwork of noncompete laws is difficult enough for U.S.-based businesses, let alone employers with a cross-border presence. I had the pleasure of exploring this topic with a panel of U.S. and UK-based employment lawyers as part to the … Continue reading →

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Former MLB Pitcher Claims Astros Stole More than Hand Signals in Runup to 2017 World Series

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Joe Ahmad

Former MLB pitcher Mike Bolsinger has come up with a novel legal strategy as he (literally) relitigates his shoddy third-of-an-inning performance against the Astros in their runup to the 2017 World Series. The journeyman pitcher gave up four runs and … Continue reading →

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Winning in Litigation Starts with Recognizing what Success Looks Like

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Joe Ahmad

I’ve learned over time that sometimes clients have a different version “winning” in litigation than their lawyer. Trial lawyers tend to be consumed with keeping score on issues that don’t matter much to clients. Legal disputes and conflict have a … Continue reading →

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Treatment of Trump-Ukraine Informer Could Have Chilling Effect on Corporate Whistleblowers 

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Joe Ahmad

Whistleblowers have a variety of understandable reasons for bravely coming forward – but winning a popularity contest is rarely one of them. After all, they are typically corporate or government insiders alleging fraud and wrongdoing, which tends to render them vulnerable … Continue reading →

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Dallas Morning News Interviews Joe Ahmad About Clash of the Dating App Start-Ups

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Joe Ahmad

The Dallas Morning News took a close look at a raft of lawsuits facing Dallas-based online dating company Match.com, including a series of bitter lawsuits with rival startup Bumble, which I’ve written about previously on this blog. DMN Reporter Danielle Abril … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit Reminder: Words Matter in Employment Contacts, Restrictive Covenants

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Joe Ahmad

Sometimes the most fundamental legal concepts are so basic and intuitive that they tend to fall by the wayside in practice. Case in point is a recent Fifth Circuit opinion throwing out an arbitration agreement because the employer didn’t follow … Continue reading →

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Trump-Daniels Affair Exposes Inherent Legal Challenges with Hush Agreements

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Joe Ahmad

There are plenty of clues that the so-called “hush agreement” between Donald Trump and porn actress Stormy Daniels (née Stephanie Clifford) was hastily crafted and poorly thought out. Executed just days before the 2016, the non-disparagement agreement has a wealth … Continue reading →

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