Litigation
Our firm is dedicated to representing public school districts in
areas such as employment law, student matters, governance, policy,
special education, construction, and our experience with litigation
is abundant. We also represent other private and public entities in
employment, civil rights, and tort matters. Entities that use our
preventive law philosophy can often avoid lawsuits. But when
litigation is imminent, our firm is as comfortable and confident
before an administrative law judge at TEA as we are in the
Courts.
Our firm has a strong litigation background and members have
appeared successfully before every federal district court in Texas,
the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the
United States Supreme Court. We have successfully represented
schools in Texas state courts from Municipal Courts through the
Texas Supreme Court. We have over 50 published opinions.
Additionally, Dennis Eichelbaum has won before both the United
States and Texas Supreme Courts. One of the firm's most notable
decisions is Jett v. Dallas Independent School District, 491 U.S.
701 (1989), a benchmark win for public institutions.
The explosion of state and federal laws and regulations
inevitably leads to more civil rights litigation, especially
involving students as plaintiffs. Our firm has won major federal
appellate cases and state Supreme Court cases that assist
governmental entities in defending against liability: Travis Cent.
Appraisal Dist. v. Norman; Mission Consol. Independent School
District v. Garcia; Lamesa Independent School District v.
Booe; Barrow v. Greenville Independent School District; Doe ex Rel
Doe v. Dallas Independent School District, Doe v. Dallas
Independent School District, and Doe v. Hillsboro Independent
School District.
We're proud of our contributions to the defense of school
districts, and that two of our cases, Leffall v. Dallas Independent
School District and Johnson v. Dallas Independent School District
are cited by other school law practitioners and judges in almost
every Section 1983 "deliberate indifference" case in the Texas
federal courts today.
