Federal Judiciary

TrollTracker suit removed to Eastern District of Texas

By Michael Smith

References to the Eastern District as a "banana republic" by Mr. Frenkel or any other Cisco employees were notably absent when Cisco and Frenkel removed the defamation case filed against them from state court to the Eastern District of Texas today.  The case was removed to the Tyler division, where it drew U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider.  Judge Schneider is familiar to patent practitioners who work in the Tyler and Sherman Divisions, where he handles part of the docket, and to Texas lawyers in general as a former state district, appellate and Texas Supreme Court judge (I think he was also a municipal court judge, but I'm not positive about that - I believe his son currently is, but, again, I may be mistaken).
Judge Schneider has an interesting connection to Marshall.  In my post when he first joined the ED, Judge Schneider Confirmed for Eastern District Bench I noted that in a July 2003 profile, Justice Schneider told the Texas Bar Journal ?I feel real fortunate (to have grown up in East Texas) .... When I was in the eighth grade ? I lived in Hallsville, a small town between Marshall and Longview ? we went on a field trip to Marshall, 13 miles away, and we watched a trial. I had never seen a trial before and I was completely fascinated with witness testimony, the judge, and the performance of the lawyer ? it made an indelible imprint on me."
No mention of it being a banana republic, but maybe I didn't read the whole article.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).