Gov. Rick Perry has appointed two new courts of appeals justices. On July 1, Perry announced his appointment of Rebeca Huddle, a partner in Baker Botts in Houston, to serve as a justice on the 1st Court of Appeals. Huddle replaces Justice Elsa Alcala , who left the court this year to serve on the Court of Criminal Appeals. “I’m looking forward to working with my new colleagues. I am looking forward to the opportunity to give back to the community and serve the community in a more meaningful way,” Huddle says. Huddle earned her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1999. At Baker Botts, she says she “handled matters ranging from small personal-injury defense to large complex shareholder litigation, and lots of business disputes in between.” Huddle will take her seat on the Houston appellate court in early August; she says she will spend the coming weeks working with Baker Botts partners to transition her matters to other lawyers. She says she has wanted to be a judge for a few years, because she thinks it would be an honor to serve the state. “I’m grateful to Gov. Perry for the appointment, and I’m very much looking forward to what is an extraordinary opportunity to serve Texas,” she says. Her appointment expires at the next general election, and she says she will run in 2012. Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed writes in an e-mail that the governor is thankful Huddle will serve in the position. He considers applicants’ qualifications and willingness to serve when making appointments, she writes. On July 7, Perry announced his appointment of Daniel “Eric” Kalenak to the 11th Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy created when Justice Rick Strange resigned on April 17. Strange now is of counsel at Midland’s Cotton, Bledsoe, Tighe & Dawson . Kalenak, the first assistant DA for the Midland County District Attorney’s Office and a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps, did not return a telephone call seeking comment before presstime.
Too Much Pressure?
On July 6, Tabitha Washington filed an amended complaint in federal court in Houston against Wolfgang Puck Worldwide and its subsidiaries W.P. Appliances Inc. and W.P. Productions Inc. In Tabitha Washington v. Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Inc., et al. , Washington alleges she purchased a Wolfgang Puck 7 Quart 4-in-1 Pressure Cooker from the Home Shopping Network Inc. and in 2009 she used it to make gumbo. “At the end of the ‘soup’ cycle, the cooker beeped indicating that the gumbo was finished cooking. As the cooker instructions required, [Washington] unplugged the Cooker and ‘vented’ or reduced the pressure to allow all the steam to escape. . . . Approximately twenty minutes later, Plaintiff opened the lid to the Cooker. Immediately upon opening the lid, the gumbo spewed up from the Cooker sending boiling juices throughout the kitchen and all over Ms. Washington’s body. . . . Immediately upon contact, the scorching juices shattered Ms. Washington’s glass oven door [and] also landed directly on Ms. Washington’s clothing and bare skin causing second and third degree burns to her chest/breasts, stomach, arm, leg, and foot. Ms. Washington was immediately rushed to the emergency room in excruciating pain and treated for her injuries. . . .” In her complaint, Washington alleges negligence and gross negligence, breach of warranty, strict product liability and joint enterprise causes of action, and she seeks damages and exemplary damages of more than $75,000. In a July 7 answer to Washington’s amended complaint, the defendants deny the allegations and “affirmatively plead that Washington’s claims are barred, in whole or in part, by Washington’s contributory negligence.” The defendants also allege that “Washington failed to exercise ordinary care, caution, or prudence to prevent the alleged incident. . . .” Still pending is the defendants’ Feb. 14 motion seeking partial summary judgment and dismissal of some claims; they allege Washington delayed serving them with process and did not exercise due diligence when attempting to do so. Washington’s lawyer, Tony R. Taft of the Taft Law Firm in Houston, did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Michael M. Gallagher , a shareholder in Houston’s Hays, McConn, Rice & Pickering , represents the defendants.
