April 2016 – Bailey Brauer

Alex Brauer Named among D Magazines 2016 Best Lawyers in Dallas

Bailey Brauer PLLC co-founder recognized for commercial litigation expertise DALLAS – Attorney Alex Brauer, co-founder of the complex litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC, has been named to D Magazine’s exclusive list of the Best Lawyers in Dallas for 2016 based on his work for clients in commercial litigation. Mr. Brauer’s broad commercial litigation practice includes representing clients in a wide range of industries. His current representations include, among others, an investment fund that was defrauded out of millions of dollars; a telecom company based in China involved in a dispute with a Brazilian supplier; and a commercial real estate brokerage firm in a tortious interference and breach of contract lawsuit. “I’m thankful to my peers and colleagues who voted for me,” says Mr. Brauer. “To be named among the city’s top lawyers is particularly gratifying when you consider the many excellent attorneys who are being recognized.” In addition to the recent D Magazine honors, Mr. Brauer has earned selection on the Texas Rising Stars list published by Thomson Reuters each year since 2010. A cum laude graduate of Florida State University, he completed his law degree at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as a law journal executive editor. To learn more about Mr. Brauer and his background, please see his Attorney Bio on this website. To compile the annual list of the top lawyers in Dallas, D Magazine editors solicited nominations from lawyers across North Texas. A handpicked panel of attorneys then worked with the magazine’s staff to determine the final list, which includes attorneys involved in a wide range of practice areas. The complete list is featured in the May 2016 edition of D Magazine and is available online at www.dmagazine.com.

Bailey Brauer Quarterly Newsletter – March ‘16

The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the use of “representative evidence” in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo provides guidance when challenging expert testimony. On March 22, 2016, the United States Supreme Court rejected Tyson Foods, Inc.’s (“Tyson”) request to reverse a $2.6 million judgment entered against it. In the underlying case, hourly employees working in Tyson’s pork processing plant in Storm Lake, Iowa filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Tyson failed to pay them overtime for time spent donning and doffing protective equipment necessary to perform their jobs. Given the plaintiffs’ allegations, each employee was required to show that he or she worked more than 40 hours a week, including the time donning and doffing protective equipment, in order to recover against Tyson. In order to meet this burden, the plaintiffs offered testimony by their expert witness, who conducted 744 videotaped observations and concluded that it took one set of employees an average of 18 minutes to don and doff their protective gear and a second set of employees an average of 21 minutes to don and doff their protective gear. The plaintiffs moved to certify a class of more than 3,300 employees who had allegedly been underpaid by Tyson as a result of the required donning and doffing activities. Tyson objected to the motion, arguing that the differences in protective gear each plaintiff was required to wear made the case inappropriate to proceed as a class action. The trial court rejected Tyson’s argument and certified the class. At trial, Tyson made the same argument to the jury. That is, the varying amounts of time it took employees to don and doff different protective gear made the lawsuit too speculative for classwide recovery. Tyson