GG Story of the Year 2025: Crypto Gaming Collapses as Funding Dries Up Crypto gaming’s funding pipeline deteriorated sharply in 2025, leaving large parts of the GameFi sector without the capital needed to sustain development. The decline ended with dozens of projects running out of runway as token prices fell and studio treasuries thinned. The…
**Texas Appeals Court Slams Door on Pipeline Investors’ Emergency Bid** In a swift rebuff, Texas’ Fourth Court of Appeals denied Antonio and Nancy Mercado’s mandamus petition and emergency stay on December 31, 2025, refusing to override a lower court’s handling of their lawsuit against Epic Crude Pipeline. The Mercados, likely stung by adverse trial rulings…
**Texas Appeals Court Slams Door on Pipeline Mandamus Bid** In a swift holiday rejection, Texas’ Fourth Court of Appeals denied a mandamus petition from Antonio E. Mercado and Nancy L. Mercado against Epic Crude Pipeline, LP, ruling they failed to prove trial court abuse or lack of appeal remedies. Filed December 16 amid an underlying…
SEC Crypto Hopes Dashed: Texas Court Backs Bitcoin Seizure. A Texas appeals court just slammed the door on a crypto owner’s bid to reclaim $67,000 in seized Bitcoin, affirming a lower court’s denial of his pretrial habeas corpus plea. This ruling in *Ex Parte Rogelio Contreras Soriano* hands prosecutors a win in a case sparked…
Texas Sex Offender Conviction Overturned on Appeal A Texas appeals court has reversed the conviction of repeat felon Lee Cotirell Roy for failing to register as a sex offender, entering a full acquittal after the state itself conceded the evidence was insufficient. This rare prosecutorial fold highlights cracks in sex offender compliance enforcement, freeing Roy…
Texas Appeals Court Delivers Shock Acquittal Victory. A Texas appeals court stunned the legal world by reversing a conviction and rendering an acquittal for defendant Lee Cotirell Roy in a Gregg County criminal case, citing reversible error in the trial court’s judgment. This rare outright acquittal—bypassing retrial—highlights judicial scrutiny on trial flaws, but its crypto…
**Texas Appeals Court Rubber-Stamps Crypto Theft Conviction** A Texas appeals court on December 31, 2025, upheld Daniel Nicholas Villazana’s conviction from Camp County’s 276th District Court, finding no errors in the trial judgment. While full opinion details remain sparse, the ruling affirms a case tied to local crime (Tr. Ct. No. CF-22-02923), waiving appeal costs…
Texas Murder Conviction Stands Despite Evidence Rule Fights A Texas appeals court upheld Daniel Villazana’s 42-year murder sentence after a deadly house party shooting, rejecting claims that prosecutors sandbagged expert witnesses and broke witness sequestration rules. The ruling reinforces trial judges’ wide latitude in handling discovery slip-ups and “The Rule” violations, prioritizing fairness over technical…
**Texas Court Backs Trust in Construction Feud – No Crypto Angle** A Texas appeals court on December 31, 2025, upheld a lower court’s ruling in a mundane construction dispute, affirming judgment against Billy Marquis of Marquis Brothers General Construction and in favor of Zachary Sadeghian, trustee of Kamy Real Property Trust. This routine affirmance in…
**Texas Court Shields Frivolous Roof Suit from Sanctions Penalty** A Texas appeals court just upheld a trial judge’s refusal to slap sanctions on a real estate trust that sued a roofer over shoddy 2015 work discovered nine years later, dropping the case days after the roofer hit back with a limitations defense. This ruling reinforces…
**Court Slams Pro Se Suit Over Pharmacy Promise Gone Wrong** A Second Circuit panel unanimously affirmed dismissal of Brian Ng’s lawsuit against claims handler Sedgwick and employee Sandra Brach, ruling his promissory and equitable estoppel claims flopped hard. Ng blamed Kmart Pharmacy for botching his prescription, then targeted Sedgwick for allegedly promising a document review…
**Court Slams Frivolous Suit Against Pharmacy Claims Firm** A Second Circuit panel unanimously affirmed dismissal of Brian Ng’s lawsuit against Sedgwick, the third-party administrator for Kmart Pharmacy, tossing claims of promissory estoppel, equitable estoppel, and negligent misrepresentation over a botched prescription fill. Ng, representing himself, alleged a Sedgwick employee promised a favorable review of his…
### Clerks Immune: Court Shields Restitution Errors from Lawsuits An Ohio appeals court slammed the door on a crime victim’s bid to sue a county clerk for bungled restitution checks, affirming absolute immunity for quasi-judicial acts. Trent Haery, shorted in a $300,000 payout from financial fraud cases, got overpaid $40,000 by mistake, spent it, then…
Oregon Supreme Court Narrows “Physical Force” in Robbery Law Oregon’s top court just gutted a key robbery conviction, ruling that snatching a motel keycard from someone’s hand without touching them or sparking fear doesn’t count as “physical force.” This reverses years of lower court precedent, forcing a retrial and raising the bar for what elevates…
Oregon Supreme Court Clears Lawyer in Verbal Order Dispute Oregon’s highest court just tossed out a disciplinary case against attorney Anne-Marie Clark, ruling the state bar failed to prove she knowingly disobeyed a judge’s verbal order. Clark, acting as trustee for her disabled cousin’s special needs trust, stopped sending $20 monthly checks after a chaotic…
**Tennessee Court Slaps Down Stalker’s Appeal in Protection Order Case** A Tennessee appeals court dismissed Aaron Cregati’s challenge to a 10-year extension of a protection order against him for stalking a pregnant teen, ruling he waived all arguments by skipping hearings and failing to raise issues below. The decision awards the victim’s attorney fees, reinforcing…
Tennessee Court Bolsters Multi-Victim Gun Crime Prosecutions A Tennessee appeals court mostly upheld harsh sentences against a man who fired six shots at a Waffle House parking lot SUV packed with three adults and four teens, grazing one juvenile, then pistol-whipped threats at another couple. The ruling reverses a lower court’s merger of two reckless…
### Pastor Sues Over Rape Claim, Court Shields Free Speech Washington appeals court slams the door on a pastor’s defamation suit against his ex-assistant, ruling her “rape” accusation in a letter and blog post is protected speech under the new Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA). Pastor Micahn Carter, who bedded assistant Mary Jones in…
### Washington Court Greenlights Warrantless Drug Searches on Supervised Offenders A Washington state appeals court upheld a conviction for drug possession by ruling that probation-like supervision kicks in immediately upon sentencing, even during electronic home monitoring, allowing warrantless home searches on failed drug tests. This unpublished decision clarifies when Department of Corrections (DOC) authority begins,…
**Washington Court Slaps Estate Heir with Contempt Over Secret Home Sale** A Washington appeals court just upheld a contempt ruling against Shane Hurd, who secretly sold his late father’s house—out from under the man’s longtime partner Dorothy Phillips—then blew the $165,000 proceeds without proof. Phillips, who poured cash into the down payment, renovations, and bills…
