Gibson Dunn Secures Important Procedural Victory in Texas’s Fifteenth Court of Appeals
Firm News | February 25, 2026
Gibson Dunn secured an important procedural victory when Texas’s Fifteenth Court of Appeals partially granted Gibson Dunn’s motion for temporary relief, staying discovery and all trial proceedings against our client, Frank Jackson. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Brister held that “it appears likely” the claim against Jackson is shielded by attorney immunity.
The case arises from former Reynolds & Reynolds CEO Thomas Barras’s lawsuit challenging his for-cause termination and seeking severance worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Barras added Jackson—general counsel of Reynolds & Reynolds’s parent company—asserting tortious interference based on Jackson’s role advising on the termination. After removal to Texas’s new business court, Gibson Dunn moved to dismiss under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 91a on attorney-immunity grounds. The business court denied the motion, and Gibson Dunn filed a mandamus petition in Texas’s Fifteenth Court of Appeals. The Court’s temporary relief order is a significant win for our client and an encouraging sign for the pending mandamus petition.
The Gibson Dunn team included partners Gregg Costa and Sydney Scott and associates Jack DiSorbo, Kohl Anderson, and Tony Alessi.
The case is In re Frank Jackson, No. 15-25-00235-CV (Tex. App.—15th Dist. Dec. 30, 2025, orig. proceeding).