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On October 6, 2011, Kathleen Kennedy argued before the Texas Supreme Court in In re United Scaffolding, Inc. The case was tried in December 2008 where United had a successful verdict. The trial judge granted plaintiff's motion for new trial "in the interest of justice and fairness." United filed a mandamus arguing an abuse of discretion by the trial court in addition to a constitutional violation to United's right to a jury trial. While the mandamus was pending, Texas Supreme Court issued its landmark In re Columbia opinion in which the Court decided that the trial court had to be clear and specific in its reasons for granting a new trial. In March, 2009 the trial court issued an amended order giving 4 reasons for granting the new trial based on insufficiency of the evidence. United filed its second mandamus contending the trial court abused its discretion by not being clear or specific in its reasons. The Ninth Court of Appeals was split 2-1 and the Texas Supreme Court accepted United's Petition for Mandamus and held oral arguments.

The issues before the Texas Supreme Court were 1) how much detail does a trial court have to give to be clear and specific and 2) are those reasons reviewable by an appellate court. United's position is that boilerplate language of a jury's verdict being against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence is not specific and does not inform the party how the jury "got it wrong." United also argued that the trial court's reason(s) should be reviewable in order to uphold a party's constitutional right to a jury trial and the resulting verdict. If the reasons won't be reviewed, then it "seems to be asking them to do something that's never going to matter after the fact."

Kathleen M. Kennedy started her litigation career as a prosecutor for the Gregg County District Attorney. She has been defending civil litgation cases since 2000 and has been with MehaffyWeber since 2007. Her practice includes a wide range of civil litigation with an emphasis on products liability, premises liability, medical malpractice, construction, energy, and personal injury cases. Kathleen has tried more than 50 cases to verdict as first chair in Brazoria, Gregg, Hardin, Harris, Jasper, Jefferson, Newton, Orange and Tyler Counties.