Texas

FBI Warns Law Firms: Beware of E-Mail Clients (and Counterfeit ‘Settlement’ Checks)

After earlier reports that law firms had been scammed out of millions of dollars in counterfeit check schemes often involving e-mail clients, the FBI has issued a warning that those in the Dallas area, at least, are being targeted by several new versions of the fraud. In one, an individual…

Jun 2, 2010 5:15 PM CDT

Frustration Over Uncontained Gulf Oil Spill—and Tort Claim Contingency Fees of Up to 50 Percent

As crude oil continues gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a record-breaking rate from an undersea BP well, frustration with the situation is building. A little over a month after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and burned, killing 11 workers, it appears that a combination of factors ranging…

May 25, 2010 1:44 AM CDT

Ex-Baron & Budd Lawyer Awarded $8.8M for Firm’s Statements About Finances

A former lawyer at Baron & Budd has been awarded $8.8 million based on his claim that the law firm lured him to work there by misrepresenting its financial condition. A Dallas County jury found that Baron & Budd and firm founder Russell Budd had made negligent misrepresentations to the…

May 21, 2010 1:01 PM CDT

Avoid Chaos, Decide Now Where to Try Oil Spill Cases, Lawyer Urges Multidistrict Panel

As the tally of cases related to the still-gushing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico tops 100, a Louisiana lawyer today urged a panel of federal judges to decide quickly to consolidate the litigation and determine where it should be pursued. Although the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict…

May 20, 2010 12:08 AM CDT

After Federal Judge Bans Counsel Changes, Onetime Billionaire Tells New Lawyer He’s Fired

Only six weeks ago, a federal judge in Houston, Texas, told onetime billionaire. R. Allen Stanford that his two new lawyers would be his last. But already Stanford is testing that limit on counsel substitutions: One of the two new lawyers defending the Houston businessman in a criminal case over…

May 15, 2010 12:07 AM CDT

Lawyer Accused of Shooting at Census Worker

A Texas lawyer is accused of firing five shots at a Census worker who stopped at her home in Leander over the weekend. Carolyn Machalec Barnes was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to stories by the Austin American-Statesman, KXAN.com and the Associated Press. The worker wasn’t…

May 13, 2010 4:15 PM CDT

Lawyer for Alleged Ponzi Schemer Jailed over Discovery Issues

A lawyer for alleged Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford spent a night in jail last week after a judge found him in contempt of court for failing to turn over documents in a separate case. The Houston lawyer, Robert Bennett, was jailed after refusing to provide documents in a civil…

May 11, 2010 11:42 AM CDT

Student’s Prizewinning Law Review Article Ignites Texas Tax Debate

Nikki Laing is no ordinary law student. And her upcoming Baylor Law Review article is more than a bit unusual, too. At 35, she is the mother of an 11-year-old and has already put together a successful small business. Plus, she is not only an accountant but last year scored…

May 10, 2010 8:21 PM CDT

Zero Tolerance for Junk Food at Lunch Puts Girl in School Detention for Week

Updated: A third-grader in Texas is paying the price for eating a Jolly Rancher candy at lunch–one week’s detention during lunch and recess periods. The seemingly harsh penalty is necessary, officials at Brazos Independent School District say, because the district risks losing funding if it violates a state guideline by…

May 7, 2010 6:49 PM CDT

‘Bulletproof’ Lawyer Gets Law License Probation for Lewd Courtroom Gesture

A Texas lawyer who served 10 days in jail for making an obscene gesture in a court hearing has agreed to a three-year law license probation. The lawyer, who calls himself Adam “Bulletproof” Reposa in the State Bar of Texas online directory, will still be eligible to practice during the…

May 6, 2010 2:36 PM CDT

‘Sexts’ Lead to Felony Child Porn Case Against High School Student, 17

A Texas teenager is now a defendant in a felony child-pornography case after allegedly persuading a 16-year-old classmate to send him a topless photo from her cell phone via text message. He then is accused of demanding a fully nude photo—and threatening to send the topless shot to others if…

May 5, 2010 7:17 PM CDT

Despite Male-to-Female Sex Change, Woman Is Still a Man Under Texas Marriage Law

The attorney general of Texas is a staunch supporter of the state law requiring marriage (and, he says, by extension divorce) to be between a man and a woman. But a request last month by the El Paso County Attorney for a ruling concerning one woman’s plan to marry another…

May 5, 2010 6:20 PM CDT

120-Lawyer NJ Firm Opens New Office in Fort Worth, Texas

A 120-lawyer New Jersey-based business firm is venturing away from the East Coast to plant its flag in Texas. Cole Schotz Meisel Forman & Leonard is opening a new office in Fort Worth with three bankruptcy lawyers from the dissolving WarnerStevens firm, reports the Dallas Business Journal. “The addition of…

May 4, 2010 9:42 PM CDT

Dallas Lawyer, a History Buff, Tracks Down Soldiers’ Skulls

A Dallas lawyer and history buff researching the Battle of San Jacinto has tracked down the skulls of six Mexican soldiers who died there. Jeff Dunn, a shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, is co-founder of a nonprofit organization known as the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground, Texas…

May 3, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Judge Who Refused Late Capital Appeal Is Fined $100K for Failing to Disclose Assets

The Texas judge in the news for refusing to keep the courthouse open for a late-filed capital appeal is facing a record $100,000 fine for failing to disclose more than $2 million in assets. The Texas Ethics Commission fined Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,…

Apr 30, 2010 3:57 PM CDT