Illegal Immigrant Rental Ban Blocked

A federal judge has blocked a law that would require landlords in one Texas town to verify that tenants are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay of Dallas granted a preliminary injunction barring the law from taking effect, the Houston Chronicle reports. Lindsay wrote that the…

Jun 20, 2007 7:06 PM CDT

Disbanded Firm Sued for Malpractice

A disbanded Dallas law firm is facing a $20 million suit for malpractice and breach of contract filed by a former business client that claims lawyers counseled it to accept a bad merger deal. The defendant is Jenkins & Gilchrist, which closed on March 31 after signing a non-prosecution agreement…

Jun 15, 2007 1:13 PM CDT

Legal Fees an Issue in Dynegy Case

The case of a former executive at Dynegy Inc. illustrates the importance of company-paid legal fees.

Former Dynegy accountant Jamie Olis maintains he didn’t have the resources to mount an adequate defense against criminal charges after his company ceased paying fees, according to a Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) account of his case. He claims then-U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby pressured the company to stop paying fees.

A civil jury in Texas agreed, ordering the energy company last month to pay $2.5 million in damages for wrongly holding back the fees.

But the verdict came too late for Olis, who is serving a six-year prison term for helping create sham financial transactions.

Jun 12, 2007 3:52 PM CDT

Lawyer Seeks New Trial in Sex-Cash Case

A Texas lawyer will seek a new trial following his theft conviction for pressuring men for money after they had sex with his wife, who is also a lawyer.

San Antonio lawyer Ted Roberts will argue in his new trial motion that the charges proved by prosecutors did not match those in the indictment, Texas Lawyer reports.

Last week Roberts was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime.

Jun 11, 2007 1:46 PM CDT

Sex Offender Seeks to Halt Adoption

A juvenile court commissioner in Riverside, Calif., has halted the adoption of a 2-year-old girl named Heaven to consider uniting the child with her sex-offender father. A Texas couple wants to adopt the child, who has heart defects and mild cerebral palsy, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I cannot…

Jun 6, 2007 7:30 PM CDT

Lawyer Jailed for Extorting Wife’s Lovers

Sentenced this week to five years in prison for extorting money from men who had affairs with his wife, a Texas attorney was unrepentent. “It is incredible to me after I sought protection from the law that … I face sentencing without having committed a crime,” Ted H. Roberts, 50,…

Jun 6, 2007 12:25 AM CDT

Death Penalty a Killer Joke to Texas Man

The death penalty may be no laughing matter to many. But a condemned man in Texas is asking folks on the outside to send him jokes, so he can select the best to read just before his scheduled execution on June 26. “I know I’m not innocent,” says Patrick Knight,…

Jun 5, 2007 12:46 AM CDT

Giuliani ‘Stepping Back’ as Practitioner

Rudolph Giuliani’s decision two years ago to become a partner in the Manhattan office of a Houston, Texas, law firm at a point in life when many practitioners are retiring was about more than just a lust to practice law. It was, in all likelihood, at least partially a political…

Jun 4, 2007 7:54 PM CDT

Monk: I Helped Church Shield Priest Who Killed Parishioner

A 74-year-old retired priest who allegedly killed a parishioner decades ago reportedly is walking around as a free man today at least in part because the Catholic Church may have shielded him from a murder charge. Asked by a reporter recently whether he had murdered Irene Garza, 25, in 1960,…

May 31, 2007 7:32 PM CDT

Execution for Tex. Woman in Baby Case?

An unusual execution of a woman may be about to take place in Texas. If so, it would be only the 12th in the entire country since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1977. Well over 1,000 men have been executed during that time. Cathy Lynn Henderson,…

May 31, 2007 12:33 AM CDT

66 Texas Youth Workers Had Arrest Records

Sixty-six employees at the Texas Youth Commission have been fired because they had felony arrest records, according to a state official leading an investigation. Among them were a case manager convicted of murder in 1971 and a juvenile corrections officer who pleaded guilty to attempted murder in 1980, the New…

May 3, 2007 1:29 PM CDT

Vioxx Maker Wins Initial Round in Texas

A Texas judge has ruled that state juries may not decide whether Vioxx manufacturer Merck & Co. withheld information from the Food and Drug and Administration.

Apr 23, 2007 3:12 PM CDT

Harriet Miers Rejoins Texas Firm

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers is rejoining her Texas law firm. Miers, a former chair of the ABA Journal Board of Editors, will be back at her desk at Locke Liddell & Sapp on May 1, according to reports in Texas Lawyer and the Dallas Morning News. Managing partner…

Apr 18, 2007 5:16 PM CDT

Strange Bedfellows in Texas Gun Debate

The Texas chapter of the National Rifle Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas have joined forces to support the rights of Texas citizens to carry guns in their cars. A joint report by the groups says Texas district and county attorneys have instructed police officers to “unnecessarily”…

Apr 5, 2007 2:53 PM CDT

Tort Reform Texas Style

New Laws and Med-Mal Damage Caps Devastate Plaintiff and Defense Firms Alike

Oct 24, 2006 9:38 AM CDT