Thanks to the impending marriage of the smartphone and bank account, there’s a very good chance that one day very soon all of us will be walking around with digital wallets.

Before that happens, mobile phone users will have to get over the fear that combining phones and payment cards creates new and lucrative avenues for hackers and data thieves. In a guest commentary published by the Dallas Morning News, data security expert Erin Nealy Cox writes: “There’s something inherently terrifying about the prospect of transforming a smartphone into a digital wallet — just ask anyone who’s left an iPhone in a cab or any parent who’s discovered that children are capable of making purchases within an app.”

While new data security threats will no doubt emerge with phones using Near Field Communication, Nealy Cox, executive managing director at international data security firm Stroz Friedberg, advises that there’s a real opportunity for all of us to rethink the way we interface with our devices, our social media platforms and all of the Internet accounts and logons that come with life in the digital age.

"Will the marriage of payment card and mobile phone make us even more vulnerable to cyber thieves and offer a new avenue for our personal information to wind up in the hands of global crime syndicates? Perhaps yes, but I prefer to look at this as an opportunity for all of us to clean house and fix what is too often the weakest link when it comes to cyber security — our own lazy online habits."

Read more about Nealy Cox’s password checklist here.

As a longtime and respected estate planning lawyer in Dallas, it’s not uncommon for legal reporters to seek out Shackelford Melton & McKinley’s Dan Baucum for insight and analysis on legal stories involving complicated estate planning, tax and business questions.  When Baucum spoke with Dallas Morning News “Problem Solver” reporter Katie Fairbank recently, he provided more than provide a few knowledgeable quotes – he ultimately agreed to help unravel a messy dispute on a pro bono basis.

Relatives of Dallas resident Johnny Peters came to Fairbank after  Mr. Peters died of natural causes inside his apartment. With the funeral date approaching, the apartment’s property manager changed the locks on his apartment unit and blocked the family’s efforts to retrieve burial clothes and sentimental items. After receiving a series of confusing explanations from the apartment owners, Fairbank turned to Baucum for help. Writes Fairbank:

After learning about the case from Problem Solver, probate attorney Baucum offered to help the family pro bono. He spent the next week trying to reach Pinnacle’s attorney, but no one answered the phone and his calls were not returned. “If someone dies in Texas with an estate valued at less than $50,000 and no will, the people that get the possessions are the children or the grandchildren in accordance with state law,” he said.

Fairbank went on to recount how Baucum persisted and ultimately obtained a constructive response and the workings of a resolution.On Wednesday, Kin Oldham, head of the company’s central region, returned Baucum’s calls. They reached an agreement Friday. “The bottom line is that [Oldham] is willing to let me tell him who the heirs-at-law will be,” Baucum said. “He was quite reasonable. Finally, I think we’ve got something where we don’t have to go to court.” Baucum said the proper release of the possessions should be finalized next week. Oldham explained to Baucum that the company’s attorney is seriously ill and has been unavailable. Family members say they are numb from their nearly monthlong struggle. They wonder why they weren’t simply told that the attorney was sick. “I respect that, but I don’t understand why we were treated this way,” Chaney said.

It’s not easy to point to the signal conflict that spurred the feud between Texas and Oklahoma. Certainly, the well-documented 1931 border confrontation between Oklahoma Gov. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray and rifle-wielding Texas Rangers wasn’t a highpoint in interstate relations.

Fast forward to 2011, and football foes The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma now share ownership in the trademark for the term “Red River Rivalry.” As such, according to Munck Carter trademark attorney Dyan House, those schools have a mutual interest in protecting the trademark now that the Oklahoma Thunder and the Dallas Mavericks are trading baskets in the NBA Western Conference Finals.

“If the universities allow the unauthorized use of the ‘Red River Rivalry’ brand, it weakens the trademark," House says. House expects both schools to be on alert for unauthorized uses on hats, T-shirts, signs and other promotional materials, so they can take immediate action during the Mavs-Thunder playoff series.

While jointly enforcing a trademark doesn’t equate to Woodstock, it certainly is a step up from open hostility.

This is how DeSoto Central High School (Mississippi) football coach Chris Purnell described Bennie (Buster) Abram in 2005: "Bennie is a quiet leader. He will lead by example and he'll work hard, but he doesn't do a whole lot of talking. He's certainly not afraid of anybody."

Abram’s hard work was evident when he joined the University of Mississippi football team as a walk-on defensive back. However, Abram died on the first day of spring practice at an Ole Miss practice field on Feb. 19, 2010.

An autopsy determined that the Southaven, Miss., native’s death was caused by complications from sickle cell trait with exertion and a contributing factor of cardiomegaly (inflammation of the heart). The sickle cell trait has been tied to more than 20 college athletes’ deaths in recent years.

Now, attorneys from the Houston office of The Lanier Law Firm and Jackson, Miss.-based Coxwell & Associates, PLLC, are representing the Abram family in a lawsuit against Ole Miss head football coach Houston Nutt, the NCAA, the university and others based on claims that the defendants ignored Abram’s sickle cell condition.

“Buster’s death is a tragedy that should have been prevented,” says The Lanier Law Firm’s Gene Egdorf. “Every sickle cell expert in the world will tell you that the only way this trait can cause a student-athlete’s death is when they are put through overly strenuous workouts like the one Bennie went through before he died.”

Egdorf represented the family of former Rice University student-athlete Dale R. Lloyd II in a landmark settlement with the NCAA last year that resulted in new policies requiring sickle cell testing for all college athletes.

Most high schoolers (hopefully) can tell you that freedom of the press was one of the basic founding principles of the United States. Yet, that freedom – as all liberties – has its limits.

A Fort Bend County, Texas, jury recently meted out its own lesson on journalistic responsibility, awarding $1.1 million to an East Texas man who claimed that the Fort Bend Star newspaper defamed him and injured his reputation in a front-page story it published in 2003.

But the newspaper could have forgone the expensive tutorial had it only printed a retraction, says John Zavitsanos, of Houston’s Ahmad Zavitsanos & Anaipakos law firm, which represented the plaintiff.

Wade Brady sued the Star and journalist LeaAnn Klentzman about the front-page story that described alleged tape-recorded meetings between Brady's father, Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Brady, and deputies involved in a traffic stop that ended with Wade Brady being ticketed as a minor in possession of alcohol.

Wade Brady’s libel suit followed, alleging that Klentzman’s story gave “a false and defamatory impression of the plaintiff" and injured Wade Brady's reputation. The complaint also alleged that Klentzman did not interview any of the three officers involved in the traffic stop, "fabricated many of the statements in the article," and purposely failed to note that Wade Brady was found innocent of the alcohol charge at a 2002 jury trial.

In the libel case, Wade Brady has already obtained a successful ruling at the appellate court level in a mid-case appeal. The defendants say they intend to appeal the matter further.

The Fort Bend County libel case could serve as a tutorial for any publication or journalist on the potential costs of journalistic irresponsibility.

Just a few years ago, the Facebook term “unfriend” was named the New Oxford American Dictionary’s verb of the year, demonstrating the omnipresence of social media.

A more recent example of how that power can be abused was the firing of a Houston-area teacher who admitted that she created a false Facebook page to even a score with one of her co-workers.

Amy Davis, an employment lawyer at Dallas’ Rose●Walker law firm, says that the case of 26-year-old Spring ISD teacher Lily Chau should be a wakeup call to both public- and private-sector employers to develop and implement social media policies.

“Employers have a responsibility to protect their employees from harassment in the workplace,” says Davis. “Unfortunately, the ubiquity of social media networks means that the boundaries of the workplace have expanded almost infinitely.”

It seems Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media have made the notion of boundaries seem as obsolete as the Edsel.

Mobile connectedness has a well-documented tendency to erode fundamental human courtesies.

Davis says that the dissolution of social boundaries and common courtesy can mean trouble for employers if a company knows, or knew, about harassment, but doesn’t take steps to stop it. That’s particularly the case if it involves sexually oriented content or is motivated by a person’s gender, race, religion or other protected status.

Perhaps when Facebook-fueled incivility dies down, employers can again “friend” social media.

May 2, 2011, marks the 400^th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, viewed by many as the most significant piece of literature in the English language.

But the impact of the most popular book ever sold goes well beyond language and religion, says Houston attorney W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm.

"Placing the Bible in common vernacular put the study of Judeo-Christian ethics and history into the hands of all who read, and it had a tremendous impact on religion, law, culture and the English language."

Lanier points out that the King James Bible’s impact can be seen in law, such as the concept of punitive damages from Exodus; culture, by spreading common morality; and government, by setting out 'inalienable rights' and other principles supporting the American Revolution.

Lanier is uniquely qualified to opine on Biblical history based on his previous studies of biblical languages at David Lipscomb University and his longtime role as the instructor for a Biblical literacy class regularly attended by more than 600 people at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston.

He recently established the Lanier Theological Library at his Houston home. The library, which has been featured by the Houston Chronicle and Super Lawyers, houses a comprehensive collection of materials related to the study of Scripture and Christianity. The library also contains several private collections from some of the world’s most notable religious scholars.

More than 150,000 U.S. patients have purchased DePuy Pinnacle hip implant devices. Experts say the device’s design can result in metal shavings dislodging inside a patient’s body, causing infections and other problems.

Now, The Lanier Firm is leading a national charge to coordinate all DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant lawsuits at one federal courthouse, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has scheduled a May 16, 2011, hearing in Louisville, Ky., to discuss consolidation of In Re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2244.

The hearing announcement follows the recent national coordination of lawsuits over the DePuy ASR Hip System and the ASR XL Acetabular System, which were recalled in August 2010. The Lanier Law Firm founder Mark Lanier requested the coordination of those cases, and was one of the first attorneys in the nation to file a lawsuit over the DePuy ASR hip implants after the recalls were announced.

Lanier is no stranger to litigation involving product defect claims, including a 2010 case that resulted in a verdict of more than $55 million for a client who was paralyzed while using a defective piece of heavy machinery. The case recently was ranked as one of the Top 100 Verdicts of the year by The National Law Journal.

From television to movies, spending an unsupervised prom night in a hotel room is often depicted as a teenager’s final rite of passage into adulthood. However, it is not business courted by many hotels and those that do run the risk of being held liable should the celebration spiral out of control. 

“Most hotels have it in their rental policies that they will not rent to anyone under the age of 18,” says litigation attorney Brett Lamb of the Dallas office of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. “Nor can you rent a room on behalf of someone else. That includes parents who rent a room on behalf of their child, but are not staying there themselves.”

Should hotel staff notice an uptick in post-prom registrations, they should have established policies for how to respond, says Lamb, as knowingly having underage guests engaging in risky or illegal behavior opens the hotel up to liability if they do nothing to stop it. “The hotel has a duty to all guests to warn them of known dangers, the hotel can’t just look the other way and hope for the best.”

Lamb’s partner, Dewey Brackin of Gardere’s Austin office cautions that hotels with a liquor license could also find themselves in hot water with the TABC if they permit, even by omission “anyone under 21 to drink alcoholic beverages on the premises, unless they are under the direct supervision of their parent or guardian.” While some parents might feel their child is safer in a hotel room drinking with friends, hotels cannot be used as a substitute chaperon, he says.

Justice is even sweeter the second time around for Dallas attorneys Richard A. “Dick” Sayles and Mark S. Werbner.

A little less than a year after winning a patent infringement verdict for client Commil USA in a hotly contested trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the co-founders of Sayles Werbner got a second bite at the litigation apple when the trial court in Marshall decided that the original $3.7 million verdict may have been influenced by prejudicial comments made during the trial by a defense lawyer.

On April 8, following the new trial, a different East Texas jury awarded Commil $63.8 million for damages based on Cisco’s infringement of Commil’s patented wireless technology. The new verdict eclipsed the prior award by more than $60 million.

The Bloomberg news service quotes Sayles as saying: "We know this new award more truly reflects our client's significant damages as a result of Cisco's infringement. This verdict further validates Commil's valuable patented technology."

The Commil technology in U.S. Patent No. 6,430,395 (the '395 patent) allows wireless devices to move from point to point on a computer network without signal interruption. Prior to this innovation, network users experienced frequent signal disruptions resulting in data losses, dropped calls and other errors. Commil filed the lawsuit after discovering that the company's patented technology was being used by a Cisco subsidiary to produce its own Wi-Fi product line.

Cisco has already announced that the company is appealing the latest verdict, and one would have to believe that there are more than 60 million reasons why you won’t hear anyone from Cisco making prejudicial comments during the appellate arguments.

Prior to the April 1 emergency on Southwest Airline’s flight 812 when a 5-foot by 1-foot gash formed in the fuselage at 34,000 feet, inspectors had thought that particular section of the fuselage was immune to metal fatigue and did not inspect that portion of the plane as closely as they will here on out. 

When dealing with machines as complex as a modern airliner, unfortunately sometimes the first signal that there is a concern is when a catastrophic failure occurs, says David Norton, a pilot and an aviation partner in the Dallas law firm of Shackelford, Melton & McKinley. “The part that was affected was in a different part of the plane, where they didn’t necessarily expect that kind of wear and tear,” Norton told KXAS news in Dallas.

Norton says the rapid response of the Federal Aviation Administration to order immediate inspections of all Boeing 737-300s, 400s and 500s is a positive signal that federal officials are taking this new concern seriously. “It is not feasible to inspect for 100 percent safety if you ever want the airplane to leave the gate, so they do the best they can with known concerns,” says Norton. “This is now a real, very serious concern that the FAA, NTSB and all air carriers are giving a lot of attention to exploring.”

The Southwest incident illustrates the effectiveness of established safety precautions, says Norton. “The crew maintained control, quickly dropped to a safer 10,000-foot altitude, the oxygen masks deployed as they were supposed to and everyone walked away safely.”

U.S. residents who earned more than $1 million last year also earned another distinction: They received more unwanted attention from the IRS, says Bob Probasco, whose legal practice in the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight includes IRS audits and appeals and tax litigation. "There's an enforcement pendulum at the IRS," Probasco says. "For the past several years, the pendulum has been heading back to enforcement and it shows little sign of stopping anytime soon." Last year, the auditing pendulum swung heavily toward wealthier individuals, increasing 30 percent for those who earned more than $1 million, he says.

As Wall Street Journal MarketWatch reports:

The biggest jumps came at the top of the income ladder. About 18% of Americans earning at least $10 million were audited in fiscal 2010, up from 11% in fiscal 2009, according to the IRS. For those earning $500,000 to $1 million, the audit rate rose to 3.4% from 2.8%.

Also, according to Probasco, the federal tax agency is more closely scrutinizing offshore bank accounts, and is demanding more information for use in its audits.

While there’s nothing more certain than death and taxes, it seems that another growing certainty for wealthier Americans is governmental scrutiny on earnings.

Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat” illustrated the tight-knit nature of the global economy. The recent natural disaster in Japan triggered by an earthquake, a tsunami and then worsened by nuclear power plant problems shows us exactly which industries are most affected by Japan’s woes.

Businesses, however, might not feel the financial sting from the cataclysm facing Japan if they’ve got the proper insurance, says Houston attorney attorney Phillip Sanov, head of The Lanier Law Firm's Bad Faith Insurance Practice Group.

“When those Japanese businesses are shut down, U.S. companies surely will see price increases and delivery delays,” says Sanov, “When Best Buy can't get the hot new gadget because of suppliers in Japan, that will have a direct and significant impact on their bottom line. Experience has shown me that local businesses should review their policies because many companies have coverage and don't realize it.”

While aid and prayers continue to pour toward Japan, companies at home and abroad need to consider what measures they can take to stem their losses as well.

Demand for the H-1B specialty worker visa has become an interesting economic barometer, particularly in terms of the state of the tech industry. Just a few years ago, the entire year’s quota of available H-1B visas was snapped up within days of the opening of the filing period, which falls on April 1 each year.

What a difference a couple years and a global economic collapse can make!

Last year, the cap of 65,000 visas was not reached until February. While this year is shaping up to be equally slow, immigration attorney Irina Plumlee of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP cautions companies from being lulled into a false sense of security.

“While most are predicting another slow year, it is impossible to determine how quickly the quota will be filled when the new application period opens on April 1,” she cautions. “Although the current economic conditions are not dramatically different from last year, if hiring starts to pick up as the year goes on, available H-1B visa spots may disappear in the blink of an eye. If a company anticipates a need, they should plan ahead and submit their petitions as early as possible.”

A recent order from a Los Angeles court should help shine some light on problems detected in the production of a fentanyl pain patch manufactured by prescription drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.

In a March 11 ruling, Judge Richard E. Rico ordered Watson to produce company documents and emails requested by Dallas attorney Michael Heygood of the Dallas firm Heygood, Orr & Pearson as part of a lawsuit filed by the parents of California woman who died within hours of applying a Watson fentanyl patch. The judge also has ordered Watson to make employees and corporate representatives available for depositions between April 11 and June 11. Watson and the company’s lawyers had denied requests for the documents and testimony for more than a year.

Heygood represents the family of Nicole Bristol, 37, who died in 2008 after applying a fentanyl patch that allowed a lethal amount of the drug to leak onto her skin, according to the lawsuit.

Although the package insert in Ms. Bristol’s prescription said she should have received 1.7 ng/ml of fentanyl, autopsy results showed that she died with 15 ng/ml in her system. Fentanyl has been found to be lethal at a blood level of 3 ng/ml, with an average lethal concentration of 8 ng/ml. The drug, which is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, is often prescribed for chronic pain.

Heygood brings a unique track record to the Bristol case, having won a $5.5 million verdict in the nation’s first federal trial involving a fentanyl death, and a $16.5 million verdict for the family of an Illinois mother of three who died after using a fentanyl patch.

When Dwaine Caraway took the job as Dallas’ mayor in February, he said he would try to keep a low profile.

Caraway’s statement came shortly after he gave the key to the city to Michael Vick, a professional football player who spent time in prison for his criminal mistreatment of dogs.

Now comes Mayor Caraway’s effort to prevent public access to the recording of a 9-1-1 call he made that followed a domestic incident between himself and his wife, State Rep. Barbara Caraway.

In a legal filing to halt the release of the tape, Mayor Caraway argues that the recording contains no content that would be of interest to the public.

Unfortunately, according to Thompson & Knight attorney Jim Harris, the public positions that both the mayor and state representative hold create interest in the recording.

“Both Mr. Caraway and his wife are public figures, both have been elected, and I think that puts him in a different category than Joe the Plumber,” Harris told Fox4 News' Shaun Rabb.

Even if he’s successful in blocking public access to the 9-1-1 recording, Mayor Caraway might find that it’s hard to keep a low profile while the title “mayor” precedes his name until someone else inherits that honorific.

A healthy sense of humor may not be a prerequisite for a successful tax and corporate transactions lawyer, but it sure comes in handy sometimes.

When the Houston Chronicle sought out Thompson & Knight tax lawyer Roger Aksamit to provide some expert IRS insight for an oddball tax story, he was ready with a one-liner that is helping send this story quickly around the blogosphere. The story involves the plight of Houston Astros’ fan Bob Choate, who won a year’s supply of doughnuts and coffee as part of a Fan Appreciation Day contest.

Writes the Chronicle: Last month, much like the Grim Reaper, the punch line to his prize landed in Choate's mailbox: an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099, informing him that he owed taxes on $927.61 in "free" coffee and doughnuts.

“If you get paid in doughnuts, you've got to pay in dough," Aksamit quipped to explain how the IRS sends a tax bill for goods won in contests valued over $600.

The article has generated some lively comments from online readers and has been picked up by outlets from the ABA Journal to snarky sports insider news site Deadspin to the TaxProf Blog.

Natural gas prices have stalled and sputtered. Companies that sink natural gas wells are filing for bankruptcy protection.What does Thompson & Knight bankruptcy attorney Rhett Campbell advise?

Buy, of course.

“There are attractive investment opportunities for companies that are prepared to ride out this downturn,” says Campbell, who has taken part in his fair share of energy-company reorganizations.

Campbell notes that natural-gas service companies and businesses concentrated along the Gulf of Mexico seem to be especially hard hit by sluggish natural gas prices, which have lingered near $4 per million British Thermal Units since a year ago, having dropped nearly 20 percent since early January.

The stagnation in natural gas prices has made energy companies hesitant to sink more wells in the Gulf, despite the fact that a moratorium on new wells has been lifted. Energy companies that were wobbly to start with are beginning to teeter.

In his decades as an energy lawyer who specializes in bankruptcy law, Campbell has seen many dramatic turnarounds.

It’s likely, given the tumultuous situation surrounding the Gulf and the continued wild variations in our climate, that we will see things turn around again.

Distressed properties create the ultimate buyer’s market with obvious benefits for those in the M&A market. Thompson & Knight’s Millie Aponte Sall has an interesting piece in the Feb. 14 edition of Texas Lawyer’s “In-House Texas” exploring one of the less-apparent benefits for in-house counsel exploring mergers and acquisitions of distressed properties. Sall, a lawyer in Thompson & Knight’s creditors’ rights group, explains that the HSR Act provides for a waiting period that is considerably shorter than for non-bankruptcy transactions – in some cases the deal can be sealed in half the standard time.

Writes Sall: A company filing for bankruptcy is ripe for the picking, with assets or stock other scan acquire at discounted values. An in-house counsel’s company can obtain assets at lightning speed, free and clear of liens, claims and encumbrances.

Sall notes that of the 716 transactions reported under the HSR Act in 2009, 574 requested early termination(396 – or 69 percent – of those requests were granted). The entire article can be found here..

The U.S. Department of Transportation is seeking a high-tech solution for the vexing problem of keeping long-haul truckers honest when it comes to abiding by safety restrictions designed to prevent driver fatigue. The DOT proposal would require long-haul trucks and interstate buses to be equipped with an electronic monitor that records drivers’ time on the road and ensure that they don't exceed federally mandated limits. The monitors would replace traditional hard-copy logs that have proven, sadly, to be too easy to falsify.

A 2004 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety survey of long-haul drivers found that one in eight had dozed off behind the wheel in the previous month. 

“Driver fatigue is one of leading causes of catastrophic traffic fatalities, particularly when a commercial truck is involved,” says Dallas trial attorney Frank L. Branson of The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson. “Electronic monitors like these will go a long way toward keeping trucking firms honest and relieve truckers of pressure to fulfill unrealistic driving schedules. This proposal will save lives.”

Appoximately 50,000 vehicles would be affected by the rule.

"We cannot protect our roadways when commercial truck and bus companies exceed hours-of-service rules," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a press release. "This proposal would make our roads safer by ensuring that carriers traveling across state lines are using EOBRs to track the hours their drivers spend behind the wheel."

There’s no doubt the media will compare the grandiosity of the ceremony that surrounded the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di with whatever pomp and circumstance await Princess-to-be Kate Middleton and Prince William. After all, William even gave Kate his late mother’s engagement ring.

Dallas Family Law attorney Keith Nelson of McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing says that if the young couple want to forge a bond that lasts beyond ceremonial obligations, besides the obvious need of a prenuptial agreement, they should run – not walk – to the nearest plain-spoken marriage counselor. They should then engage in some serious heart-to-hearts, he says.

“Anyone should expect a bumpy first year, but for arguably the highest profile couple in the world, it will be especially challenging,” Nelson says. “Not only will they experience their first year of marriage in the proverbial fish bowl, but they will also be under the microscope, with every magazine and paparazzi waiting for their first stumble.”

So, can some tough talk from a disinterested third party help the British Monarchy? Well, look how it helped Prince George.

“Good counseling – with a direct, blunt counselor rather than with a well-meaning, but namby-pamby type – will help you anticipate the challenges and winding roads that are sure to come,” says Nelson.

Just last month, the gears of the U.S. federal government started churning out regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It’s the goal of two Gardere Wynne Sewell attorneys to make sure it is the executive and legislative branches of government that continue to set regulations for the energy industry, and not individual courtrooms, as they lack “the technical and scientific expertise necessary to create standards and rules to resolve the controversy justly,” and “should defer to the political branches of government.”

On Feb. 28, experts in climate change litigation from academia, government and advocacy groups will listen as Gardere’s Richard O. Faulk and John S. Gray address the legal ramifications of trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by regulating power producers through litigation. Together Faulk and Gray filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on the merits of the highly controversial case of American Electric Power Company Inc. v. Connecticut, which is currently before the Court. In the case, utilities argue – and Faulk and Gray concur – that the executive and legislative branches of government should set the regulations for power generators.

Faulk and Gray will speak at the climate change symposium at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. “A Public Nuisance: Tort Law's Response to Global Warming” will examine the recent trend of private and public nuisance cases against large-scale greenhouse gas emitters, focusing on the case merits and potential role in curbing greenhouse gasses.

If the two attorneys are successful in their arguments at the Supreme Court, the U.S. government can help take the lead in combatting industry’s contributions toward global warming. Otherwise, individual courts across the land might find themselves confronted with the job of becoming experts and the ultimate arbiters in stemming the causes of climate change.

Taking a 24/7, A to Z, top to bottom, head to … well, SOX, approach to addressing the ever-changing compliance issues facing businesses, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP has created a new Securities Law Blog, From the SOX Up.

The blog relies on the expertise of all 12 members of Gardere’s Public Securities and Corporate Governance Team to help corporate leaders navigate the constantly shifting securities landscape.

The blog can be found at www.fromthesoxup.com and provides commentary on a wide-range of matters, including compliance with federal and state securities laws and securities regulations, including last year’s Dodd-Frank financial reform act, the FCPA, and 2002’s Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, among many other corporate governance matters.

Now that it’s sunny and 70 degrees outside, it’s hard to imagine that just last week much of the country was seazed up in the great ice and snow storm of 2011. As schools, homeowners and businesses enjoy the warm-up, Houston attorney Phillip Sanov, head of The Lanier Law Firm's Bad Faith Insurance Practice Group, cautions that another storm may be on the way in terms of insurance claims for storm damages.

Insurance claims are sure to mount as people discover property damage, leaky roofs and flooding from broken water pipes. "We expect insurance companies to stand behind us when disaster strikes, but far too often we see insurance carriers deny, delay and underpay legitimate claims,” says Sanov. “Try to preserve as much evidence as possible, such as photos or video showing the previous condition, as information and proof are key in fighting wrongfully denied claims.”

In case you haven’t noticed, merger and acquisition activity experienced a sure-nuff rebound in late 2010, and by many accounts 2011 is shaping up to be a year in which lending institutions and the private equity market are increasingly willing to fund new deals.

Reports Business Week: Corporate boardrooms are once again abuzz with discussions regarding the next deal. After several years in which worldwide M&A activity dropped steeply, 2010 was a recovery year both worldwide and in the U.S.—but it looks like corporate dealmaking could really roar back into the headlines in 2011.

 “If the first 45 days of 2011 are any indication, it’s going to be a great year for transactions across a broad range of industries,” says Wes Williams in the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight. “I don’t think this is a short-term phenomenon, but it is a very positive signal that the economic recovery is continuing, although we still have a long way to go.”

Williams notes that many corporate assets and stocks remain undervalued, further spurring bargain shopping by investors. U.S. companies reportedly have $1 trillion in cash on their balance sheets, with the expectation from shareholders to put that cash to use.

Valentine’s Day may be for lovers, but it also can open the door for high-stakes mess ups, says Dallas divorce lawyer Elizabeth Branch, a partner in the family law firm of McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing, L.L.P.  Consider: Lawyer-rating service AVVO has reported Valentine’s Day spikes in both referral requests for divorce lawyers and questions about family law.

Branch says that the high-expectations that come hand-in-hand with Valentine’s Day create particularly perilous landscape for those in relationships that may already be teetering.

“Particularly if a relationship is already rocky, forgetting Valentine’s Day is a big no-no. Cooking dinner and giving a back rub is free. It doesn’t have to be jewelry and chocolates, although those are nice too,” she says. “If you’re unwise enough to be cheating on your spouse, for goodness sake, check and double-check your flower delivery order. The Houston man whose florist mistakenly sent the bouquet meant for his girlfriend to his wife did not have a good Valentine’s Day.”

With no BCS game or Heisman race to follow, attention recently has turned to the growing danger of college football’s offseason. News broke recently that more than a dozen Iowa Hawkeyes were sent to the hospital with injuries after an intense practice. In Texas, Houston’s The Lanier Law Firm announced its investigation into the death of Ole Miss football player Bennie Abram.

Abram, a walk-on defensive back for the University of Mississippi Rebels, died after collapsing during the first day of spring practice last year. The autopsy showed he had sickle cell trait, a condition affecting nearly 10 percent of the African-American population. Sickle cell trait is linked to at least nine deaths of college athletes since 2000.

Gene Egdorf represents the Abram family and has a long history handling these types of cases. He negotiated a landmark 2009 settlement with the NCAA over the death of Rice University football player Dale R. Lloyd II, who also had sickle cell trait. As a condition of that settlement, the NCAA recommended that all student-athletes undergo testing for the condition.

Officials at Ole Miss said the university began testing athletes for sickle cell trait starting in 1989, and that they knew about Abram’s condition. However, Abram’s father told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, “I don’t know if we ever even discussed it … I didn’t really know something this serious could happen because of it.”

WorkKnowledgeBlog.com, the new law blog by Gardere’s Labor & Employment Practice Group offers a great source of insight into the ever-changing labor & employment landscape.

Since early December, Gardere’s employment lawyers have been weighing in on and illuminating some of big issues of the evolving world of employment law. And there’s plenty of fodder lately, considering the laundry list of HR-related provisions in the federal healthcare overhaul, as well as revisions to the ADA.

The writers have already addressed aspects of FSLA retaliation claims, plans for the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in on the validity of arbitration agreements in employee handbooks, and whistleblower provisions in the new health care law, among other things. The writing responsibilities for the blog will be shared by the members of the Gardere Labor & Employment Practice Group. The blog can be found at www.workknowledgeblog.com.

Young women interested in a career in law, or anybody who wants to learn more about one of the most influential women lawyers in Texas, should tune in tonight at 10 p.m. (Dallas time) to KERA Channel 13 for that network’s rebroadcast of Texas Trailblazer: Louise Raggio. If you miss it tonight, it will be re-re-broadcast on Feb. 13 at 9:30 p.m.

Ms. Raggio passed away on January 23 at the age of 91. Her memorial service was held this past weekend. Upon her passing, several high-profile Dallas lawyers shared their memories about the woman who was their friend, mentor and inspiration: 

Louise was a very special, dear friend of mine. Louise ‘walked the walk’ with wit and wisdom.  She not only supported causes involving women, but she supported women, and cared deeply for women in the legal profession. She took an interest in my career, and always asked me about the ‘state of the environment.’ She expected me to make a difference and I loved her for it.

Fran Phillips
Gardere Wynne Sewell

Louise was a friend, first and foremost. We loved talking and fussing and dreaming about politics – and the ways in which our country can be improved by working through the system. We loved talking about how we hoped more participation by women would improve the process.  And while I know and enjoy the friendship of Louise’s sons, I feel like I know, too, each of her grandchildren of whom she was so very proud.  Since I now have one, too, it was great fun, I think, for Louise to watch me beam about our little Barrett!

I’ll miss my friend for many, many reasons. She was a small, often quiet woman whose voice will be heard forever. And not to be forgotten is the fact that she made one hell of a chocolate chip cookie!

Debbie Branson
The Law Offices of Frank Branson

Louise was a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word. She recognized the need for change, not only for women lawyers but for all Texas women, and then she courageously made those changes happen to all our benefit.

Deborah Hankinson
Hankinson Levinger

The word “pioneer” is not sufficient.  Louise was truly one of a distinct very small group of women that opened doors for women to practice law in Texas and elsewhere. I and my fellow women attorneys owe her an immeasurable debt.

Katherine Seaborn
Gardere Wynne Sewell

Our world is a better place because of Louise Raggio.  She set the standard not only for the women of our profession, but for the profession as a whole.  She will be greatly missed.

Charla Aldous
The Aldous Law Firm

Though I never knew Louise personally, I benefited from her work tremendously. She blazed the trail that I and other women of my generation have been able to walk down, if not easily, then with much, much less effort than she had to make. I’m beyond grateful for the sacrifices she made. She will be greatly missed.

Kathleen J. Wu
Andrews & Kurth
2006 recipient of Dallas Women Lawyers Association’s
Louise B. Raggio Award

 

Louise Raggio was a trailblazer not only for women lawyers but for all women.  She was a feisty, courageous, leader who inspired so many of us to reach higher.  I remember meeting her for the first time and marveling at how much punch God packed into that small package.  There are generations of women lawyers who owe Louise our gratitude and humble thanks.

Dawn Estes
Taber Estes Thorne & Carr

 

Ms. Raggio is known as the “Mother of Family Law in Texas” because of her work to enact the Marital Property Act of 1967, which gave married women the equal legal rights they were previously denied under Texas law.

When she attended the Southern Methodist University School of Law, she was the only woman in her law school class. Later, she was the first female criminal assistant district attorney in Dallas County and was the first woman to be elected as a director of the State Bar of Texas. She was also the first female trustee and chair of the board of the Texas Bar Foundation. 

Few people want to publish the details of their private lives – especially if it’s something as private as a divorce.

But what happens when someone as highly visible as Super Bowl MVP and Fox Sports NFL commentator Troy Aikman separates from his wife, Rhonda?

Keeping the dirty laundry behind closed doors is still an option for the likes of the Aikmans, Dallas divorce attorney Mary Jo McCurley tells WFAA’s Shelly Slater.

“One or both of them can ask the court to seal the file,” said McCurley, a family lawyer at Dallas-based McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing. “And (either party could) ask the court to sign a confidentiality order.”

The couple has two children together, and a third from a previous marriage – a fact that McCurley says makes sealing the divorce case “absolutely imperative.”

McCurley’s advice reminds us all that while breaking up is hard to do, keeping the details private isn’t impossible.

Considering the coin toss doesn’t even occur until 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Super Bowl Sunday promises to be a long and late night for football fans across the U.S. Workplace studies show that the Big Game and the celebration that goes along with it cause a dramatic spike in workplace absenteeism.

All those no-shows attributed to so-called “Super Bowl Flu” – an estimated 1.5 million truant workers nationwide – translate to billions of dollars in lost productivity and production costs each year.  A 2010 survey of corporations by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 65 percent reported the Super Bowl resulted in office wagering, although just slightly over half that number stated that the office pools had a negative effect.  “Companies shouldn’t just accept that problems are going to occur, but consider this a time to reinforce their workplace policies in a serious and realistic fashion,” says Dallas employment attorney Mark Shank of Gruber Hurst Johansen & Hail. “Employees need to know that they will continue to be measured by their conduct and judged on their performance in a way that’s consistent with the company’s standards and culture. To mangle the sports metaphors, employees shouldn’t necessarily get a mulligan because of a football game.”

With nine days and counting on the Super Bowl, the NFL has added some muscle to its already tough position on policing counterfeit and unlicensed NFL-themed merchandise. The league took a pre-emptive strike Wednesday against folks selling or planning to sell counterfeit merchandise in areas around the Super Bowl. The lawsuit seeks to block sales in advance.

Reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: NFL Properties, the Green Bay Packers, and Pittsburgh Steelers filed suit Wednesday in State District Court in Fort Worth, seeking to bar "John Doe" defendants from selling counterfeit goods and seize the merchandise.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say consumers should follow a few simple tips to help ensure they are buying authentic jerseys: Counterfeit goods have poor stitching around names and numbers, which is often particularly noticeable on the inside of the item. Incorrect spelling on sewn labels and counterfeit NFL logos, which should be holographic, are also indications of an illegal knock-off.

Intellectual property attorney Jennifer Sickler agrees: “From a consumer standpoint, there are almost always quality issues with these products,” says Sickler, a partner in Gardere Wynne Sewell’s Houston office. “This is a very lucrative industry, and licensed companies are returning a large amount of proceeds to the city in the form of tax revenues. Counterfeiters are returning little to the city but a flood of inferior products.”

The dazzling glitz and glamour that accompanies every Super Bowl comes with a not-so-flattering sideshow. Based on analysis of past Super Bowls and other pro sports’ marquee events, the Dallas Police Department has publicly warned that tens of thousands of prostitutes will be converging in North Texas to profit from the celebration. While it’s widely known that prostitution is not a victimless crime on many levels, Dallas hospitality lawyer Richard Barrett-Cuetara warns that hotels in particular need to take steps to ensure that they’re not found complicit in the illegal activity.

Just last December, for example, the city of Oakland filed lawsuits against three hotel owners alleging their hotels were complicit in prostitution. Meanwhile, Chinese authorities closed down the Chongqing Hilton Hotel and stripped it of its five-star rating last June after uncovering a multilayer prostitution ring operating within the hotel staff.

Barrett-Cuetara, a senior shareholder at Dallas-based Cowles & Thompson, advises hotels to develop security risk management strategies and train staff to take appropriate action when they spot suspicious activity, among other things. “Hotel operators have a very high standard of care to protect their guests and invitees, and they can be liable for a variety of claims resulting from an ill-fated encounter,” he says. “Hotels can’t stop willing guests from participating, but they should focus on detecting any prostitution occurring on the premises and alerting law enforcement.”

When a young man unloaded a handgun upon U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 other individuals in Phoenix, it was clear to witnesses that the suspect – who was later identified as Jared Loughner – was imbalanced. Supporting evidence has since mounted.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes:

The disturbing photograph of Jared Loughner that has been released after his arrest, as well as the writings and statements attributed to him, seem to point to a man with a mental illness.

These facts might save Loughner’s life, according to Dallas criminal defense attorney Barry Sorrels.

Sorrels recently told Fox4 News’ Steve Eagar that while it would be hard to avoid a conviction with an insanity defense, that strategy would probably help Loughner avoid the death penalty in the sentencing phase of the criminal trial.

“There’s no other defense that can be of any value to saving this young man’s life, so that he doesn’t receive the death penalty,” Sorrels said to Eagar.  

Sorrels’ opinion reflects the changing legal landscape around the insanity plea.

According to CBSnews.com: Public outrage over the jury's verdict in (Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassin John) Hinckley's trial – not guilty by reason of insanity – prompted Congress to make it much more difficult to establish that claim in federal criminal trials.

Arizona also has modified the insanity defense so that a defendant in a state trial no longer can be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Instead, the jury can deliver a verdict of guilty but insane, said Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall.

Sorrells said that the facts will determine whether the prosecution will settle for anything less than Loughner’s execution.

“Right now, both sides are doing as much as they can to find out about the facts of this case and this defendant as possible,” Sorrels told Eagar.

As SMU’s annual "Game::Business::Law" video game industry/law conference kicks off today, Interactive Age has put together its list of the Top 30 law firms for the diverse and growing video game industry. Implicit in this list is the realization that the video game industry as a focus sector for law firms has come of age.   

"This phenomenon is much like the history and development of Sports Law," says Dr. Peter Raad, founder and executive director of The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University. "Legal issues that were sports-related went from being handled by individual attorneys and small firms to now being part of large firms.  Today, the Sports Law Association has more than a 1,000 members."

This year’s Interactive Age list includes some household names of the legal world, but middle-size and smaller firms have earned hard-won spots based on building solid and long-term relationships in this industry. Take Dallas-based technology focused law firm Munck Carter. This growing firm already has a long history working with video game companies both inside and outside Texas. The firm has a national reputation for its IP expertise and litigation, and gaming companies also turn to Munck Carter for a full range of legal work, including the adoption and protection of trademarks, assistance with copyright registrations, advertising and contest rules and labor & employment issues.

"We've built a firm that combines legal expertise with a deep understanding of how technology companies operate," says Munck Carter Managing Partner William Munck. "As a result, technology companies and video game manufacturers feel comfortable coming to us, whether it's intellectual property issues, a corporate transaction, an employment issue or a high-stakes lawsuit. We speak their language."

When a business files Chapter 11, employees often pack their boxes, turn off the lights, nail the doors shut, and go home.

But what happens when a city files for bankruptcy? In the case of Vallejo, Calif., some creditors might end up taking 5 cents on the dollar loaned to the city of 115,000 inhabitants. The city’s filing indicates it’s at least $479 million in debt.

Writes Bloomberg News:

No city or county has used federal bankruptcy laws to force creditors to take less than they are owed, according to Bruce Bennett, the lead lawyer for Orange County, California, when it filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in the U.S. in 1994.

Vallejo’s plan assumes the city can’t provide essential services, like police and fire protection, while also paying its debts, he said. Should the city succeed, the case “may become an important precedent,” Bennett said in an interview.

Thompson & Knight attorney Rhett Campbell says Vallejo likely won’t be alone in seeking legal shelter from creditors.

“While we’re seeing reports of cities hiring restructuring specialists and otherwise warning of bankruptcy, this type of action is rare but certainly allowable under the laws of most states,” says Campbell. “These insolvency claims are governed by chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code, which is not a typical reorganization. The bankruptcy court’s powers are more limited than under chapter 11, and the city or county maintains control over most financial affairs and continues to provide services, although how it pays for them may be unclear.”

In other words, cities still need to provide police and fire protection, and drinking water for residents, despite their declining sales tax revenues, continuing pension obligations and crumbling property tax bases.

The notion of a city filing for bankruptcy sounds preposterous. Yet, as the New York Times has reported, the Big Apple was on the precipice of doing just that in the mid ‘70s.

Even now, U.S. legislators are looking at legal mechanisms that would allow entire state governments to declare bankruptcy.

Hopefully, the Great Recession will fade into the economy’s rearview mirror before more cities – or entire states – fall into Vallejo’s predicament.

The budget situation is dire as the 2011 session of the Texas Legislature gets underway, but that hasn’t stopped Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins from unveiling an ambitious legislative wish list for lawmakers to consider.

Among the list released by Watkins last week is a proposal to collect DNA samples of every arrested person in Texas, implement reforms in the often problematic way eyewitness photo lineups are performed, and require all confessions to be videotaped. Finally, the DA hopes to encourage lawyers to pursue legal work in the relatively underpaid world of public service by offering student loan forgiveness to prosecutors. Details are sketchy regarding what these plans would cost and who would pay for them.

FOX KDFW Ch. 4 reporter Shaun Rabb went to Dallas white-collar and criminal defense lawyers John Teakell and Barry Sorrels for some perspective on these proposals. Teakell, a former federal prosecutor who now focuses on state and federal white-collar and criminal defense cases, says the DNA-collection proposal raises serious issues. “It seems to be an unnecessary step as far as the government tracking you or just being involved in your life when you don’t need to,” he tells Rabb.

Meanwhile, Sorrels, a prominent Dallas defense lawyer and newly elected president of the Dallas Bar Association, calls the proposals fair, intelligent and designed to add integrity to our system.

Little is being said at this point regarding the price tag on these proposals. Watkins, for his part, promises to make several trips to Austin to lobby lawmakers during the session.

The current edition of D CEO includes a fascinating portrait of the diverse and thriving technology/security firms that now call Dallas home. We all know Dallas as a major business center that is home to at least 24 Fortune 500 companies , but a number of smaller security-related firms are quietly building international reputations working on the cutting edge of technology and security. Notes D CEO, “Virtually every area of life is swirling with digitized data ripe for hacking, and a number of companies in North Texas are working to thwart the wrongdoers.”

Among the firms and personalities highlighted “The Protection Game,” Stroz Friedberg’s Erin Nealy Cox describes how the concept of a magic bullet does not apply to data security. Instead, peace of mind comes from a multilayered and comprehensive approach. “There is no one thing that can guarantee that you are safe,” she tells D CEO. “It’s a process.”

In addition to Stroz Friedberg’s data security and investigative offerings, the article highlights Addison-based data encryption software maker Credant Technologies and Authentix, another Addison-based company that uses patented technologies to help manufacturers protect their brands from counterfeiting and piracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a patent lawyer at Dallas-based Munck Carter, Michael Rodriguez uses his engineering background on a daily basis, analyzing patent strategies and other intellectual property matters for a wide range of high-tech firms and inventors. Those same engineering skills are useful in a much different way in Rodriguez’ life as a reserve lieutenant in the Navy’s SeaBees.

Activated just last week for a six-month assignment to build construction projects in Afghanistan combat zones, Rodriguez packed up his office and will soon be leading a team of soldier/engineers designing and building infrastructure projects and forward-operating bases. SeaBees have a distinguished history providing vital support for troops, often in some of the most perilous combat zones. As such, Rodriguez and others like him receive combat training, carry weapons and where body armor while they’re building these projects.

Check out Munck Carter’s touching sendoff for Michael, reported by FOX Ch. 4’s Shaun Rabb.

 

Stale websites. Unrealized social media plans. Firm news that falls on deaf ears. May the law firm with the perfect marketing plan cast the first stone. 

For all the rest, the new year offers a chance to wipe the slate clean, step back and take a broad look at marketing plans for year ahead. To that end, Androvett Legal Media & Marketing has created “Legal 11 for 2011,” a practical marketing checklist. 

The idea behind “Legal 11 for 2011” is to begin the year right by putting a firm's marketing house in order. There’s a raft of ideas for optimizing a firm’s Internet presence such as refreshing online bios and photos(No. 2) and promoting the firm’s good work online(No. 1). Search Engine Optimization(No. 5) starts with identifying the keywords that potential clients will use to find you on the Internet, and then using those keywords to build an online presence. Coming in at No. 7 is the reminder that social media networks are not going away and there is a variety of ways to engage social media ethically and effectively.

The “Legal 11 for 2011” also includes old-school axioms like taking stock of your competition(No. 10), cleaning up client contact lists(No. 8) and evaluating brochures(No. 9). Perhaps No. 11 is the most valuable takeaway, a reminder that you’ve got to have goals in order to achieve them. Commit the goals to writing. When relevant and necessary, get expert help to achieve your goals and objectives. View the entire list here.

In matrimonial bliss, a Detroit couple openly shared their e-mail passwords. But when the bloom fell from the proverbial rose, the husband’s use of his wife’s e-mail to expose her extramarital affairs resulted in his arrest for illegally hacking into her account.

To put some context to this story and the perilous world of social media we now inhabit, KDFW Fox 4 in Dallas turned to Peter Vogel, an expert in Internet technology and related legal concerns, as they looked at whether this was an isolated incident or if the same type of scenario is destined to play itself out again.

“With privacy laws, there is an expectation that people have certain privacies, but the reality today with social media, Internet email and the way we communicate, I think people do share this type of information,” says Vogel, a partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. He adds that psychologists have determined that people routinely “put things in email that they would never put in writing or say face to face, so email itself is an unusual social phenomenon, and social media has only made it a little crazier.”

A few days later when another Internet privacy issue made the news, KDFW again turned to Vogel. With an estimated $19 billion in stimulus money being offered to physicians and medical facilities for the adoption of electronic medical records, concern is rising about the potential for data breaches and identity theft.

However, says Vogel, “the medical community has proven to be quite vigilant about protecting patient information.” Because of the attention to privacy concerns problems are not likely, however “that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be vigilant.”

January is traditionally a time for personal reflection over past events and of preparation for the future. The same is true for businesses, and Dallas labor and employment attorney Carrie Hoffman of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, says now is the time for employers to take a long look at their human resources practices and priorities for the coming year.

Just like with most individuals, addressing health and social concerns should be high priorities for businesses, says Hoffman. Whether to help prevent time lost to illnesses or rein in insurance costs, companies should investigate whether a wellness program is appropriate. And if they haven’t done so already, now is the perfect time to take a proactive stance on social networking and blogging practices by employees. Experienced managers know that prevention makes far better economic sense than putting off a decision and later being forced to react to a full-blown HR crisis.

Company leaders also need to assess how they are responding to claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA.) Too often, employers get sidetracked by trying to determine if the claimed condition is a covered disability. However, she says, it is rare when a condition is not covered. “That time and effort should be redirected. Instead of trying to validate the claim, spend that energy improving the interactive process and determining what a reasonable accommodation should be.”

Employers who use independent contractors also would be well advised to closely review their use to make sure they are being properly classified and compensated. “This is an issue that remains high on the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service’s watch lists,” says Hoffman.

In a move designed to raise production in several mature oilfields, Mexico’s state-controlled oil company has approved a new contract model for exploration and production projects. Pemex says the new model will compensate contractors on a performance-based, per-barrel fee basis, a change that Pemex expects to increase investment interest from domestic and foreign oil companies.

“This announcement is the result of reforms in Mexico's energy laws that allow Pemex to grant performance incentives that will hopefully reverse a decline in production during the past several years,” says Gabriel Ruiz of the Monterrey office of Thompson & Knight. “Although there is some skepticism that this move will be enough to attract all of the economic and technological resources to address the Mexican oil industry’s complex challenges, contractors are actively analyzing the agreement and the opportunities it presents."

Reportedly the initial performance-based accords for exploration and production are likely to be awarded sometime in 2011 for three mature field projects in the Santuario, Carrizo and Magallanes areas of southeastern Mexico.  At a later stage, Pemex intends to apply the new model to energy reserves in other regions, as well as deep water exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.

We all know by now that just about every piece of litigation today has some kind of costly electronic discovery component. The National Law Journal’s latest e-Discovery special section includes an interesting and very common-sense overview with a special focus on what budget-conscious lawyers involved in smaller litigation need to know about the e-discovery landscape.

Writes Jane Politz and Danny Thankachan of Thompson & Knight, lawyers involved in smaller litigation are “justifiably worried” about the costs of preserving and collecting data, and this anxiety forces many to choose between two equally troubling extremes: being too cautious and over preserving on one hand and the abdication of preservation responsibilities to vendors or clients on the other.

Without the benefit of large electronic discovery budgets, attorneys handling smaller matters may find themselves trapped. Engaging an outside expert to assess the client’s technology infrastructure and implement an appropriate e-discovery protocol is often prohibitively expensive. Even when such a project is proposed, clients question the need to hire outside experts when their own information technology(IT) personnel are intimately familiar with the technology in use within the company. These are, of course, reasonable arguments.

With that as a starting point, Politz and Thankachan provide a comprehensive overview of options for lawyers facing such a dilemma. The complete article(subscription required) can be found here.

 

Things were looking up back in 2007 for the Giovanni Homes’ townhouse and office development along Creek Run Road in east Fort Worth. Buyers were already lined up for the development’s first three townhouses, and the developer had purchased additional property to build office space and additional  townhomes.

But as Giovanni Homes waited for Oncor Electric to bring electrical lines to the property as promised, days turned to weeks and still no electricity. Months passed and the seasons changed, but the structures remained in the dark and interested buyers looked elsewhere.   

Turns out, Oncor had mistakenly placed its underground electrical line far outside the 10-foot-wide easement that the utility owned. In fact, the line, including a three-phase transformer box, was running right through the middle of the Giovanni Homes property. As the real estate losses mounted, Oncor came up with one explanation after another why the line could not be moved in order to bring electrical service to the properties as promised. 

More than three years later, a Tarrant County jury last week awarded $1.2 million in actual damages plus $575,000 in attorneys’ fees to Giovanni after determining that Oncor breached its contract and effectively trespassed on the private property. Giovanni’s lawyer, Charla Aldous of the Aldous Law Firm, called it a classic David-and-Goliath legal moment. “We’re glad David won,” Aldous says. “Giovanni Homes is a quality developer that just wanted to improve a neighborhood in Fort Worth, but Oncor kept delaying those efforts for seemingly no good reason.”

Even before they walked out of an El Paso courtroom with a $124 million verdict last month, the young lawyers at Sico, White, Hoelscher & Braugh L.L.P. already had racked up an impressive string of jury verdicts in 2010.

The seven-lawyer, Corpus Christi-based firm secured six multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in the last 12 months alone. The string culminated with the stunning $124 million verdict against El Paso-based bus company, Los Paisanos Autobuses Inc., and others responsible for a bus crash near Denver that killed two.

Firm co-founder Craig M. Sico says that though tort reformers portray jurors as sometimes making thoughtless responses to meritless lawsuits, people take jury service very seriously and need to see solid evidence to grant awards.  “Jurors aren’t lemmings, no matter what you might hear from the tort reform movement,” says Sico. “When there is true injury presented in a clear way, juries react with common sense and compassion, which can mean millions of dollars depending on the facts of the case.”  

The firm’s additional multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in 2010, all in actual damages, range from commercial oil-and-gas disputes  to workplace injury and product liability cases, and include:

• $42.7 million verdict in a vehicle wreck case in which a homecoming queen was paralyzed in Dimmit County, Texas. Rocha, et. al., v. Michelin North America, Inc., No. 09-06-11001-DCVAJA
• $21.4 million verdict in a commercial dispute between two oil and gas companies in McMullen County, Texas. Umma Resources, LLC, v. Key Energy Services, Inc., No. M-05-006-CV-A
• $18 million verdict in a faulty tire death case in Superior Court of Los Angeles. Ramon Moreno Sr., et. al. v. ATV, Inc., d/b/a American Tire Depot, No. JCCP-4160
• $9.2 million verdict in a commercial vehicle crash case in Nueces County, Texas. Rose Barnett and Jerry Barnett v. Highway Technologies Inc., et. al., No. 09-60431-4
• $6.2 million verdict in a workplace injury and product liability case in Nueces County, Texas. Maria Elizando, et. al. v. Masport Inc., et. al., No. 06-62341-1

Speaking of year-end news roundups, Androvett Legal Media’s Mary Flood has compiled a list of the top 10 legal news stories impacting Houston in 2010 on her Houston Legal blog.

Besides the obvious mention of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, Flood delves into the conviction of former Republican House majority leader Tom DeLay; the ongoing state and federal battle against Mexican drug cartels; and the travails of former financier R. Allen Stanford, who has been beaten, drugged and locked away for more than a year while awaiting a jury trial.

 Let’s hope for a happier 2011 for all of us.

 

“Shackelford going country in Nashville” reads the headline in today’s Dallas Business Journal describing the Dallas-based law firm’s move to join forces with a group of Nashville’s most venerated entertainment lawyers.

Beginning Jan. 1, the growing firm’s new partnership will include the Nashville office of Shackelford, Zumwalt & Hayes, reflecting a merger with a firm that counts some of the biggest names in entertainment as longtime clients. Firm founder John C. Shackelford, whose firm is known throughout the Southwest based on work for clients in aviation, financial institutions, hospitality, real estate, and the retail automobile industry, says this move makes good business sense.

“We’re very excited to be working with the top entertainment lawyers in the city,” Shackelford says. “From contracts to global licensing deals to helping navigate the intersection of music and technology, we provide a level of service you just don’t find at many law firms.”

Jim Zumwalt and Craig Hayes and the lawyers at their firm represent some of the country’s leading entertainers, including Faith Hill, Creed, Aaron Neville, Lifehouse, Tanya Tucker and The Bar-Kays.  The firm is most known for launching recording careers by advancing deals for such artists as Toby Keith. “John Shackelford and his team bring significant capabilities to our firm,” Mr. Zumwalt says. “By combining our global entertainment expertise from Nashville with the business and technology capabilities in Dallas and Austin, I believe we’ve put together a group of legal talent that’s second to none.”

The Omega watch company was not pleased when retailer giant Costco purchased its watches at a discount overseas before selling them domestically at bargain prices. In a split 4-4 vote on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Omega’s claims that it can control the pricing, resale and redistribution of such “gray market” goods. Munck Carter copyright attorney Dyan House of Dallas says the Supreme Court’s split vote resolves the Costco case, but failed to settle the broader question over the ongoing sale of such copyrighted gray market goods. “Because the court split on the issue, it effectively upheld the lower court’s decision without setting a precedent,” House says. “Manufacturers and retailers are still in need of clarity about this business practice.”

Writes Bloomberg: Today’s high court action means that “if someone is selling goods 30 percent cheaper in some other country, any retailer who wants to pass that cost benefit on to the consumer would likely be denied,” said John Mitchell, a Washington lawyer who filed a brief backing Costco on behalf of trade groups that represent video-game, home-video and music retailers.

The case turned on the scope of the first-sale doctrine, which says a copyright holder can profit only from the original sale of a product. In 1998, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against copyright holders by saying the doctrine applies to U.S.-made products sold overseas. The court said copyright holders can’t block those goods from being brought back into the U.S. through unauthorized channels.

The latest question was whether that same reasoning applies to goods manufactured abroad, including Omega’s Seamaster watches, which carry a copyrighted logo on the back. The 9th Circuit sided with Omega on the issue, ruling that the first- sale doctrine doesn’t apply to foreign-made goods. The case now returns to a federal trial court, where Costco will have a chance to mount additional arguments, including its contention that Omega engaged in so-called copyright misuse.

While many old-school holiday traditions have gone by the wayside, there are some traditions that never seem to die; among them, lists that sum up the year’s events. Some of us at Androvett Legal Media & Marketing have put together what we believe to be the 10 biggest legal stories of the past year in North Texas. You may not agree with every matter on our list, but that's part of the fun. Let us know what you think were the top stories. 

Dallas/Fort Worth Top 10

Legal News Stories of 2010 

1)   Tax-credit corruption cases rock Dallas City Hall

The 2010 Dallas City Hall extortion/bribery case over valuable federal tax credits resulted in the incarceration of former State Rep. Terri Hodge, former Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill, and many others. The scheduled Dec. 17 sentencing for former prominent developer Brian Potashnik and his wife will close one of the biggest legal stories and one of the darkest chapters in Dallas City Hall history.

 2)   FAA fines American Airlines record $24.2 million

The FAA hit American Airlines Inc. with a record $24.2 million fine in August for allegedly failing to follow a 2006 airworthiness directive. The penalty stemmed from a series of groundings in 2008 after wiring harnesses on some 300 jets were not properly fastened. The penalty was more than double the largest fine ever assessed by the FAA, and drew negative national attention to the area’s largest employer.

3)   Cowboys groups, others settle cases after practice facility collapse

Cowboys scouting assistant Richard Behm and special teams coach Joe DeCamillis settled lawsuits against a group of companies owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and others  after both men were severely injured in the May 2009 collapse of a team practice facility in Irving. The settlement preempted a full-blown trial with America’s Team facing the court of public opinion.

  4)   Dallas County Constables face indictments

What began as an investigation of aggressive and unregulated towing operations evolved into a year-long probe into alleged coercive campaign tactics by Dallas constables Derick Evans and Jaime Cortes, both who are accused of illegally requiring their deputies to raise campaign funds. DA Craig Watkins’ refusal to investigate the case added another layer to one of Dallas’ biggest legal dramas of 2010. 

5)   $51 million construction defect verdict against political contributor and Perry Homes owner Bob Perry

In one of the longest-running lawsuits in state history, a Fort Worth jury ordered Houston homebuilder and major political donor Bob Perry to pay $51 million to a Mansfield couple over an alleged defective home sold by Perry. The verdict ended a decade-long dispute between Bob and Jane Cull and the Perry Homes owner, including appeals that reached the Supreme Court of Texas. The jury awarded $40 million in punitive damages alone – a far cry from the $800,000 judgment that resulted after the two sides went into arbitration in 2002. 

6)   Smadi pleads guilty to bomb plot charges

Hosam “Sam” Smadi was sentenced to 24 years in prison for trying to blow up the 60-story Fountain Place building in downtown Dallas. Despite alleged encouragement from government agents and renouncing Osama bin Laden at his sentencing, Smadi was told by U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn that “your actions were yours.” The Smadi case showed how law enforcement officials are increasingly willing to allow terror suspects to take “overt actions” before making arrests in order to bolster the government’s cases in court. 

7)   Beer and wine sales legalized in Dallas

Dallas voters collectively booted the patchwork of Prohibition-era dry laws to legalize the sales of beer and wine citywide. Several community leaders opposed the vote, and legal counsel for the opposition argued that the city didn’t properly validate the signatures that initiated the referendum. Despite the flurry of legal attempts to suppress the vote results, employees at Dallas City Hall are now processing applications for beer and wine sales across the city.

  8)   (Tie) Blockbuster Inc. and Texas Rangers file for bankruptcy

Bludgeoned by the success of Netflix, Redbox, and other online and mail order movie services, venerable Dallas video entertainment provider Blockbuster Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in September. The chain, with 5,600 stores worldwide, has until Dec. 15 to files its plan to emerge from bankruptcy. The company has announced plans to reinvent itself as a leaner competitor with more digital video offerings.

 

In a scene reminiscent of the movies, a group of lawyers, reporters and sports moguls gathered in a Fort Worth courthouse on a steamy summer night to decide the fate of the beleaguered Texas Rangers baseball team. After hours of wrangling and a cameo appearance by billionaire Mark Cuban, the team landed in the hands of team president Nolan Ryan and an investment group led by attorney Chuck Greenberg.

 9)   M&A’s and IPO’s show signs of life

Mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings in D/FW during 2010 showed that the Great Recession is starting to give way to the Great Thaw. Most recently, McKinney-based Newtoy, maker of the popular Words with Friends game, was purchased for an undisclosed amount by Farmville creator Zynga. In September, Southwest Airlines put some of its cash and stock to work by purchasing AirTran for $1.4 billion. ExxonMobil completed its $41 billion merger with Fort Worth-based XTO in June.

 10) Northern District federal prosecutor nowhere in sight

Political gridlock continues to stall the appointment of four top federal prosecutor spots in Texas, including the Northern District of Texas, which has been without a permanent U.S. attorney since before President Obama was elected. The Obama administration and Texas’ Democratic delegation unsuccessfully have squared off against Texas’ two Republican senators in search of mutually agreeable appointees. The lack of a permanent U.S. attorney to direct law-enforcement priorities and approve work on big projects is causing a statewide slowdown in work for criminal defense lawyers and a sigh of relief from the clients they typically represent.