by Staff | Mar 30, 2015 | Uncategorized
March 29, 2015 (http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Keep-fighting-lawsuit-abuse-6163795.php) by Hazel Meaux Texas has been on the front lines in the battle against the abuse of our lawsuit system, ensuring it is used for justice, not greed. Years ago, Texas was known as the “Courthouse of the World” because our lawsuit system invited junk lawsuits, and our system was clogged with abusive lawsuits filed by lawyers who flocked here for personal gain. Seeing how this abuse hurt our economy, everyday Texans demanded reform, which led to reforms restoring fairness and common sense to our lawsuit system. But when your opponents are well-funded trial lawyers, you cannot rest on past success. Seeking a return to the old days, trial lawyers have found loopholes and work-arounds to the reforms. For all the progress Texas has seen over the past decade with these reforms, there remains much work to be done. During the 2015 legislative session, our state representatives must pass additional reforms to preserve our stellar reputation for a legal climate that promotes job creation, new investment and economic growth. One of the areas where trial lawyers have found a new way to abuse the system is by exploiting a loophole in laws governing who can file lawsuits in Texas courts. This loophole risks taking Texas back to the days when it was the “Courthouse to the World.” A bill to fix this, HB 1692, is pending in the legislature. It would close this loophole and ensure that the lawsuits brought in Texas belong in our courts. This would also prevent Texas citizens from being denied justice because a court is clogged by cases that do...
by Staff | Mar 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
(http://gov.texas.gov/news/appointment/20673) Office of the Governor Greg Abbott Governor Greg Abbott today appointed Charles M. Barnard of Wichita Falls as judge of the 89th District Court of Wichita County. He will replace Judge Mark Price, who passed away in February, for a term to expire at the next general election in November 2016. Charles Barnard is an attorney, mediator, and owner of the Law Offices of Charles Barnard. He is certified in Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and numerous state district courts throughout Texas. Barnard is a fellow of the State Bar Foundation, member of the State Bar of Texas and the College of the State Bar of Texas, and a member and past president of the Wichita County Bar Association. He is also a pro bono attorney for the Wichita Falls Boys and Girls Club and Legal Aid of Northwest Texas and is a sponsor of the Life Decisions Program with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Barnard earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from South Texas College of Law. This appointment is subject to Senate...
by Staff | Mar 18, 2015 | Uncategorized
(http://www.texaslawyer.com/id=1202720933807/Bills-Ponder-Definition-of-Plaintiff-in-Forum-Non-Conveniens?kw=Bills%20Ponder%20Definition%20of%20%27Plaintiff%27%20in%20Forum%20Non%20Conveniens&et=editorial&bu=Texas%20Lawyer&cn=20150318&src=EMC-Email&pt=PM%20Alert&slreturn=20150218165655) By Angela Morris, Texas Lawyer A state senator and representative have filed identical bills that would change definitions and give judges more leeway when deciding whether to dismiss a plaintiff’s death or injury lawsuit because it would be better in an out-of-state court. Senate Bill 1942 and House Bill 1692 both address the 2014 Texas Supreme Court opinion in In Re Ford Motor, which required the high court to define “plaintiff” under the state’s forum non conveniens statute. In that case, a Mexican national died in a car accident in Mexico. His wrongful death beneficiaries sued Ford Motor Company in a Texas court. The company argued that they weren’t “plaintiffs” under forum non conveniens but the high court disagreed, noting that it relied on a “Texas-resident exception” in the law. The bills would delete that exception—a definition of “legal resident” as someone, perhaps a national of a foreign country, who intended for Texas to be his home, or intended to return to the state after an absence. The bills also make it clear that a “plaintiff” is not someone who intervened or became a beneficiary, next friend or other derivative party. The definition also wouldn’t include the estate of a decedent who was not a legal Texas resident at death. Under current law, a court cannot stay or dismiss a plaintiff’s lawsuit if the plaintiff is a legal resident of Texas. If a case involves a Texas plaintiff and out-of-state plaintiff, the law prohibits a court from dismissing the case so long as the Texas plaintiff was properly joined in the lawsuit and the matter involved “a single...
by Staff | Mar 18, 2015 | Uncategorized
March 17, 2015 (http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/falkenberg/article/Judges-trade-fishing-trips-for-pick-a-pal-grand-6140104.php) By Lisa Falkenberg On a recent rainy morning, a 36-year-old state district judge strolls bright-eyed into a large room of captive Harris County potential trial jurors and gives his best pitch. “Good morning, everybody, my name is Ryan Patrick,” says the tall, slender jurist with a newscaster countenance. “I’m the judge of the 177th district court. Don’t worry, none of you are coming with me right now.” Patrick is hoping to persuade the dozens of good citizens who showed up for jury duty to volunteer for three months of it. It’s a hard sell, but if proposed new legislation becomes law this year, even more Texans would need to accept the offer. Patrick launches his short spiel, part of a ritual some judges call “fishing for grand jurors.” Patrick explains that current law allows several ways to pick grand jurors. “I can bring over groups of you to my court room, like I would for a regular jury,” he explains, “but instead of asking you if you’ve got anything to do for the next three, four, five days, … it’s ‘What you got going on for the next three months, two days a week?’ ” Jurors let out a quiet, collective groan. Patrick goes another route: He visits jury rooms, which often represent a diverse swath of the county’s population, and asks for volunteers to serve on the secretive panels that decide whether there’s probable cause to indict suspects accused of everything from drug crimes to murder. Those interested fill out forms, which will be vetted by “commissioners” appointed by the judge. A few dozen are...
by Staff | Mar 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
You are cordially invited to an Investiture Ceremony for the Honorable Cindy Bourland and Honorable Jeff Rose. Date: Thursday, March 26, 2015 Time: 4:00pm Place: Third Court of Appeals Courtroom, 209 W. 14th Street, Austin, TX 78701 A reception will follow at the Texas Law Center, 1414 Colorado Street Austin, Texas 78701 From 4:30pm – 5:30pm. Sponsored by the Austin Bar Association and the Civil Appellate...
by Staff | Mar 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
March 10, 2015 (http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202720055591/Judicial-and-Attorney-Misuse-of-Social-Media-Can-End-Careers#ixzz3U5IwglDq) By Richard Raysman and Peter Brown, New York Law Journal According to a survey released in February 2015, 62 percent of law firms in the United States maintain a social media presence. A similar survey estimates that nearly 75 percent of law firms in this country are visible on one or more social media platforms for the purposes of marketing and content creation. The legal profession is being irrevocably roped in to the world of Facebook and Twitter communication. As reported by The New York Times in late-February, as online access to legal documents increases, non-parties to cases have begun in droves to read particularly “lurid” lawsuits, much as one might read a tabloid. Social media has a similar effect and the consequences therefrom are yet to be understood in any meaningful way. Invariably, as usage escalates, thoughtless use of social media has engendered nightmares for some lawyers. One prosecutor in Florida received heavy criticism after posting a “Gilligan’s Island”-themed commentary on Facebook that included a reference to the defendant as a “gang banger.” An Indiana Deputy Assistant Attorney General was fired for tweeting, purportedly in jest, that Wisconsin police should use “live ammunition” to remove protestors from the Wisconsin Capitol building. Other examples abound. As some jurisdictions have begun to elevate the standard of conduct for lawyers to include social media communications, proceedings have thus arisen in which both lawyers and judges have been disciplined for remarks made via these platforms. This column will discuss a number of these cases, including: discipline for an attorney that sent an ex parte Facebook message during a...
