Texas Amendment Election Saturday
 

Today is your last day to vote on the 21 constitutional amendments.

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/

V&E in Dubai
 

I heard an announcement on NPR this morning that V&E is opening an office in Dubai, and there's a press release on the V&E website about it.

News
 

Suit accuses Destiny's Child of stealing producer's music
A Fort Worth-based producer and songwriter has filed a $200 million lawsuit, accusing Beyoncé Knowles, her father and fellow members of Destiny's Child of stealing his music to create the hit R&B tune Survivor.....

Jurors tour shore where pieces of millionaire's neighbor washed up GALVESTON -- Jurors in the Robert Durst murder trial spent nearly 20 minutes this morning touring the area along Galveston Bay where nearly all the body parts of the eccentric millionaire's neighbor were discovered two years ago.....

No slack for pencil sharpener: Katy schools sued after girl disciplined Lough and her husband, Alan, are pressing a federal lawsuit that accuses the district of punishing their eighth-grader, Christina, without a fair hearing. "This is one of the most egregious examples of overreaching and lack of due process that I've ever seen," their attorney, Neal H. Paster, said Tuesday.

For burrito lovers only
 

News
 

Sex offenders must turn lights out on holiday LUBBOCK -- Authorities in three West Texas counties have strict orders for sex offenders this Halloween: Go home, turn out your lights, close your blinds and don't answer your door......


Attorneys' pay faulted in death penalty cases ....Fred Sutherland, an assistant staff attorney for the district courts in Harris County, said the lead attorney is paid $100 per hour for up to $12,000 and the second-chair lawyer is paid $80 per hour for a maximum of $9,600 to prepare for trial......

Bill White hopes brains and big bucks will get him elected .....Even in perfect health, the 49-year-old plaintiffs' lawyer-turned- federal bureaucrat-turned-corporate Wedge Group CEO is not a physically imposing man, as he has since been reminded ad nauseam in media coverage of the campaign. A Houston Press holiday spoof gifted him with a case of Château Charisma and free passes to a tanning salon. The Houston Chronicle noted his "big ears," a dart he has since turned to his advantage in self-deprecating humor on the campaign trail......

Texas Bar Results
 

Congrats to all who passed!!!

Link

:partytime :cheers: :partytime :cheers:

TX in National News
 

NYT questions education gains in Houston Texas has trumpeted the achievements of millions of its students, but an examination of student performance in Houston raises serious doubts about those gains.

Yes, I know that this is part of the NYT's Bush-hatred, but it's nevertheless an interesting article. I don't have kids, let alone kids in Houston/TX public schools, but the teaching-to-the-test issue interests me.

Durst
 

GALVESTON -- Millionaire Robert Durst may have been acquitted of murder, but if he wants to get out of jail, he's going to have to find a way to post a $2 billion bond.

After setting the breathtaking bond amount today, Judge Susan Criss left the courtroom but then returned to make sure attorneys heard her correctly.

"One billion with a 'b,' that is the way it is," she said.

Judge Poe
 

In 22 years as a Harris County district judge, Lloyd "Ted" Poe garnered gallons of ink and miles of videotape from a fawning local media with his zany so-called shame sentences for defendants in his court. They all had a common theme: In addition to jail time and fines, the convict must own up in public to his or her misdeeds. That could be by marching outside the scene of a robbery wearing placards with hand-scrawled apologies or shoveling horse manure in an HPD stable to atone for stealing the Lone Ranger's guns.

"That's Ted Poe's claim to fame," sneered GOP political consultant Allen Blakemore back when Poe was considering running for district attorney in 2000 against Blakemore's candidate, eventual winner Chuck Rosenthal. "He makes folks wear sandwich boards and walk around the street."

Now it seems Poe may have been inspired to create his judicial trademark at least partially from his own personal experience................The Original Shame Sentence?
Rattling the bones in Ted Poe's closet

News
 

Vomit.

Judge approves latest Enron bonuses Enron received court permission Thursday to pay $36.2 million in bonuses to several hundred of its remaining workers.........


Shoulda gone to Belize instead...

Suspect in bank fraud agrees to extradition A League City man accused of swindling banks out of millions of dollars and then faking his death in a boating accident agreed Thursday to be extradited to West Virginia to face criminal charges there...........


Bored in Houston?

Visitors' Guide: Get Bowled over by the best of the real Bayou City Put away all those other "Welcome to Houston" maps. Here are the real sites to consider as you try to fill up your Super Bowl days.........

Still Here
 

Hey there. Just a note to let everyone know that I'm not MIA - just busy as hell lately. If anyone needs to reach me - send a PM and I will respond as soon as I can.

Also, is there an interest in me posting jobs like I did for a while - it seemed to get a lot of hits - comments?

-TL

How to save on airfare
 

Man who shipped self home in crate put on probation ........McKinley popped out of the box Sept. 6 at his startled parents' home in DeSoto, a Dallas suburb, after journeying overnight about 1,500 miles by truck, plane and delivery van. The shaken delivery company employee left the house and called police.

For the next three weeks McKinley was jailed in Dallas County on unrelated bad-check and traffic warrants. He could not be arraigned on the federal charge until he finished serving time in Dallas, Schattman said......

Perry
 

If anyone has the scoop on Gov. Perry and his rumored impending divorce, please post. I heard there was info via Drudge concerning an intern (which is rumored to be spin to cover up real story), but search pulled nothing. Anything behind this? We're about due for a juicy scandal, no?

-T(gossipmonger)L

Perry
 

Someone on the Houston craigslist is suggesting that the person that he's been sleeping with is male. There's a reporter trolling around there trying to find more information.

Perry
 

I heard it was a male non-intern public official. Unfotunately, my brain is addled due to sick baby and I can't remember who the guy was supposed to be. The story has the wifey walking in on them. Nice.

Perry
 

Same story then. Craigslist post looks like it was removed, but there is a "reporter" there trolling for info on it. A bit of googling reveals that Secretary of State Connor is the alleged other party.

http://austin.indymedia.org/newswire...5577/index.php

Perry
 

The only surprise is that the story has taken so long to make it from a widely accepted Austin fact to state-wide gossip.

Perry
 

Wonkette has a photo from the anti-anti-gay protest at the Gov's Mansion:
http://www.wonkette.com/images/gaygov-tm.jpg

News
 

I thought this was an interesting case:

Plaintiffs win suit but no money for underage abortion
A jury Wednesday awarded no money to a woman and her father who sued an osteopath for performing an abortion while she was a minor without notifying the parent.

Ninety percent of the blame was assigned to the woman for using a fake identification indicating she was not a minor, the panel decided.

So what's left to do this Summer in Texas?
 

Beach bound? Better keep your clothes on

New Braunfels may ban beer bongs on rivers

Donations to save records short of goal
 

Houston Endowment Inc. has contributed $30,000 to the Harris County district clerk's effort to restore and preserve historic records dating to 1836.

The $53,375 now collected falls far short of the $800,000 the office estimates it needs to prevent the records from decaying beyond repair.

Donations can be sent to the Houston Bar Foundation Preservation Project, P.O. Box 3552, Houston, TX 77253.

Perry
 

Ix-nay on the outing-ay.

Oral Argument
 

The duel of the tongue vibrators Spree - news story.

http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...ndy-tongue.jpg

Judge calls suit `legal extortion'
 

GALVESTON -- A federal judge has fined attorney Anthony Griffin nearly $18,000 for filing a lawsuit the judge termed an attempt to "legally extort money" from the Galveston Independent School District.

Good Ole Judge Kent....my favorite quote, "[Judge Kent] said the money the district spent on the Boone lawsuit "does not come from a magic money tree."

And in other news:
Ralph Nader went to court Monday to win a place on the Texas presidential ballot after falling short in a petition drive.

In case you missed this
 

Any comments from former students?

Student sues college, ex-professor, claiming brutal sexual harassment

A federal lawsuit accuses a former law school professor, known for his public commentary on legal issues, of forcing a former student to have sex, sodomizing her and threatening to share her sexually with other faculty members.

The accusations led the faculty of the South Texas College of Law to vote last year to recommend that the board of directors strip Neil McCabe, 56, of his tenure, college President and Dean James Alfini said.......

The lawsuit, filed April 23, claims discrimination and harassment under Title IX of the 1972 federal Education Amendment and seeks an unspecified amount in damages from the college and McCabe.

McCabe filed a defamation of character lawsuit Jan. 15 in state civil court accusing Fredericks of stalking him after he broke off their sexual relationship............

"If she thought we were bluffing, we assume she has been disabused of that notion," the letter says. "If she does not want to expose herself, her family and friends to discovery, she must do as requested."...............

The lawsuit accuses McCabe of taking advantage of Fredericks when she was emotionally vulnerable and "began a campaign of control and manipulation of Fredericks under the guise of helping her with her personal and family problems."........

Finally he forced her to have sex, often in his office, and "he brutally and forcibly sodomized her when she was `bad,' " according to the lawsuit.

These bastards wake me every Saturday morning begging for money.
 

Deputy found guilty in Toys for Tots scheme
By DALE LEZON

The president of the Harris County Deputies Organization was convicted Monday of theft in what prosecutors said was a scam to convince donors that their contributions would be given to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

County Sheriff's Deputy Ed Christensen, 51, was found guilty of theft between $1,500 and $20,000. Christensen denied the allegations, saying telemarkerters and their subcontractors hired to raise money duped him and the union.

State District Judge Don Stricklin sentenced Christensen to four years' probation. He already told Christensen to resign his post as union president and to stay away from union headquarters.....

LINK

WMD found in Houston
 

Here's Something That Doesn't Happen Every Day...
Jun 25, 7:47 am ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) - An exploding vending machine turned the coolant freon into phosgene, a poisonous gas used as a chemical weapon in World War One, and forced the evacuation of 10 people from a Texas hospital, officials said on Thursday.
A food service employee was working on the refrigerated soft drink machine at the Park Place Medical Center in Port Arthur, Texas, when a small explosion and fire occurred inside it on Wednesday morning, Port Arthur Fire Marshal Mark Mulliner said.

"When freon gas from the cooling system came into contact with the heat from the fire, it changed composition to a phosgene gas," Mulliner said.

Phosgene irritates the lungs, eyes, mouth and nose and, in strong enough concentrations, causes fatal amounts of fluid to build up in the lungs.

Ten people on the third floor of the hospital were evacuated for several hours while the area was ventilated, said Heather Ross of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Two firefighters were kept in the hospital overnight for observation, Ross said.

"We were fortunate one of our officers who was first on the scene had some familiarity with phosgene and quickly evacuated the area," Mulliner said.

Ross said state Homeland Security officials had to be notified of the incident because of phosphene's possible use as a chemical weapon.

Mulliner said the incident appeared to be a "freak accident."

"I've been here 27 years and I've never seen anything like this," he said.


Linky Loo

Actual Legal News
 

Justices: Fetus is not a 'person'

Aug. 30, 2004, 7:19AM

Texas high court rules 8-1 the parents of a stillborn baby can't sue hospital

By JANET ELLIOTT - Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - The parents of a stillborn child cannot sue medical practitioners for negligence because a fetus is not a "person" or "individual" under state laws, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled.

The court in an 8-1 ruling overturned a decision of the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth that Tara Reese could sue a Fort Worth hospital for the mental anguish she suffered after her baby died in utero in 1998.

Lawyers for Reese had urged the court to follow 37 other states that allow wrongful-death claims for stillborn children. Texas is one of 10 states that do not recognize such claims.

The Texas Legislature in 2003 passed the Prenatal Protection Act, which defines "individual" to include an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization to birth. But lawmakers then said that physicians or other licensed health care providers could not be sued if the death is the result of a lawful medical procedure.

Chief Justice Tom Phillips, writing for the majority, said the parties "do not contend that this case involved anything other than a lawful medical procedure, so this case would not be covered even if the new statute were applicable."

According to the opinion, Reese went to the Fort Worth Osteopathic Medical Center emergency room in her seventh month of pregnancy, complaining of a racing pulse and dizziness.

She alleged that the doctors were negligent in caring for her and the fetus.

Phillips said the court was following its 1987 decision in Witty v. American General Capital that held the Legislature did not intend to include a fetus when it enacted the wrongful-death and survival laws in 1860 and 1895. The court said Reese could pursue a claim against the hospital for the injuries she sustained.

Justice Steven W. Smith dissented. He said the case was too important to be resolved solely on the basis of prior case law.

Jerry Bullard, a lawyer for Reese and her husband, Donnie Reese, said he was disappointed in the ruling.

"The court missed an opportunity to re-examine and overrule Witty as it applies to viable unborn children, restore sanity to an area of jurisprudence that is morally and legally repugnant, and bring Texas into step with those states that recognize the personhood of the unborn child," Bullard said.

Earl Harcrow of Fort Worth, who represents the hospital, said he thinks the court did the right thing.

"That's what the law has always been," Harcrow said. "The court of appeals tried to change it, but the Supreme Court did not go along with that."

News
 

Woman pleads guilty to giving drugs to unborn child AMARILLO -- A woman pleaded guilty today to delivering crack to her unborn son, avoiding trial in a case that could determine the boundaries of a state law intended to protect the unborn.

As part of her plea agreement, Tracy Ward, 30, retained her right to appeal, said her attorney, Joe Dawson. The deal averted trial over the question of whether a mother's actions can be prosecuted under a law that classifies a fetus as an individual.

Ward, who admitted smoking crack cocaine in the days leading up to her son's birth in early November, will be sentenced Wednesday. She faces between two and 20 years in prison on the second-degree felony charge of delivery of a controlled substance to a child.

Disturbing.
 

Truth and Consequences - Sometimes in the game of cops and robbers, telling your story is no defense

Denise Crawford looked at her new client and saw a defendant more desperate than most. After six months in jail, Desmond Haye had been ushered in for trial as a young man without much defense -- or even a defense attorney, for that matter.
State District Judge Jeannine Barr delayed the trial for two days, but Haye's first lawyer never showed up. Exasperated, she wound up appointing Crawford to defend him in June 2003.

A former prosecutor, Crawford anticipated another long story of despair and innocence spun by a street-savvy prisoner. Instead, she was silently impressed. "He had a calm about him -- I know I wouldn't be as calm if I was looking at potential life in prison," she remembers. "He was polite, a well-spoken young man."

To hear Haye tell it, the police just showed up at his Alief home that January and, for no reason, took him in as the gunman in gaudy hip-hop apparel who had robbed a Handy Stop check-cashing outlet five weeks earlier. He had his alibi: Haye and his wife both swore he was taking her to work rather than holding up some convenience store on Fondren...............

Anyone live (or ever lived) in Waco?
 

If so, could you PM me - I have some questions.

Buzz at the health law conference in Houston for the last two days was that ten attorneys from V&E's Houston office are picking up and moving to Baker Hostetler.

My intel is that the attorneys are all of-counsel and associates, and some of them will be partners over at Baker Hostetler.

Baker Hostetler hasn't really had a health care practice to speak of in Houston, and V&E's website is sporting 24 partners in the health care practice.

Given the "tort reform" in HB4, isn't health law dead or dying?

Tort reform eliminated peer review, the TSBME, anti-trust laws, Stark I, Stark II, EMTALA, the anti-kickback statute, HIPAA, Medicare, Medicaid, Champus, CHiPS, professional licensure, facility licensure, reimbursement, death and dying issues, not-for-profit status, hospital operations and the corporate practice of medicine doctrine?

I'll give you CHiPs, but that was a different action by the state legislature.

I believe that tort reform eliminated disease, death and dying. Hence no health law required. And more time to focus on golf for doctors. Yay!

Yeah, yeah , yeah. Some of the rest of us have complicated practices too (not me, but some other people - like Hank maybe). No need to show off.

Look at the big brain on RT.

Anyone live (or ever lived) in Waco?
 

No, but I've been there.

I thought HB4 severely limited recovery in medmal cases, and eliminated the old MiLLA statute.

So, do you do compliance work?

I do a lot of things related to health care. Medical malpractice is not and has never been part of the health law bar, though.