John Council

February 09, 2011 | Law.com

If recent Texas state court filings are any indication, the attitude toward avoiding suing clients over unpaid legal fees is changing. But some lawyers say such suits may be more expensive than they're worth, lead to legal malpractice counterclaims, and could increase a firm's insurance premiums.

By John Council

9 minute read

August 09, 2010 | New York Law Journal

It's a similar scenario, but a different disciplinary action against 116th District Judge Bruce Priddy (pictured) of Dallas. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct recently handed him a public reprimand for failing to obtain continuing education hours and for failing to respond to the commission regarding a complaint lodged against him by the Texas Center for the Judiciary.

By John Council

5 minute read

January 13, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

Texas firms need to be more careful about potential conflicts when hiring attorneys who previously worked as nonlawyers at opposing firms, thanks to a recent mandamus decision from Waco's 10th Court of Appeals. The court held that a trial court judge erred by not disqualifying Dallas’ Waters & Kraus from an asbestos case because one of the firm's former lawyers had worked as a paralegal for the opposing firm and had done work on behalf of the defense firm's client.

By John Council

5 minute read

December 06, 2005 | Law.com

Employers would be wise not to prejudge a potential employee's medical condition and use it as a reason to rescind a job offer, according to a 5th Circuit opinion. Such assumptions run afoul of the ADA and may lead to rulings that employers have discriminated against potential employees as a matter of law, wrote Judge Jacques Wiener. The appeal involved a temporary employee who was offered a permanent position, only to have the offer rescinded, because the employer believed his diabetes was uncontrolled.

By John Council

6 minute read

January 17, 2005 | Texas Lawyer

It's fitting that the dominant landmark in the far West Texas county where the classic 1956 James Dean movie "Giant" was filmed is a courthouse that's epic, grandiose and, well, giant. Built in 1886, the four-story Presidio County courthouse is one of the finest in Texas. It features a stucco exterior, loads of ornate Victorian woodwork and a rooftop dome that provides panoramic views of the Sierra Vieja mountains.

By John Council

9 minute read

February 13, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

Tom Moran and William E. Taylor III are Houston criminal-defense attorneys who've left behind comfortable law practices in Texas to represent clients before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

By John Council

13 minute read

November 03, 2010 | Law.com

A Texas judge has filed a defamation and extortion suit alleging that an attorney and three other state district judges created rumors to attract a political opponent against him.

By John Council

5 minute read

October 23, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

Houston's 1st Court of Appeals found in McCleery v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline that an attorney violated Rule 1.04(a) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by charging an "unconscionable fee" by changing the nature of the attorney-client fee arrangement just prior to trial.

By John Council

8 minute read

March 27, 2006 | Law.com

Families of two people in Texas who died after receiving rabies-infected kidneys have filed suits against the hospital and others involved in the transplants, alleging that the defendants failed to provide enough information about the donor to obtain informed consent from the recipients. Both patients died the month after their surgeries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the deaths were from the first reported cases of rabies transmission through solid organ transplantation.

By John Council

9 minute read

October 26, 2009 | Law.com

A federal judge's ruling in an ERISA case shows that retirement plan administrators are in a bad spot when confronted with beneficiaries whom they suspect of gaming the system to access retirement payments, several experts say. The case involves a group of Continental Airlines senior pilots who allegedly obtained "sham divorces" to receive early payment of benefits from their retirement plan. The judge ruled that nothing in ERISA allows a plan administrator to question or thwart such suspected actions by plan beneficiaries.

By John Council

8 minute read