Articles about Law
Fired Realty Exec Hires Gloria Allred
For a dozen years, Dallas’ Liz Trocchio Smith was one of the few women holding a senior executive post at a global commercial real estate company. Then, last October, she was fired. Now the former Cushman & Wakefield executive VP — she oversaw the C&W region including Dallas, Chicago, and Minneapolis — has turned to a legal heavyweight for some advice. As Christine Perez reports exclusively on our RealPoints site, Trocchio Smith has retained Gloria Allred — the highest-profile women’s-rights attorney in the country.
We Just Got Served
The gentleman you see here just served us with a subpoena. If you look closely, you can see Zac in the background, watching the action through a window. I asked the guy if he wanted me to run so that he could give chase. You know, make things more interesting. He said, “You watch too much TV.”
The subpoena is related to a suit that attorney Scott Clearman filed against Stream Energy. You remember Scott Clearman, right? He claims Stream is a pyramid scheme. Stream Energy’s founder, Rob Snyder, called the guy a clown. Our little company is involved because D CEO wrote about Snyder in 2010, and I wrote about him for D Magazine in 2006. And, too, I know Snyder personally (a fact I included in that story).
In any case, Clearman wants all our files related to those two stories. And he wants all emails to or from Snyder. All of them. While our boys over at Haynes and Boone are working on their billable hours, I thought that here, in this space, I’d offer Clearman some emails to tide him over. Here’s an email Rob Snyder sent to me on December 23, 2010:
70+ person line outside HoneyBaked Ham Co. in Midway Hollow
And here is my response to that email:
Noted. I’ll stay the hell away from there. Like, I’m in D.C. That far.
Craig James Files Complaint Against Book Publishers
There are two books out that chronicle the Craig James-Mike Leach imbroglio at Texas Tech: Leach’s Swing Your Sword (to a lesser extent) and Michael Lee’s Double T Double Cross. Well, an alert Red Raider points us to news that James has filed complaints in Collin County against the publishers of the those books. His lawyer want to depose the publishers to investigate a potential claims against them. Says the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: “The complaint was filed December 12 in 199th District Court of Collin County and lists 27 grounds James believes the authors used to mislead the general public and make defamatory statements against him.”
In a related note, I am currently seeking a publisher for my manuscript titled Craig James Killed 5 Hookers at SMU. I look forward to my deposition.
Don Carter Sues Tom Hicks
Don Carter, the beloved, cowboy-hat-wearing founding owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is not happy with Tom Hicks. From Courthouse News, here’s the summary of the suit styled Donald Carter v. SWS Realty LLC; Thomas Hicks; Hicks Inc.; Southwest Sports Realty Partners LP:
Contract, fiduciary duty, conspiracy and appointment of receiver actions regarding the parties’ partnership that holds and develops real estate around the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, home to the Texas Rangers major league baseball club and Frisco Roughriders minor league baseball club, respectively. The plaintiff says he is the only non-Hicks controlled partner, that the partnership is dominated by Hicks who has made $35 million in insider sweetheart loans while the plaintiff has complied with millions of dollars in capital calls. Among other things, the plaintiff says that improper expenses were charged, that millions of dollars have been wrongfully transferred and that Hicks admitted to giving the Rangers an artificially low pricing for parking on partners’ controlled lots. Hicks is the former owner of the Rangers, who filed for bankruptcy under his ownership.
Neiman Marcus Sued Over $1.50 ATM Fee
According to the Southeast Texas Record, Marilyn Frey has sued Neiman Marcus for charging her a $1.50 ATM terminal fee at its store in Plano when there was no notice regarding the fee posted.
Bash With Bushes Marks a Very Good Year for McKool Smith
George W. Bush and Mike McKool
Dallas’s Belo Mansion may have been a funeral home for 50 years, even hosting the funeral of Clyde Barrow back in the ’30s. But Friday night the old joint was anything but a dead zone, as roughly 1,000 people turned up for a raucous holiday shindig there marking the 20th anniversary of McKool Smith, an IP/commercial litigation law firm.
Think casino games. Exotically clad drink servers (one, pictured after the “jump,” wore a steel “skirt” holding dozens of champagne flutes). Plus multiple live bands — including a group (called Vocal Trash) at the valet entrance that sang and banged out tunes like Footloose using garbage-can lids and drums made out of empty water-cooler bottles.
The Dallas-based firm’s Mike McKool blew out all the stops for this year’s annual holiday party, no doubt. Example: Lawyers from the firm’s other six U.S. offices, including from its newest outpost in L.A., were flown in and put up at a local hotel (presumably not a Super 8). McKool also went above and beyond on the season’s giving side, presenting not one but two $100,000 checks to nonprofit groups during the evening.
Dallas’s Vogel Alcove snagged one of the checks. The other went to Barbara Pierce Bush’s Global Health Corps. The daughter of George W. and Laura Bush was there to accept the dough in person, while her parents sat watching at a table nearby.
The 2011 economy may be continuing to struggle in many ways. If the McKool Smith bash was any indication, though, it’s been a stupendous year for the lawyers. (Photos by Jeanne Prejean)
New License Plate Law Kind of Screwed Up
So you know what happens when you wait until the last day of the legislative session to pass a whole flurry of bills? Some of them end up missing things, things that change the entire purpose of the law. Like in Arkansas a couple years ago, when they unintentionally made it OK to marry a baby, or something, by accident. Or this past legislative session in Texas, when they accidentally gave a law designed to make it a bigger deal to not have or obscure a license plate, but instead kind of gave it no teeth by forgetting the fine, apparently.
I’m no lawyer, or I’d be off lawyering and making big bank and scaring people. And man, I’d have this giant house with a maid that would just do floors, all day long. And two dogs – Herve Villechaize and Nipsey Russell. What was I saying? Right. I’m no lawyer, but if I got a ticket for missing a license plate after this law goes into effect, since the AG’s office will take six months to rule on the legalities, I might just fight it. I think.
Leading Off (9/19/11)
What a 1976 Trial Tells Us About John Wiley Price: The latest investigative brouhaha surrounding County Commissioner John Wiley Price isn’t the first time the politician has been backed into a legal corner. But what does an acquittal in 1976 tell us about how Price will handle the latest trouble? In short, don’t expect him to be eager to cooperate with the prosecution.
North Texas Economy Strengthens Guanajuato Ties: Most urban areas in the United States tend to draw migrants from specific regions of Mexico, and in the case of Dallas, it is the mountainous Guanajuato (which is one reason why someone needs to launch a new MLS team, Club León USA, and stick them in the Cotton Bowl, but that’s besides the point). In the current economy, in which the North Texas economy is outpacing other parts of the country, the labor-pool network remains entrenched and stronger than ever (sub req).
Bush Raises More Than $300 Million for Library: George W. Bush still has some serious fundraising swagger.
Leading Off (8/29/11)
Parents’ Bedwetting Punishment Kills Child: Because bedwetting isn’t enough of a humiliating ordeal, the parents of a 10-year-old Dallas boy decided to withhold water from their child for five days as punishment, and the boy eventually died when he collapsed and hit his head. That’s why Michael Ray James and Tina Alberson, both now in Dallas County jail, are this week’s winners of the most despicable and sickening parents in the world award.
Later This Week, The Sun Devil May Finally Show His Mercy: Forecasters are calling (sub. req.) for highs in the low 90s later in the week with a chance of rain. Couldn’t come sooner, as Sunday really strained the power grid. But the DMN article seems to lament that a break in the temperature later this week will mean we will come up short on breaking the record for most 100-degree days. I don’t really understand the desire. Seriously, just make it stop.
Jonathan Hudson Wins Dumbest Juror Ever Award: Why? Because he tried to “friend” the defendant in the case on Facebook. Nice.
Dallas Police Lineup Unit Stands Out From the Crowd: In this Boston Globe article (via the NYT, it would seem) Dallas’ special lineup unit gets a close look ahead of New Jersey’s efforts to overhaul their lineup program. Dallas assigns specially trained officers to lineups who have no relationship with individual cases to avoid witness coercion.
Perry Became a Millionaire While In Office: My favorite bit about this story is that when it comes down to hard cash, the anti-government poster boy, much like Michele Bachmann, has no problem pocketing government agricultural subsidies. Notice how both major Republican candidates have made their living/fortunes off the government or by leveraging their governmental positions.
Dirk Receives Germany’s Top Sports Honor: It’s called the Silver Laurel Leaf, and who else was going to win it this year, Andreas Klöden?
Beltre, Cruz Swap Spots on DL: The good news: Adrian Beltre starts a rehabilitation assignment in Triple-A Round Rock today and should return to the Rangers in a few days. The bad news? Friday night’s hero, Nelson Cruz, left last night’s game with a strained hamstring.
Yet Another Fan Seriously Injured At Ranger Game An unidentified 24-year-old man fell from a stairwell after the game Saturday night, proving once and for all that the Ballpark was constructed over an Native American burial ground and it is haunted by spiteful spirits, meaning the Rangers will need to move to a new stadium downtown preferably with a retractable roof so their starters won’t run out of gas mid-August.
Appeals Court Affirms First Amendment, Slaps Down Hiram Walker Royall
Hiram Walker Royall is a Highland Park developer who doesn’t much like it when journalists write about his business dealings. So when a woman named Carla Main wrote a book called Bulldozed: “Kelo,” Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land, about one of Royall’s development deals in Freeport, Texas, Royall sued her (and a whole bunch of other folks) for defamation. Late yesterday, the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals reversed an earlier court’s decision that the book wasn’t protected by the First Amendment. The full release from Main’s camp is after the jump.
This is good news for truth, justice, and the American way.
WFAA Weekend Morning Anchor Shon Gables Really, Really Wanted in Detroit
As we mentioned in March, a Detroit judge issued a bench warrant for the arrest of WFAA weekend morning anchor Shon Gables, who allegedly failed to appear in court to testify regarding her assets in connection to a $35,000 slander judgment against her.
Ed Bark, who has been on top of the story on his website unclebarky.com, caught everyone up before he headed out for his Independence Day weekend off. (more…)
Maurine Dickey Writes to AG to Review County Redistricting
Just a few minutes ago, I got a passel of documents from Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey, who has already expressed her extreme displeasure regarding the redistricting maps the commissioner’s court voted on a few weeks ago. Seems Dickey will now seek a review of the map by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the U.S. Justice Department.
“The new map was approved by the Dallas County Commissioners without the benefit of public review or comment as required. I ask that the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Justice rule the new district map invalid and restore the original redrawn district map that was presented to the public for comment,” Dickey says in a press release. “The court failed to give the public proper notice which has resulted in what is, at a minimum, a disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.”
You can read the full press release here, read the letter here, and see the old map and the new map here and here, respectively.
NYTimes on Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow
When NYTimes reporter Mike McIntire emailed me a couple of weeks ago saying that he wanted to get my thoughts on the friendship between Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas, I told him I didn’t know anything about it — and I don’t, except for what McIntire wrote yesterday. McIntire contacted me because of a post I put up during the convention hotel fight entitled “Who is Harlan Crow and Why Are People Saying All Those Mean Things About Him?”
McIntire did a good job, I think, and it was worth reporting on, because the friendship is unusual. He may have stretched his case a little in trying to find an ethical lapse by noting that Crow entities have had four cases before an appellate court and that AEI, of which Crow is a board member, gave Thomas an award worth $15,000. I call those a stretch because there’s not a business in America, including this one, that hasn’t been before one of the lower appellate courts, and because board members have as little to do with making awards at think tanks like AEI as summer interns. Still, it was a piece that needed to be written, and McIntire seems to have covered all the bases.
It’s the reaction that interests me.
The Courts Can’t Convict, or Exonerate, Nader Akhavan. So Where Can He Get Justice?
Nader Akhavan of Frisco was charged with one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and has been unable to clear his name for more than four years.
Though he has never been found guilty, he is shackled with a record even after a jury acquitted him on one charge and was hung on the other. The DA won’t re-try him, nor clear him. The former DA has told a court that it is uninterested in trying a defendant who a jury will be found “not guilty.”
The Texas 5th Appeals Court wrote that it was uninterested in constitutional or equity arguments. They refused to allow the indictment to be expunged from his record. That record has made it impossible for Akhavan to return to the highly paid career he once had.
Now, a state bill waiting for the governer’s signature may give him a chance. More details at the Collin County Observer.
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