Texas Lawyer Blog

Re: Alleged bribes and BMWs

Two days after a federal indictment naming Houston plaintiffs lawyer Warren Todd Hoeffner was made public, Hoeffner’s ex-partner Thomas E. Bilek announced in a press release dated June 29 that he and Hoeffner had dissolved their partnership several years ago, even though he continued to operate his firm for several years under the name Hoeffner & Bilek  “for continuity reasons.” Bilek said in the statement that Hoeffner had formed a new business entity when they dissolved their partnership “in which I have had no role.” Bilek said Hoeffner had “sole responsibility” at their former firm for the silicosis docket. The indictment alleges that Hoeffner paid more than $3 million in “bribes and kickbacks” to two former claims adjustors for The Hartford Insurance Co. in connection with a $34 million settlement of silica-related suits. Hoeffner pleaded not guilty to the charges. Bilek noted in the release that he and Hoeffner have continued to share office space because they are both parties to a long-term lease. Bilek also noted that neither he nor his firm is a defendant in the federal indictment, and the indictment does not allege he played any role in the alleged acts. Bilek said his firm will now be known as the Bilek Law Firm. “We will also endeavor to maintain the reputation for integrity which I believe that we have earned during the past 20 years of practice in the courts of Texas and the . . . United States,” he wrote. The Hoeffner & Bilek Web site, which was accessible on June 28 and listed both Bilek and Hoeffner on its attorney roster, was password protected on June 29.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Keel’s back in the Texas House

Terry Keel, former state representative, former Travis County sheriff and former assistant district attorney, has a new title.  Keel, who stepped in as Texas House parliamentarian  shortly before the 2007 session ended in May, will become the House’s permanent parliamentarian.  A founding partner of Keel & Nassour in Austin, Keel joined former state Rep. Ron Wilson of Houston, who served as temporary assistant parliamentarian, after Denise Davis abruptly resigned as House parliamentarian.  Keel and Wilson helped Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, quell a rebellion in the House with rulings that gave Craddick absolute authority over whether to recognize any member for a motion.  How Craddick plans to use Keel during the interim is not yet clear.  Watch and wait.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Lawyer listens with eyes shut

Has another sleeping lawyer case been added to the annals of Texas justice? Texas made international headlines when the 5th Circuit in 2001 overturned the  murder conviction of Calvin Burdine, whose lawyer displayed "repeated unconsciousness through not insubstantial portions of the critical guilty-innocence phase." Now comes the case of Clyde Moore, whose trial counsel failed to stir for redirect after the prosecution cross-examined Moore. Once someone nudged the lawyer, however, he got up and asked Moore several questions. The defense lawyer later explained that he had a habit of listening with his eyes closed and was merely formulating questions for redirect. In Moore v. State the Texarkana Court of Appeals found that even if the trial counsel took a nap, it did not rise to the level of Burdine, because this defense lawyer did not sleep through critical or substantial portions of the trial -- thus, no new trial for Moore. The court stated that the record backed up the trial counsel, who "may have had a brief lack of consciousness -- like a schoolboy lost in a daydream -- or a distracted focus on whether or to what degree counsel needed to conduct a re-direct examination of Moore after the State completed its cross-examination."
-- Jonathan Fox

Art and law

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston and state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, will host an African art show at the law school in September. Featuring artists from Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, the exhibition -- The African Cabinet -- will be on display during the week of Sept. 25 - Sept. 29 from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. The exhibiting artists include contemporary Nigerian artist Chief Jimoh Buraimoh, who also has works on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.
-- Jeanne Graham

Crazy enough to live

Picking from a veritable cornucopia of death row appeals from our fair state to make a significant change in the law, the U.S. Supreme Court used a Texas case to make it more difficult to execute mentally ill convicts. In a 5-4 decision in Panetti v. Quarterman, the high court halted the execution of Scott Panetti, a prisoner with a long history of mental illness whom lower courts have found meets the standard to be executed. Precedent from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requires that inmates comprehend that they are about to be executed and the reasons why they are about to be executed before they can be put to death. Panetti was allowed to represent himself during his capital murder trial while wearing a cowboy outfit. His lawyers argued that Panetti currently believes he is about to be executed because Texas and the devil are conspiring to keep him from preaching the Gospel instead of the fact that he murdered his former in-laws. That was enough to convince a slim majority on the court to let Panetti live for now, reversing and remanding his case to Texas for further hearings. Too bad the court didn't use Panetti's case to outright ban the execution of the mentally ill, just as it did for the mentally retarded in 2002's Atkins v. Virginia.

-- John Council

Punctuation and the alleged perp

Prosecutors in the office of Richard Roper, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, filed on June 12 a federal complaint in U.S. district court in Fort Worth charging Richard Earl Kemp with robbing a Compass Bank. In the complaint, the prosecutors include an affidavit from a Fort Worth police officer who states that between April 2 and June 5, a total of eight bank robberies were committed in Tarrant County by a robber matching Kemp’s description. Although Kemp has not been charged in all those robberies, prosecutors in their press release dubbed the bank robber in those eight robberies the “leprechaun bandit,” because in one of the surveillance photos, he appears to be wearing a baseball cap featuring a shamrock and a leprechaun. A federal magistrate ordered Kemp detained at a hearing on June 18. In the complaint, prosecutors noted that a police officer found a note in a car Kemp said was his that included similar language to notes the robber of the Compass bank used in a note he passed to a teller. The note in the car also, according to the complaint, contained some misspellings and missing punctuation as well. "I need 100's - 50's - 20's and 10's Try and be a hero & nobody goes home toda,” the note in the car read.
-- Miriam Rozen

Alleged bribes and BMWs

Tort reform has plenty of plaintiffs attorneys struggling for business and looking for new ways to keep their practices afloat. But the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas alleges that Warren Todd Hoeffner, a partner in Houston's Hoeffner & Bilek, took extreme and illegal actions on behalf of securing settlements for silica clients. According to a June 25 indictment, Hoeffner is charged with conspiracy, conspiracy to money launder, wire fraud and mail fraud for allegedly bribing and paying kickbacks to two insurance company employees. Hoeffner and two employees of the Hartford Insurance Co. allegedly induced the insurer to pay more than $34 million in settlements on behalf of insured silica defendants. Hoeffner is also alleged to have paid $2.7 million to then-Hartford employee Rachel Rossow and $764,000 to then-Hartford employee John Prestage. Hoeffner also allegedly wired money to a bank in Connecticut so Rossow and Prestage could purchase new BMWs. For his part, Hoeffner allegedly recieved $5.3 million in attorney's fees paid out of settlement funds. If found guilty, Hoeffner, Rossow and Prestage all face, well, lots 'o prison time.

-- John Council

Republican judges vie for 5th Court seat

Two Dallas County Republican district judges, who may have seen the Democratic handwriting on the wall for the ’08 election cycle, have decided to run for an open bench on the 5th Court of Appeals, which encompasses more Republican terrain than just Dallas County, the scene of huge Democratic judicial gains last November. With Justice Mark Whittington announcing in late March that he would not be seeking re-election, Judge Mary Murphy of the 14th District Court and Judge Robert Francis of Criminal District Court No. 3 are racing for the seat Wittington will vacate. It might seem after the last election that Dallas County Republicans should save their fire for Dems instead of each other, but both candidates are moving forward. Murphy tells us she has a fundraiser scheduled for July 12, and she has her campaign Web site up and running. Francis is no stranger to primary contests. In March 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for his party’s nomination for a seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He is also no stranger to other justices on the 5th Court of Appeals. If he wins the bench, he will join his ex-wife Molly Francis on the 13-member court.

-- Mark Donald

Conservative court in action

I wish someone would explain to me what exactly the word "conservative" is supposed to mean when used to describe an appellate court. Is it a court consisting of avowed Republicans who protect business interests by overturning jury verdicts in their rulings? Or is it a court that strictly follows the law at all costs? I hope it's the latter definition. And if that's true I'd like to present a recent opinion, Duff v. Werner Enterprises, from the famously "conservative" 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as an example of what I like to think is a "conservative" opinion. In it the court --- for the most part --- upholds a $300,000 jury verdict awarded to Ronald Duff, a Texas Ranger injured in an auto wreck when a tractor-trailer pulled out in front of him as he was driving to help arrest some fugitive bank robbers. The trucking company appealed the verdict arguing that the evidence did not support it.  The 5th Circuit disagreed with the defendant, closely reviewed the evidence, and found that the jury had adequate evidence to reach its conclusion. But the court did chop off about $30,000 from the award, finding that the jury had improperly calculated Duff's future earnings loss. The court seems to follow the letter of the law in reaching its conclusions. Then again, maybe there's another definition of  a conservative court ---  one that knows better than to mess with a Texas Ranger.

-- John Council 

The most expensive restoration project ever?

Fannin County commissioners bravely voted this week, 5-0, to apply for a state grant to restore the historic 1889 courthouse in Bonham. Apparantly the county is in the very early stages of seeking money from the Texas Historical Commission to put its courthouse back in Victorian-era condition, as nearby Lamar, Red River and Hopkins counties already have done.  But when the commissioners get a solid estimate on the courthouse restoration costs, they may be shocked. The Fannin County Courthouse has gone through two massive remodeling projects --- one in 1929 and another in 1965.  Sadly, the Fannin County Courthouse currently looks more like an insurance office building than a classic Texas hall of justice. It will take millions of dollars --- possibly the most ever spent on a Texas historic courthouse --- to put Fannin County's back together. But push ahead bravely dear Fannin County residents. It'll be a painful and expensive project but worth it.

-- John Council