Texas Lawyer Blog

Light up your litigation

Every day at dusk from now through Dec. 31, litigants emerging from the historic Harrison County Courthouse in Marshall will be treated to a blaze of holiday glory, the town's annual Wonderland of Lights. Preparations for what's called the Granddaddy of all Christmas Festivals begin in June each year, and starting in mid-October, courthouse square is outfitted with more than 10 million lights, says Marshall convention and visitors bureau event coordinator Geraldine Mauthe (who sent us these photos). On the courthouse alone, she says, there are some 120,000 lights. If you have little litigators who could be entranced by the sparkle, it's not too late to request that change of venue.
-- Jenny B. Davis

 

New awards recognize pro bono work

The Texas Access to Justice Commission has presented its first-ever awards to a law school and a law student in recognition of their pro bono legal services to poor and low-income citizens. State Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill, the court’s liaison to the commission it created in 2001, presented the Law School Commitment to Service Award to Texas Tech University School of Law. O’Neill presented the Law Student Pro Bono Award to Jessica Cassidy, who is scheduled to graduate from the University of Texas School of Law in May 2009. O’Neill says discussion about the need to provide pro bono legal service typically is aimed at practicing attorneys. “We need to instill that sense of service at the law school level,” she says. The commission made the award presentations during the Nov. 18 new lawyer induction ceremony in Austin. 
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Apple iPhone screen target of suit

When you browse the Internet on your iPhone, do you ever wonder who invented that handy little screen? Elliott A. Gottfurcht, Grant E. Gottfurcht and Albert-Michel C. Long allege in a patent infringement suit filed this week that they --  not Apple Inc. -- invented the small screen used on the Apple iPhone.  On Nov. 24, EMG Technology LLC, the company that holds the patent obtained by the Gottfurchts and Long, filed a patent infringement suit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Tyler. EMG, which has its offices in Tyler, alleges in its original complaint in EMG Technology LLC v. Apple Inc. that on Oct. 21, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent No. 7,441,196 for a touch-screen that could be used on a wireless device to two trusts, assignees for the inventors. As alleged in the complaint, the assignees assigned all rights to the patent to EMG on Nov. 19. Stanley Gibson, an attorney representing EMG and a partner in Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro in Los Angeles, says the original patent application dates back to 1999. “You can’t file a lawsuit until the patent issues,” Gibson says. A spokesman for Apple did not return three telephone calls seeking comment.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Will Tyler Perry come to Texas to testify?

Trial lawyers know that, although the court may close for a holiday, trial prep goes on -- and on and on. Just ask Dallas litigator Willie Briscoe, who’s getting ready for a blockbuster of a trial he says is set to go the Tuesday after Turkey Day. The case involves actor-director Tyler Perry, owner of the country’s first African-American-owned movie studio and star of films like "Madea’s Family Reunion." It’s Perry’s first film, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," that’s the subject of a copyright infringement suit that Judge Leonard Davis will hear in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. In West v. Perry et al., Briscoe’s client, Donna West, alleges that Perry’s film was “copied largely from plaintiff’s copyrighted script,” a work she called "Fantasy of a Black Woman." Veronica S. Lewis, a partner in the Dallas office of Vinson & Elkins who’s leading the defense team for Perry and Lion’s Gate Entertainment Inc., did not immediately return a call for comment. Will Perry jet to Texas testify? If so, Briscoe can’t talk about it. “I can’t tell you anything about it, because we’re under rules from the court not to speak,” he says. Come on, your honor! Enquiring minds want to know!
-- Jenny B. Davis

ER doc/wife of Gibbs & Bruns associate tends to fallen U.S. attorney general

Dr. Lisa Cooper, an emergency room doctor in Houston who is married to Gibbs & Bruns associate Matthew Cooper, got a chance to use her skills on U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey when he collapsed on Nov. 20 while giving a speech in Washington, D.C. The Coopers and Gibbs & Bruns partner Jeffrey Kubin were at a Federalist Society banquet last Thursday night, where Mukasey was speaking. Kubin says Mukasey collapsed at about 10:15 p.m., after talking for about 15 or 20 minutes. “He looks a little funny, starts to slur his words, and collapses to the stage,” Kubin says in describing how Mukasey acted before he fell to the floor. Kubin says Lisa Cooper ran up to the stage from their table at the back of the room, and she treated him until paramedics arrived about 30 minutes later. She also rode with Mukasey to the hospital in the ambulance, Kubin says, and then, about 45 minutes later, returned to the hotel where he and the Coopers were staying for the Federalist Society convention. Mukasey left the hospital the next day, and Justice Department officials characterized his illness as a fainting spell. Matthew Cooper referred a call about the incident to Kubin, who says Lisa Cooper cannot discuss her treatment of Mukasey. But Kubin says “she was quite the star of the show, ” because she apparently was the only doctor in attendance at the banquet.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Another delay in cases involving indictments of VP and others

The Texas Supreme Court has appointed a longtime Texas judge to hear a motion to recuse 5th Administrative Judicial Region Presiding Judge Manuel Banales from the cases involving the indictments of Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and half a dozen other people in Willacy County. Judge Michael Peden of San Antonio’s 285th District Court says the Supreme Court assigned him to hear the recusal motion that Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra filed against Banales on Nov. 21. Peden, who has been a judge since 1983, says he set a Dec. 1 hearing on that motion. Peden has served on the 285th District Court since 1989 and was on Bexar County Court-at-Law No. 8 bench prior to that. Guerra did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment about the appointment. A Willacy County grand jury handed up the indictments Nov. 18. 

-- Mary Alice Robbins

SMU 1Ls raising money for homeless children

First-year students at SMU’s Dedman School of Law in Dallas are on a mission this holiday season to raise $10,000 to buy blankets, books and stuffed animals for area homeless children. Ann Chao and Mike Winn, both 1Ls, are heading the effort to sell holiday cards – featuring a snowman drawn by one of Dallas’ homeless children – to raise the funds for Project Night Night, a national nonprofit that provides tote bags to children aged 10 and younger in homeless shelters. Each bag contains an age-appropriate book, a blanket and a stuffed animal, Chao says. The students are selling packages of five cards and envelopes for $20. “That’s the cost to provide one child with one completely filled bag,” says Chao. The funds raised will buy totes for children in Dallas area shelters, she says. “We have about 80 people in our class,” she says. “So if everybody passes out five, and we’re hoping some people will sell more, we should be able to reach our goal.”
-- Jeanne Graham

A trial lawyer gives thanks

 As a personal injury lawyer, Houston solo Paul J. Smith has plenty to be thankful for this coming Thursday, including a down-home meal cooked by native Texan "Chuckwagon Sally" (aka his wife). Plus, he jokes, one upside of the down economy is that “the blame has shifted from the plaintiffs lawyers to the greedy cats on Wall Street.” (But, on a more serious note, he adds that his injured clients aren’t getting initial settlement offers from adjusters that are “what they should be.”) In his Nov. 18 Thanksgiving-themed post on his blog, in addition to sharing his gratitude, he reminds lawyers about the “mushy” stuff of practicing law, specifically caring about one’s clients. But he also says he's been taking time out to remind his clients that there is plenty to be thankful for, despite their injuries. “If you are grateful and are helping others, you are in higher spirits than if you are sitting on your pity wagon,” he says. “People who are grateful for the things that they have seldom talk about how bad it is.”
-- Jenny B. Davis

Prison unit named for Dallas solo/soloist

There’s an old adage about modern Texas government. It’s only good at doing two things: building highways and prisons (we used to be good at building courthouses, but most of them built since 1949 make me want to vomit). So I’ve always envied those who get their names affixed to such things -- especially prisons. Highways can always get rerouted and become unused, but Texas prisons never go out of business, ensuring that my name would live on forever. That's the position in which Christina Melton Crain finds herself (she also happens to be a friend of mine, a slightly more dubious honor). Her name was placed on one of Texas' largest female prison units in Gatesville during a formal renaming ceremony last Friday. Crain, a Dallas solo, was the first female chairwoman of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, a position she served in from 2003 until this year. In addition to wrangling the TDCJ, the woman can sing like nobody’s business, a fact known to anybody who’s seen her perform.
-- John Council   

This Week in Texas Lawyer

Who’s on the list?: The race is on for Texas’ four U.S. attorney slots. Senior report John Council puts his ear to the ground to learn who might merit a mention.

Power of selection: Texas politicians hope to influence appointments in the new administration. Senior reporter John Council looks at the process.

Supply chain: The single-business enterprise theory goes down in flames at the Texas Supreme Court. Senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins looks at what constitutes a manufacturer.

Big bucks: In a shaky credit market, how did an Austin Internet company score $250 million in VC financing? Senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys talks to the deal makers.

Inadmissible: Scientist sues A&M. Tax-collection-firm fight settles.

In Austin: Texas may get tough on human trafficking. Senior reporter Mary Alice Robbins finds out why there aren’t many prosecutions under current law.

Lead ceiling: Keeping secretaries in their places is a waste of talent, writes the Assistant-at-Law.

Pilgrims, progress: Just in time for Thanksgiving, David Furlow traces Pilgrims’ contributions to American law.