Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Even as the South Texas disaster brings out the best in so many, it brings out the worst in others. Cyber thieves, online attackers and cyber scammers are using email and social media to try and capitalize on and profit from the generosity of would-be charitable donors. Former Datatech GC John Ansbach has the details.
Two seasoned Dallas trial lawyers say they have never seen anything like what they witnessed last week in federal court in the $3.6 million fraud and racketeering case between the Diamond Doctor and a Tennessee lawyer. A federal judge ruled a lawyer likely fabricated a client and committed abuse on the judicial process. Another lawyer representing the first lawyer begged the judge in court to postpone a trial so they could settle. The Texas Lawbook has the inside details about the crazy developments in the case, settlement details and how the FBI is suddenly involved.
Legendary Dallas lawyer Jim Coleman was hailed Wednesday night as a gentleman, an honest, genuine and passionate lawyer, and a leader with integrity. The Texas Lawbook and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter hosted a tribute to the 94-year-old lawyer. We brought together many lawyers he mentored and impacted – many of whom are now among the most prominent and successful lawyers and judges in Texas. U.S. District Chief Judge Barbara Lynn, Fifth Circuit Judge Patrick Higginbotham, Bill Dawson, Rod Phelan, Dick Sayles, Bruce Collins, Judge Royal Furgeson and Mike Lynn told stories and reminisced about the time they spent with Coleman and the impact he had on their lives. We have the photos and the stories.
A jury has ordered a Dallas couple to pay $1 million to prominent portrait photographer Andrea Polito for conducting a public campaign that defamed the photographer and basically destroyed her business.
A Houston judge has ruled that a $1 million defamation lawsuit filed by the self-proclaimed Queen of Honky Tonk and her husband against a former supporter of their Angleton pro-animal rights farm is frivolous and awarded the couple to pay $57,000 in lawyer fees and penalties to the defendant.
For months, accused pedophile priest Rudy Kos had evaded reporter Brooks Egerton. But the night before his vacation trek to New Mexico comes a call: Rudy Kos wanted to talk. And talk he did.
Dallas lawyer Sylvian Demarest could have spent another lifetime representing the victims of pedophile priests. Instead, she decided to bequeath her years of research on the matter to help protect future generations of potential victims.
Twenty years ago this month, an extraordinary trial took place in a Dallas County court. It pitted 10 young men and the family of another against the Dallas Catholic Diocese. The issue was serial sexual abuse by Rudy Kos, a priest and pedophile whose transgressions had been ignored for years. The resulting verdict of $119 million was a record for its time; but the dramatic 14-week trial helped expose to international public scrutiny the clear and present danger of a pedophile population within the priesthood that had been protected for decades, both by the church bureaucracy and the public trust. This special Texas Lawbook report by Bruce Tomaso tells the story of the trial of Rudy Kos, a remarkable and historic tale of courtroom justice.
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