Last month one of our lead articles was Cyber Security: Forewarned is Fair-Warned.
Last week the New York Times published an article reporting that at least 1.2 billion usernames and passwords were hacked by a Russian cybercrime group by the name of CyberVor from upwards of 420,000 distinct web sites.
A very interesting CNN
When Wei Wong, owner of Sushi Mushi, a popular Japanese food bistro in Texas, installed a phone add-on to take credit and debit card payments straight from his employees’ phones, his revenues skyrocketed. Yesterday the Feds told him that his customers’ credit and debit card numbers were posted for sale on an underground website. Malware planted in his employees’ point-of-sale telephone systems snared over 10,000 card numbers, encrypted PINs, and CVV codes. Every hacker in the Ukraine now wants their own missile launch system. Is Sushi Mushi to blame?
Continue Reading Cyber Security: Forewarned is Fair-Warned
Sure, fireworks are fun, but be cautious and careful.
Below are Texas’ Top 10 fireworks laws (but remember, laws may vary county to county) reposted from our July 2008 blog.
For a great Independence Day Parade, check out the Rotary Club of Park Cities 4th of July Parade for parade route and time.
Happy Independence Day to America, this July 4, 2014!
THE TOP TEN TEXAS FIREWORKS LAWS, HOW TO AVOID GETTING POPPED
Monitoring his emails and gazing at the sights on Elafonisi beach in Crete, attorney Al B. Wise receives a desperate 4:30 a.m. (Texas time) email from his best client Betty Makit Williams – “Going under Slim Cutter’s knife in four hours for emergency surgery. No will. Can you get me one in case I don’t make it?” Sadly, Betty Makit did not make it. Did her will on a Post It?
Yes, at least in Texas. Knowing that a formal will was out of the question, Al B. Wise advised Betty Makit to write a holographic will – her last will and testament, completely in her own handwriting and signed by her. In addition to a will on a Post It note, Texas heirs have successfully probated wills written on a bedroom wall and on the fender of a vehicle. Even a Canadian will of a man trapped underneath was successful by probating the tractor’s fender as the will. About half of the states permit holographic wills.Continue Reading Last-Minute Wills….What Counts?
By now, you’ve probably heard about the IRS claiming they lost emails pertaining to the investigation of conservative groups applying for 501(c)(4) status. If you’re interested in a tax attorney’s perspective, watch Gray Reed’s own David Gair on LXBNTV.
Arriving at his warehouse last week Knott Faire, owner of Faire Carpet Cleaning, discovered yet another complaining critique posted on WELP: “Lots of hype, a mediocre cleaning and a hassle at the end. Don’t get tied up with Knott!” In over 75 previous reviews only 3 were slightly negative. Since the “hype” complaint, another dozen scathing complaints were logged. Believing that the negative reviews are from a competitor, not his customers, Knott called his trusty lawyer Icahn Ficksit for help. Icahn issued WELP a subpoena demanding production of identifying information and ISP (Internet Service Provider) addresses for the dozen offenders. Will Ficksit win?
In Virginia, yes; in Texas, no. The Virginia Court of Appeals held that a Yelp reviewer is generally entitled to First Amendment protection if the reviewer is critiquing a business they patronized; however, [i]f the reviewer was never a customer of the business, then the review is not an opinion; but is based on a false statement. Virginia only requires that Icahn Ficksit and Knott Faire show, among other things, that the WELP reviews “are or may be tortious or illegal,” or that Faire Carpet Cleaning has “a legitimate, good faith basis” to believe that they were the victim of actionable conduct.
Willa Bepayed is a standout attacker and a Senior on State Tech’s volleyball team. Willa read about Kan Doit, the Southeastern quarterback who’s leading the unionization drive before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Like Kan, Willa Bepayed and her teammates also routinely spend 40 to 50 hours a week on volleyball – a full-time job. She also contends that her commitment discouraged her from entering State Tech’s pre-med program. Can Willa Bepayed and her teammates form their own union and bargain collectively? If so, do they risk encountering negative consequences if they are permitted to unionize?
Not likely to unionize, in Texas. The NLRB decision is limited to private universities as public institutions are governed by state labor laws. And, given that 24 states, including most of the South, are right-to-work jurisdictions, the vast majority of major college football teams could not unionize as Southeastern may.
Special thanks to Gray Reed’s Drew York for this blog contribution.
Bedder Sailz, a salesman for Orange Computers, Inc., lives in Seattle, Washington, and frequently travels on business. After successfully closing a computer deal in Dallas, Sailz catches East-West-Wings (EWW) flight #101 from Dallas home to Seattle. When the plane’s front wheel collapses on landing, Bedder sustaines back and neck injuries sending him to a Seattle hospital. To recover his medical expenses and lost wages, Bedder files suit – not in his home state of Washington, but in California – against EWW, a Texas corporation headquartered in Dallas, alleging that EWW’s flights to leased gates at LA International Airport were “continuous and systematic contacts” permitting Bedder to sue there. Where should EWW be sued? In Dallas, its HQ? In Seattle, where the wheel collapsed? Or, in California, where Bedder thinks he will get a more sympathetic jury?
Not surprisingly, Bedder’s lawyers prefer to “forum shop” to file his claim in California, believing that California courts are most friendly to his claim. EWW argues its “home court” of Dallas– where a jury is more likely to be friends, neighbors and family members of employees and happy customers.
Whizzle Blour, a professor of surgery at University Medical School, complained to his supervisor that trauma residents at University Hospital were treating and operating on patients without an attending physician’s supervision in violation of Medicare and Medicaid law. After agreeing to settle those federal claims, University Hospital stripped Whizzle of his faculty chair position claiming he was a poor administrator. Later he was fired. He filed a whistleblower suit alleging his demotion was in retaliation for reporting the federal law violations. Will Whizzle Blour prevail?
No. Whizzle Blour failed to prove all the required elements for retaliation under the Texas Whistleblower Act (TWA). Reporting the Medicare and Medicaid violations to his supervisor did not satisfy the TWA because the supervisor was not qualified as “an appropriate law enforcement entity.”
Special thanks to guest blogger Alex Fuller for this month’s post.
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
While on a date to the Laugh Factory Comedy Club, Terry Tellsall busted a gut laughing and was rushed to Texas General Hospital. Incensed by the treatment and bedside manner he received from Dr. B.D. Manner, Terry barraged his friend Cindy Cussin with texts detailing Dr. Manner’s inability to remember critical surgical procedures and his comments that “with a belly that size, you’re lucky you only busted one gut.” The next day, Terry posted his accusations on a popular doctor-rating website.
Luckily for Terry, the attending Nurse Nancy smelled Dr. Manner’s whiskey breath, heard his comments, and thankfully reminded him of the right procedure. However, Terry’s friend Cindy Cussin was Dr. Manner’s cousin and forwarded Terry’s texts to him. When Dr. Manner read the texts and received the early morning Google Alert with Terry’s website posts, he immediately instructed Able Attorney, Esq., to file a defamation lawsuit against Terry. Is Terry liable for libel?
Probably not. Truth is still a defense to any claim of verbal (slander) or written (libel) defamation. Better yet, the 2011 Texas Anti-SLAPP statute makes it harder for defamation lawsuits to be used as a bullying tactic.
Continue Reading The Case of the Defamed Doctor – SLAPP’ing Down Defamation Cases in Texas