Jamie Ribman

Subscribe to Jamie Ribman's Posts
Contact:Read more about Jamie Ribman

Vlad “Dracula” Smith was looking for some new digs big enough to accommodate his growing family. While searching the MLS listings, Dracula stumbled across a castle belonging to Victor “Frankenstein” Jones.  Little did Dracula know, but the castle was widely reported to be haunted.  “Frankenstein” had even made the front page of the local paper when he reported the haunting to the local paper and Reader’s Digest last Halloween.  However, in negotiations for the sale of his castle, Frankenstein, and his broker, failed to tell Dracula about the newspaper and magazine articles.  When Dracula later learned of the stories, he sued Frankenstein for rescission and damages. Did Frankenstein have a duty to disclose the haunting to Dracula?
Continue Reading Duty to Disclose that a House for Sale is Haunted?

During the holiday season, Bullseye, a big box retailer, was the victim of a cyber attack that compromised the credit and debit card information (including PIN and CVV codes) of nearly 40 million of its customers.  The attack immediately spawned dozens of class action lawsuits against Bullseye by customers, alleging that the retailer was negligent in protecting their financial information. What liability does Bullseye face and what can be done to mitigate that exposure?


Continue Reading Don’t Be a Target: Mitigating Liability From Cyber Attacks

On a brisk January day, Mary A. Richman opened her mailbox and was confronted with the sobering sight of thick envelopes from Visa, American Express and MasterCard each containing a month’s worth of extravagant Christmas purchases.  Although she expected the bills to be large, she didn’t expect them to be this large.  When she carefully reviewed the charges, the weather wasn’t the only thing giving Richman the chills. She quickly noticed entries for businesses with which she was unfamiliar, including a $1,200 Visa charge on December 25th for a bar in Chihuahua, Mexico called Tequila Mockingbird.  Richman lost her Visa card on December 21st, but never reported it.  Is Richman liable for the unauthorized charges?


Continue Reading Lost or Stolen: Liability for Unauthorized Credit Card Charges

Amon Fire and B.A. Ware have been hunting buddies since high school and have hunted with each other many times.  The two men head out one crisp November day to go turkey hunting, as they are bound and determined that this year’s Thanksgiving bird will not come from the local grocery store.  Fire and Ware …

With Halloween less than a week away, Bill Hatfield and his neighbor Randy McCoy are at it again. This time, it’s over McCoy’s pumpkin orange 38-foot recreational vehicle parked in front of his house.  Hatfield demands McCoy remove the eyesore.  When McCoy refuses, Hatfield successfully recruits other neighbors who together spearhead passage of a local …

Jeff Leach (LRM associate and Texas House Representative), helped us recap 5 bills of critical interest to you and your business passed in the last Session.

DRUG TESTING FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS (SB 21)

Drug testing required to receive unemployment benefits IF employer required pre-employment drug screening.

The legislation, effective September 1, mandates if someone submits …

In 2011, Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun became the first MLB player to successfully challenge, and evade, a 50-game suspension for suspected use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).  Coincidentally, that same year, Braun went on to win the National League MVP award.  Although many thought that Braun escaped on a technicality, Braun was not without…

Ellen Tabby, an African-American, has worked for Binge and Purr, a cat food manufacturing company, for several years.  Tabby reports to Stephanie Schnauzer, who is white. Tabby and Schnauzer argue like cats and dogs. Tabby is convinced that Schnauzer’s poor attitude toward her is rooted in the fact that Tabby is African-American.   Although Schnauzer directs…

Pizza the Action is a major distributor of pizza dough and toppings and provides these products to many large national pizza chains.  Pizza the Action’s top sales person, Eaton Wright, just announced that he was resigning and that he had accepted a position with The Pie’s the Limit, an upstart competitor in the very same…