Legal Risk Management

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Needing a sales boost for his new line of fashion catheters, Sy Noff, owner and President of Med, Inc., retained advertising gurus Draper & Olson. Their contract provided for signature by Sy Noff as “President and CEO” of “Med Catheter Corp, Inc.”

After a three-martini lunch, Draper & Olson run up a $100,000 bill creating an instantly iconic advertising campaign featuring the Medicorp Man, a rugged rancher who isn’t afeard to proudly use Medicorp’s “Healthy Heartland”-brand catheter whilst cow-punching on the range. Despite the instantly iconic advertising campaign, Med’s business goes down the tubes. Sy and Med stiff Draper & Olson on their $100,000 ad bill. Noticing that the ad contract was signed by Sy Noff using the wrong company name, Draper & Olson’s diligent attorneys sued Sy Noff himself for Med’s debt because he did not disclose the true legal name of the company he was signing for. “But surely,” Sy says, “I cannot be held personally liable for Medicorp’s debt simply because the company name was wrong on the contract!”

First, don’t call us Shirley. Second, you bet he can.Continue Reading What and How You Sign a Contract Matters

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.


Continue Reading Avoiding Judicial Hellholes

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.

                        –Othello Act 3, Scene 3

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

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 …

Wanting to comply with the latest edict of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and give a recently released felon a break, Awft N. Cawssius ignored Pa Roll’s answer of “yes” to whether he had been convicted of a crime in the last five years and hired Pa to work as an armed security guard …

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 …