Two new opinions, one from the San Antonio Court of Appeals and one from the El Paso Court of Appeals, again tackle the task of construing mineral and royalty conveyances and reservations, reports John McFarland in his Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog.

He explains that many such cases have arisen as a result of recent shale plays, where lands never before productive have suddenly become valuable, leaving courts have to clear up muddy deed language.

In his blog post, he discusses Laborde Properties, L.P. v. U.S. Shale Energy II, LLC and Greer v. Shook.

Read the article.

The doctrine of void contracts arose recently in an employment case in Florida, Griffin v. ARX Holding Corporation, writes Jason M. Knott for Zuckerman Spaeder LLP.

In that case, the plaintiff, Nicholas Griffin, had a prior conviction for extortion. ARX Holding hired him as its chief financial officer in 2009. But under federal law, an individual commits a crime if he has been convicted of a felony involving dishonesty and then willfully participates in the insurance business. Knott explains that Griffin could have obtained a waiver from insurance regulators, but he was unable to do so.

ARX fired Griffin, who sued, seeking an unpaid $215,000 bonus. But a court ruled that his employment contract was void from the outset.

Read the article.

The woman partner who filed a gender discrimination class-action against Chadbourne & Parke leveled new accusations in an amended complaint on Thursday, including that the firm’s head of litigation placed a cartoon of a fat man in a bowler hat on her wall and took a postcard from her office, reports Bloomberg Law.

The complaint includes new allegations from former partner Jaroslawa Z. Johnson who is joining current partner Kerrie Campbell as a named plaintiff in the suit. Johnson ran the firm’s Kiev office for nearly 10years.

Reporter Stephanie Russell-Kraft writes that the complaint also adds six individuals as named defendants, including Abbe Lowell, the head of litigation based in D.C., and four members of the management committee — Andrew Giaccia, the firm’s managing partner; Lawrence Rosenberg, Howard Seife, and Paul Weber, who are all located in New York City. Marc Alpert, a former member of the management committee, is also named as a defendant.

Read the article.

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A federal judge has ordered that attorneys representing private individuals and companies who entered into economic and medical claims settlements with BP stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster are entitled to be paid $555.2 million to cover their legal fees and remaining court costs, reports The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier pointed out that award represents about 4.3 percent of the estimated $13 billion that BP is expected to pay under the ongoing settlements. That compares to the average 9.92 percent of awards paid as fees and court costs in 21 similar “super-mega-fund” settlements totaling more than $1 billion, he said in an order.

“In weighing the award against local billing rates, Barbier said it would be the equivalent to an average $450 per hour legal fee, after being weighted for the intensity of effort involved in the case,” writes reporter Mark Schleifstein. “That compares to average nationwide rates of $604 for partners and $370 for associates in 2014, and to the $600 per hour paid by the state of Louisiana to its attorney in the BP case, Barbier said.”

Read the article.

A California casino could be held responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen casino customers following the crash of a charter bus with a questionable safety record, says Dallas bus crash lawyer Frank Branson.

Even though the bus involved in the California casino crash was owned and operated by an independent charter company, casinos have been held liable for passengers’ safety based on incentives and control exercised over the charter company and scheduling of charter trips.

“Casinos depend on these charter buses to bring in business,” says Branson in a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing. “They negotiate with charter bus companies to receive the cheapest price and pay little attention to safety. The end result is poorly maintained buses and overworked drivers to transport patrons.”

Branson’s input comes after the deadliest bus crash in California in decades early Sunday morning near Palm Springs. A USA Holiday tour bus returning from the Red Earth Casino slammed into a tractor-trailer, killing 13 people – including the bus driver – and injuring 31 others.

“The speed of the bus was so significant that when it hit the back of the big rig…the trailer itself entered about 15 feet into the bus,” according to the California Highway Patrol. There were no signs of the driver applying the brakes.

As the NTSB investigates the cause of the crash, early reports indicate the bus owner and operator had been sued twice for negligence involving previous crashes, including one that killed three people.

In May of this year, Branson won a $4.9 million judgment against the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for the family of an 83-year-old woman killed in a 2013 casino charter bus crash.

“If casinos are going to charter the buses to bring gamblers, they should make sure the buses and drivers are safe,” says Branson.

The Alabama Supreme Court will recuse itself from suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore’s appeal of his ethics convictions, and defer to a special court to hear the appeal, according to a report by the Montgomery Advertiser.

Reporter Brian Lyman wrote that a public lottery will be held in the Alabama Supreme Court chambers Thursday afternoon, where the names of seven justices drawn from a pool of retired appellate court, circuit court and district court judges will take place.

Moore was suspended last month for the remainder of his term after he urged state probate judges to defy the federal courts on gay marriage, telling probate judges that a state order to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples remained in “full force and effect.” His advice came six months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gays and lesbians have a fundamental right to marry.

Read the article.

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Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit had some harsh words for justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, decreeing that only two of them write readable opinions and singling out Justice Samuel A. Alito for penning “the most tedious opinion I’ve ever read.”

Above the Law covered Posner’s interview at a Chicago bookstore on the occasion of the publication of a biography of the outspoken jurist.

“I’m very critical. I don’t think the judges are very good. I think the Supreme Court is awful. I think it’s reached a real nadir. Probably only a couple of the justices, Breyer and Ginsburg, are qualified. They’re okay, they’re not great,” he said in the interview.

Above the Law’s David Lat reported that Posner also was critical of the justices’ lack of trial experience: “[I]f you look at the Supreme Court, for example, of the nine justices — I’m bringing Scalia back from the dead to have the standard number of justices — of those nine, one had been in a trial courtroom. It’s ridiculous to have an appellate judge who doesn’t have trial experience.”

Read the article.

By Cortney Shegerian
Shegerian & Associates

The Americans with Disabilities Act protects disabled individuals from discrimination and harassment in the workplace, but what health conditions are considered disabling? According to the EEOC, claustrophobia is a disability that must be accommodated in the workplace.

Regis Corporation will pay $60,000 to former hair stylist Nora Jacquez to settle a disability discrimination suit filed by the EEOC. Jacquez told her employer she could not work in a station “if it was in a confined space located between others,” because of her claustrophobia. The employer initially gave in to her request and placed her in an open station, but later, she was moved in between two other stylists. Her requests to move back into an open station were denied, and as a result, she suffered anxiety attacks that led to her hospitalization.

Jacquez then requested up to two months off to treat her claustrophobia, but the company failed to assist her with the required paperwork. Regis Corporation eventually fired Jacquez from the SmartStyle salon in Midland, Texas.

On top of the $60,000 settlement, the company must also provide ADA training to district leaders, salon managers and hair stylists in the region. They are also required to provide their employees with information regarding disability discrimination in the workplace and how it can be reported.

An EEOC attorney commented on the case, “Claustrophobia is a serious matter. When we discovered management refused to give this employee some space, our investigation closed in on what amounted to intolerance by management.”

Some employers may be surprised to learn claustrophobia is considered a disability. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person can prove he or she has a disability by meeting one of the following conditions:

• Having a physical or mental condition that substantially limits a major life activity (such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or learning).
• Having a history of a disability (such as cancer that is in remission).
• Believed to have a physical or mental impairment that is not transitory and minor.

Disabled employees are legally allowed to request that their employers make reasonable accommodations in the workplace for their disability, which is what Jacquez did by asking to be moved to an open station. As long as the accommodation does not severely hurt the business, employers are required to follow through and make the necessary changes.

But, employers often have a hard time determining what mental conditions are disabling, since there are rarely observable, physical signs of the disability. Even those employers who are more aware of mental disabilities may be under the impression that conditions such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are the only ones considered to be disabling. But, as long as the condition can impair the ability to perform a “major life activity,” it is covered under the ADA. Because the definition of a major life activity is broad and can include everything from eating, hearing and standing to thinking, working and concentrating, many mental health conditions do qualify as disabilities.

The lesson here? Employers should never discount an employee’s health condition just because they don’t think it is serious. This case should also serve as another reminder that employers should never brush off an employee’s request for reasonable accommodations in the workplace. Just because you can’t see the signs and symptoms of a disability does not mean it doesn’t exist or deserve your attention.

Author Bio: Cortney Shegerian is an attorney with Los Angeles based Shegerian & Associates. Shegerian’s practice areas of expertise include discrimination, harassment, whistle blower retaliation and wrongful termination, among others. Her work includes all aspects of case management, with a particular emphasis on mediation, trial preparation and jury trial litigation.

Exterro has published “The Comprehensive Guide to E-Discovery Preservation,” an e-book that discusses how to incorporate preservation principles into the legal process that will enable defensible and proportional policies.

“The preservation process may be the most complicated and confusing stage within the e-discovery process, namely because there is no bright line indicator of when you need to start preserving data once litigation is reasonably anticipated,” the company says on its website. “Instead, judges and courts around the country have used their own discretion to decide when this must be done, depending on the circumstances surrounding the case. That is why you should continually reference preservation best practices and lessons learned from experienced e-discovery practitioners to ensure your process is defensible.”

The guide discusses:

• What is required within your preservation process
• Need-to-know steps for deciding how and when to preserve data, including new data types
• Preservation advice from in-house legal professionals

Download the guide.

The ongoing fallout from Samsung’s Note 7 debacle now includes a possible class-action lawsuit against the company in the U.S., according to a report by digital Trends.

Three former Samsung Note 7 users in New Jersey filed the suit a week after the Korean company ended production of the handset after faulty batteries caused more than 100 units to overheat and catch fire, reports Trevor Mogg.

The suit focuses on Samsung’s handling of the recall, which the plaintiffs claim caused them to go without a phone for several weeks while still having to pay for the device and plan charges, Motherboard reported on Tuesday.

Read the article.

Attorneys representing oil and gas royalty owners with interests in the Texas Eagle Ford Shale have filed a federal lawsuit against Talisman Energy USA Inc. based on claims that the company manipulated oil and gas production volumes by as much as 20 to 30 percent and consistently shorted royalty payments, according to a news release posted by Androvett Legal Media and Marketing.

Attorneys from Texas-based Provost Umphrey Law Firm, L.L.P., are representing Eugene and Kimberly Cran of DeWitt County in their claims against Warrendale, Pennsylvania-based Talisman.

The article explains how a change in the operating agreement between Talisman and  Norway-based energy company Statoil in the Eagle Ford joint venture resulted in the Crans receiving monthly checks from both companies. But the production numbers accompanying the checks didn’t match — with Talisman reporting smaller total production.

Read the news release.

Investors wanting to sue Chinese companies in U.S. courts for corporate governance violations — using contractual provisions requiring litigation in their home country to replace what they see as “unfair” Chinese laws — may be disappointed in their options, writes Dan Harris in the China Law Blog.

“What will actually happen is that the parties will be required to prove Chinese law in a U.S. court, a difficult, time consuming and expensive process. This is usually exactly the opposite of what the U.S. party assumed would happen in this situation,” he explains.

“A contract provision calling for disputes to be resolved in one country’s court has little to no influence on the law that court will apply to the case. Most importantly, it is difficult to imagine a thoughtful American judge applying U.S. corporate governance law to a transaction that took place wholly in Mainland China and that involves Chinese entities,” Harris adds.

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Matthew Graves has joined DLA Piper’s litigation practice as a partner in the Washington, DC office.

Graves, who will also be part of DLA Piper’s White Collar practice, previously served as the acting chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section at the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

In a release, the firm said he has extensive experience with white collar resolutions, foreign data privacy laws, and multi-agency investigations with US governing bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of the Treasury. He is also among the few lawyers who have prosecuted financial institutions for violating US sanctions laws.

The release continues:

“Matt is a highly respected trial lawyer whose background in white collar litigation and experience working at the US Attorney’s Office will complement our global platform, and help our clients navigate the complex regulatory and enforcement environment,” said Loren Brown, global and US co-chair of DLA Piper’s Litigation practice.

Graves will assist clients on complex civil litigation matters across industries including securities, healthcare, tax, election and export control laws. His practice includes counseling clients facing public integrity and anti-corruption challenges, including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, contractual disputes and various forms of financial fraud.

“Washington, DC is the epicenter of federal government regulatory enforcement, and Matt’s government experience strengthens our presence in the market,” said Mary Gately, managing partner of DLA Piper’s Washington, DC office. “We expect Matt to quickly become a significant contributor to the firm’s sector-based practices in areas including financial services.”

Graves is the recipient of an FBI Service Award and six US Attorney’s Office Special Achievement Awards. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, and his B.A. from Washington and Lee University.

Exterro has published a complimentary e-book that presents best practices for streamlining the e-discovery process, especially relating to transitions between different stages.

“In today’s competitive legal market, many legal teams are looking to streamline their processes, and while focusing on streamlining the different stages of the e-discovery process is a great way to gain consistency and lower costs, there is much to be said about streamlining between those stages, before getting to the most expensive e-discovery stage: document review,” the company says on its website.

This e-book contains a series of tips and best practices to smooth out those bumps that fall in the gaps between the well-defined parts of the e-discovery process before the review stage, including transition tips between (1) information governance to identification, (2) identification to preservation and (3) preservation to collection/processing.

The book includes:

• 7 tips on leveraging information governance to streamline identification
• 5 questions to ask during identification for smart preservation
• 6 ways your preservation strategy should influence your collection approach

Download the e-book.

A federal judge has ruled that closure of Orlando-based Butler & Hosch law firm was illegal because executives knew it would close and didn’t warn employees in accordance with federal law, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

When the firm closed in 2015, about 700 employees in Dallas, Orlando, Miami, Tampa and other locations were told in a conference call that they would not be paid for their final three weeks at work, writes reporter Paul Brinkmann. Law requires 60-day notice of mass layoffs, but employees were told of the plan on the last day.

“If the company were still functioning, the law says it could be required to pay wages and benefits for 60 days to each employee, plus a fine totaling about $21 million — $500 per day per employee,” according to Brinkmann.  But now that claim becomes part of the firm’s bankruptcy process.

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Train safety expert Carl Berkowitz, Ph. D. discussed the value of a system called positive train control in a televised interview with Maurice Dubois of the CBS New York affiliate. The discussion came after the Oct. 29 train crash in Hoboken, NJ, that injured 100 passengers and killed a woman who was standing on the station platform.

Berkowitz explained that positive train control maintains the appropriate speed for a train, depending on where the train is at the time.

“You can’t leave everything in the hands of the individual because of human factors involved, and the reason for positive train control is to take human factor out of the equation and to make the system safe,” he said.

Installation of the system “was something that was mandated years ago, and the railroads just kept avoiding doing it. They didn’t want to spend the money. They didn’t think it was an important issue. So they let it go,” he added.

Watch the video.

Fort Worth lawyer Steve Laird has once again been recognized by his peers and independent researchers, who have named him to the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Texas and Best Lawyers in America.

On his website, Laird has published articles with headlines such as “Study Shows Incredible Benefits of Collision Avoidance Systems,” “Texting and Driving Accidents on the Rise,” “Speed Limiter Delay Raises Danger on Highways,” “Questions Created by Catastrophic Injury, Wrongful Death,” “New Highway Law Allows Too-Low Insurance, Hides Safety Scores” and “Tractor-Trailer Cameras Benefit Safety.”

His firm, the Law Offices of Steven C. Laird, P.C., is located at 1119 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76104.

Read more.

The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, was suspended on Friday for the remainder of his term in office for ordering the state’s probate judges to defy federal court orders on same-sex marriage, reports The New York Times.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary did not remove Moore from the bench entirely, as it did in 2003 after he defied orders to remove a giant monument of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building, but the order effectively ends his career as a Supreme Court justice. His term ends in 2019, and Chief Justice Moore, 69, will be barred by law from running again at that time because of his age, reports The Times‘ Campbell Robertson.

The unanimous nine-member court cited Moore’s “disregard for binding federal law,” exhibited in a January order to the state’s 68 probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and “his history with this court.”

Read the article.

NBC News reports that a class-action lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo might be hamstrung at the starting line, legal experts say.

Martha C. White writes that mandatory arbitration contract clauses may protect the bank from class-action suits brought by customers who had bank or credit card accounts opened in their names without their knowledge.

“Five years ago, a Supreme Court ruling said it was legal for companies to shield themselves from lawsuits by requiring that customers address grievances through a private arbitration system. Since then, consumers seeking redress from banks, even earlier cases against Wells Fargo in California, have been effectively stopped at the courthouse door,” according to the report.

“There’s no question that it’s very difficult to overturn an arbitration clause, although the facts in this case are pretty damning,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG.

Read the article.

Frank Holleman never thought he’d become a nationally recognized authority on coal ash, a toxin-riddled waste that has power companies under scrutiny across the country, but five years after taking a job with a regional conservation group, Holleman is perhaps the one person utilities hate to see coming, writes Sammy Fretwell for The State of Columbia, S.C.

He has taken on such big foes as Duke Energy, Santee Cooper and SCE&G, successfully brokering agreements to clean out coal ash waste ponds along South Carolina rivers. And he has obtained legislative help for people who had to fight for the right to sue companies that pollute rivers with coal ash waste.

He is an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Holleman says working full-time as an environmental lawyer resulted from his long-time interest in conservation and public service.

Read the article.