To my surprise, I actually have something in common with Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican Huey Long of our generation whom I predict will lose in an electoral college landslide to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Senator Cruz and I both really like the 2006 British movie Amazing Grace and admire a 19th Century British Parliamentarian, William Wilberforce. A story on Politico.com last week said the following (click here to read the entire story): During one of our conversations last year, I asked Cruz about his favorite movies, and in addition to a couple of classics - The Godfather, The Princess Bride - he mentioned Amazing Grace, a 2010 [actually 2006] drama about the effort to end the British slave trade that's become popular in Tea Party circles. "The abolition movie?" I asked. "Yes, about William Wilberforce," Cruz said. "It's an incredible story about a member of Parliament who fought for his principles, and when he began, he was almost entirely alone. And conventional wisdom in ... Read More >
Archives for February 2014
306th Family District Court Race Gets Nasty
The race to pick a Republican to replace the excellent Judge Jan Yarbrough in the 306th Family District Court in Galveston County has taken a nasty and scary turn. It is now a nasty race because the two leading candidates are busy calling each other "liars" (only one is correct). The race is scary because most attorneys cannot imagine how it would be if one of those candidates were to get elected. Anne Darring, Wilfried Schmitz and Jennifer Burnett are seeking the Republican nomination and there is no Democrat even running. Darring has the support of virtually all of the attorneys who have taken a public position in the race (over 70) and Schmitz has not surprisingly become the darling of the Tea Party extremists. Ms. Burnett is a nice young attorney working in the District Attorney's office with no real experience handling divorces or custody cases in the private world and she lacks the resources to compete with Schmitz and Darring. Darring has been involved in Republican ... Read More >
E-Filing Tips – Part 2
E-fling continues to aggravate and confuse attorneys and legal assistants. Here is an important tip I am getting from the clerks in all surrounding counties (they just will not say it on the record): DO NOT USE PRO DOC AS YOUR E-FILING SERVICE PROVIDER. The clerks confirm that the majority of their e-filing problems involve ProDoc. My office has switched to efile.txcourts.gov, which is free and seems to create far fewer errors. Click here for the comparison chart of e-filing service providers. I arranged a meeting for legal assistants from several different law firms to meet with Galveston County District Clerk John Kinard and his staff to discuss e-filing. I give Kinard and his people credit - they are trying everything they can to make this transition to e-filing work. Communication is a big issue and is being worked on. For example, Galveston County a few weeks ago stopped accepting American Express to pay e-filing fees but did not tell anyone. My office went crazy for a ... Read More >
Meca (M.L.) Walker Returns Illegal Contributions But Keeps The Shady Cash
M.L. (AKA "Meca") Walker's campaign says it has returned $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions but has kept $25,000 given under very suspicious circumstances. Click here to read last week's story about how Walker accepted $45,000 in contributions on one day from nine people associated with a rich car dealer with a divorce in Walker's court. Once I pointed out to Walker that some of those contributions exceeded the $5,000 per person (or married couple) contribution limit, Walker checked with the Texas Ethics Commission. Once the Commission confirmed that the law actually says what it says, Walker claims she returned $20,000 of the contributions. Click here to read the Houston Chronicle story that went way too easy on Walker, who should have never accepted any of those contributions in the first place. If my teenager comes home from school with an expensive gold Rolex watch, I am going to ask where he got it from. If the kid tells me some dude he doesn't know sold it to him ... Read More >
The Dynamic Duo of Houston Radio Blast Judge Denise Pratt
Rob Clark and I appeared on the Matt Patrick Radio Show on 750AM last week to rebut some of the blatant falsehoods Pratt said on the show the week before. Click here to hear this new "Dynamic Duo" of Houston radio explain why Pratt is such a disaster from the points of view of a liberal Democrat (me) and a life long ardent Republican (Clark). The discussion about Pratt starts at about the 11:00 minute mark. Yes, I did call an incumbent judge a "liar" on the radio. Toward the end, you will hear me praise some of the great Republican family judges we are so lucky to have, such as Judges Farr, Moore and Dean (I must occasionally kiss a little arse in hopes I can practice in at least a few courts). ... Read More >
More Bad News for Judge Denise Pratt
(1) The Harris County GOP Judicial Screening Committee evaluated the candidates for the 311th and not a single member of the committee rated Judge Pratt positively (half were Neutral and half were Negative). In contrast, 100% of the committee gave Donna Detamore a "Positive" rating. (2) 72% of Republican precinct chairs did not support Pratt in a just-completed "straw vote." Donna Detamore came in first with 42% and Anthony Magdaleno received 36%. Pratt was the choice of 28% and Alicia Franklin got 5%. Remember, 85% of attorneys in the Houston Bar Association Judicial Qualifications Survey rated Judge Pratt as "Not Qualified." ... Read More >
A Republican Appellate Lawyer Destroys Judge Denise Pratt With This Article
A conservative Republican appellate attorney, Leif Olson, has written a lengthy and absolutely devastating article explaining why Denise Pratt is a disaster as a judge. Pratt cannot blame this blog on liberal Democrats or even disgruntled family law attorneys, since Mr. Olson does not practice in our field. Click on this link to read the most complete encyclopedia of what is wrong with Denise Pratt ever written: Attorney Leif Olson on Judge Denise Pratt . ... Read More >
INJURY SETTLEMENTS ARE USUALLY COMMUNITY PROPERTY IN A TEXAS DIVORCE
Click here to download this article in PDF format: Injury Settlements Are Usually Community Property INJURY SETTLEMENTS ARE USUALLY COMMUNITY PROPERTY IN A TEXAS DIVORCE by Greg Enos February 2014 A spouse’s recovery for an injury claim is usually community property because most settlements mix all of the damage elements together in a single payment. General Principles Recoveries in injury claims are treated like other property in a divorce and the usual presumptions and burdens of proof apply. When a spouse receives a settlement from a lawsuit during the marriage, some of which could be separate property and some of which could be community property the burden of proof is on the spouse claiming the funds as separate property. Kyles v. Kyles, 832 S.W.2d 194,198 (Tex. App. - Beaumont 1992, no pet). All property is presumed to be community property and “clear and convincing evidence” must be presented to establish that property is separate property. Tex ... Read More >
Proof That Judge Denise Pratt Backdated A Court Order and Committed the Crime of Tampering With a Public Record
I have filed another,third criminal complaint against Denise Pratt and this is surely the one to get her indicted. This time there are two eye witnesses to Pratt backdating a court order and the District Clerk's records back up their stories. I have two sworn affidavits from the eye witnesses. Click this link to download my criminal complaint and see Exhibits 1 - 6, including the sworn affidavits of the witnesses, the order Pratt backdated and proof from the District Clerk website that Pratt backdated the order: Feb 2014 Criminal Complaint re Karen Hyde - part 1 Click this link to see Exhibits 6 - 12 of my criminal complaint: Feb 2014 Criminal Complaint re Karen Hyde - part 2 Here is proof Judge Pratt Intentionally Backdated a Court Order: The Osborn - Hyde child custody modification case (2008-40895) has been pending in the 311th Family District Court of Harris County since July 2012. The mother in this case, Karen Hyde, is representing herself and is pro se. On February ... Read More >
The Worst Thing Judge Denise Pratt Has Ever Done
Click this link to read the craziest order Judge Denise Pratt has done in her three years of judicial madness: Crazy Pratt order The District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit is investigating another instance of Pratt tampering with a government record. In this case, the D.A. reached out and called the lawyers in to discuss the case without me even being involved. Pratt's behavior in this case will seem bad to the general public but to family law attorneys, what Pratt did in this case is sure proof she is crazy and you will hardly be able to believe it. The parents and attorneys in this child custody modification case (no. 2007-28477) agreed to temporary orders which Pratt approved on a handwritten order on August 29, 2013. The typed temporary orders were submitted in September 2013 and months went by without Pratt signing them. Last month, after reading about Pratt's "New Year's Eve Massacre," one attorney checked and to her horror discovered that Pratt had taken the ... Read More >