The First Court of Appeals has granted yet another writ of mandamus against Judge Denise Pratt for appointing Donna Detamore as a Discovery Master in a highly unusual custody case and ordering the parties to pay Detamore $10,000 to get started. Click here to read the opinion. Steve Lindamood filed for the mandamus and represents the mother in this case. The child before the court is very disabled and the child's father is totally disabled. The father's guardian is the child's paternal step-grandfather. Nancy Rommelman represents the guardian/grandfather who is seeking custody of the child. Click here to read the plea to the jurisdiction in this case which Judge Pratt denied and will likely result in another mandamus action. ... Read More >
Could The Democrats Possibly Win Harris County in 2014?
I am a liberal Democrat when it comes to national and state-wide politics. However, I would be really sick to see some of our wonderful Republican family judges go down in defeat in November 2014 if changing demographics and a well financed, high tech Democratic get-out-the vote effort does what we all know will happen sometime in this decade. I also do not want to see a spectacularly bad judge like Denise Pratt bring her really good Republican judicial colleagues down with her. Under the headline, "Harris County Republicans in Trouble in 2014?" David Jennings wrote in his Houston Chronicle blog (click here to read the full story): Then, you have a problem with some gosh awful incumbent judges (who will cost some very good incumbent judges their benches). I, and many of us in the party, will not push a "Vote Straight R" message unless these judges are upset via the primary, which is a very difficult thing to do. The Straight R campaign has been the bedrock of the last ... Read More >
A judge who backdates an order intentionally is a criminal
The Texas Penal Code, Sec. 37.10 states in part: Sec. 37.10. TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD. (a) A person commits an offense if he:(1) knowingly makes a false entry in, or false alteration of, a governmental record; A judge who accidentally writes in the wrong date when she signs an order lacks the mens rea to have committed this crime. However, a judge who intentionally back dates an order she signs by a few months has made a "false entry" and would have committed a Class A Misdemeanor. ... Read More >
Judges: Is Threatening Lawyers Who Support a Specific Candidate a Crime?
The Texas Penal Code, Sec. 39.03 states in part: Sec. 39.03. OFFICIAL OPPRESSION. (a) A public servant acting under color of his office or employment commits an offense if he: (1) intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful; (2) intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, knowing his conduct is unlawful; or (3) intentionally subjects another to sexual harassment. (b) For purposes of this section, a public servant acts under color of his office or employment if he acts or purports to act in an official capacity or takes advantage of such actual or purported capacity. A sitting judge who tells a lawyer that he had better support Ms. XXX for the YYYth Family District Court or "you will never get any more appointments in my court" has grossly breached judicial ethics, but has probably not violated ... Read More >
Thomas Jefferson and Lucretius
Thomas Jefferson owned at least five Latin editions of the On the Nature of Things written by the Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus about 50 years before the birth of Jesus. Jefferson also owned translations of the poem in English, Italian and French. Jefferson, a founding father of the United States and writer of the Declaration of Independence, considered On the Nature of Things one of his favorite books. Jefferson's writings make it clear that he largely agreed with the way Lucretius had described the world over 2,000 years ago. Stephen Greenblatt in the Preface to his book The Swerve, described the world view of Lucretius: The stuff of the universe, Lucretius proposed, is an infinite number of atoms moving randomly through space, like dust motes in a sunbeam, colliding, hooking together, forming complex structures, breaking apart again, in a ceaseless process of creation and destruction. There is no escape from this process. When you look up at the night sky and, ... Read More >
Witnesses and Parties Should Be Respectfully Addressed in Court
In court, attorneys should properly refer to the parties and witnesses as “Mr. Smith “ or “Dr. Green” or “Ms. Olivares.” Lawyers should not refer even to their own clients by just their first names in court. Attorneys often seem to forget that formality and decorum and politeness (not to mention civility) are both expected in court and necessary to earn the proper respect court proceedings require. Avoiding use of first names for witnesses and parties was also once a matter of basic civil rights. Hamilton v. Alabama, 376 U.S. 650 (1964) is also remembered as the “Miss Mary” case. At the time, black witnesses and defendants in courts in the South were called by just their first names, unlike white people who were referred to as Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. When Mary Hamilton was arrested at a civil rights protest in Alabama in 1963, the prosecutor referred to her as just ‘Mary’ and she refused to answer his questions until he addressed her with the same level of respect that was given to ... Read More >
Maximum Guideline Child Support Increases 9/1/2013
On September 1, 2013, the cap on maximum monthly net resources used to calculate guideline child support in Texas will rise from $7,500 per month to $8,550 per month. This means that the maximum guideline child support amount will go from $1,500 per month for one child to $1,710; from $1,875 for two children to $2,137.50; and from $2,250 for three children to $2,565 (assuming the obligor has no other children he or she is obligated to support). Texas Family Code Section 154.125 requires the Office of the Attorney General to adjust the maximum amount of monthly net resources used to calculate guideline child support every six years based on increases in the consumer price index. ... Read More >
Grandparents win “move away” modification case over only living parent who moved from Dallas to Washington because he had rejoined the military.
This case is a rare reported victory for grandparents in a fight for primary custody. In the Interest of Z.R.P. and D.A.P., No. 05-12-00134-CV (Tex. App. - Dallas 5/20/2013) ... Read More >
A divorce decree cannot order a party who wants to file a modification to pay the other parent $25,000 on the date the modification is filed or face dismissal.
Unbelievably, the trial court followed this provision and dismissed the wife’s modification suit. The San Antonio Court of Appeals did not reach the issue on whether this provision is void as against public policy and instead held that the provision violates Family Code Sec. 154.124(c) which says agreements concerning child support are not enforceable as a contract. Since this provision limited the mother’s ability to seek modification of child support, it was not enforceable and the case should not have been dismissed. In re I.R.H. and Z.T.H., No. 04-12-00366-CV (Tex. App. - San Antonio 5/1/2013). ... Read More >
Fishy facts support denial of mother’s motion for enforcement for failure to pay child support.
A 2004 paternity order required the father to pay $500 a month child support through the SDU and he clearly had made no payments to the SDU prior to April 2010. So, how did the mother lose this enforcement suit? The father testified that his signature on the “agreed” paternity order was forged and he testified he did not know he was ordered to pay through the SDU. The father testified that the mother had agreed for him to pay support through direct deposit into her bank account or by use of his debit card. The father introduced evidence of these deposits. The mother should count herself lucky she was not sanctioned for bringing this enforcement action. In the Interest of K.S.H.U., No. 05-12-00448-Cv (Tex. App. - Dallas 5/21/2013). ... Read More >
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