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Class Of 2007 Incoming Il Law Students, St. Mary's University School Of Law, St. Mary's University School Of Law

Incoming 1L Photos (Facebooks)

Photographs of incoming law students for the St. Mary’s University School of Law, class of 2007

Lawnotes, The St. Mary's University School Of Law Newsletter, St. Mary's University School Of Law

Law Notes

No abstract provided.

Coffeehouse Musings On Post-Grutter Ironies; Promoting Diversity To Ensure Globalization., Elvia R. Arriola

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

The U.S. Supreme Court On Affirmative Action: Are Some Of Us More Equal Than Others (With Some Comparisons' To Post-Good Friday Agreement Police Hiring In Northern Ireland., Carol Daugherty Rasnic

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

We Got Next: Will Texas Redistricting Dictate A Definitive Answer By The Supreme Court On Minority Aggregation Under Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act., M. Nycole Hearon

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Declaring Open Season: The Outbreak Of Violence Against Undocumented Immigrants By Vigilante Ranchers In South Texas., Sara A. Martinez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Each year, over one million undocumented immigrants make their way across the U.S.-Mexican border in search of a better life. They are fleeing desperate situations like war, oppression, corruption, and starvation. Not only do undocumented immigrants making their way across the border have to fear dehydration and starvation, but they must also worry about death at the hands of Texas landowners. Texas ranchers often react with extreme measures in protecting their property. Ranch Rescue is an organization made up of volunteers who believe they should take measures into their own hands whenever there is a failure or refusal to act …

The U Visa: Another Remedy For Battered Immigrant Women., Greta D. Stoltz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Contemplating Greatness: Learning Disabilities And The Practice Of Law., Scott Weiss

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

The House Always Wins: A Look At The Federal Government's Role In Indian Gaming & The Long Search For Autonomy., Christian C. Bedortha

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

States should not deny Native Americans the right to establish Class III gaming—casino games and slot machines—establishments. In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) which provided Indian tribes the exclusive right to control all forms of gambling on Indian land. IGRA, however, requires the Indian tribes and the state to negotiate the terms of a Class III gaming arrangement. If the state refuses, the matter goes to the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary of the Interior, however, lacks the authority to require a state to allow the tribe to establish Class III gaming institutions. Therefore, without …

The Vietnamese Shrimpers Of Texas: Salvaging A Sinking Industry., Stephen L. Bennett Jr.

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Mixed Messages: Texas' Two Highest Courts Deliver Conflicting Opinions Regarding The Fourteenth Amendment Mixed Motive Doctrine As Applied In The Context Of Batson/Edmonson Juror Exclusion Hearings., Ross P. Brooks

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Capping Your Rights: The Texas Statute Of Non-Economic Damage Caps In Medical Malpractice Cases And Its Assault On The Rights Of The Injured And The Power Of The Courts., Ruben James Reyes

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Though the Texas Legislature attempted to assure Texans’ access to quality, affordable health care, they assaulted patients’ rights and the power of the courts with a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. Non-economic damage caps have a major effect in medical malpractice cases on an injured victim’s constitutional rights and their rights to bring a cause of action against a negligent party. Injured medical malpractice victims may argue that non-economic damage caps directly violate equal protection because of the creation of an impermissible classification distinguishing between injured victims with calculable economic damages and injured victims with no economic …

Getting The Mentally Ill Misdemeanant Out Of Jail., James R. Walker

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

This Comment advocates for the release of jailed persons arrested for nonviolent crimes due to the symptomology associated with their mental illnesses. Mentally ill misdemeanants suffer from severe and persistent mental disorders, usually either a psychotic or mood disorder, without symptoms or a diagnosis of a personality disorder. Due to the increase in arrests of individuals with mental illnesses, jail and prison populations are drastically increasing. These institutions have turned into modern mental hospitals or asylums. Criminalization of the mentally ill occurs because increasing numbers of mentally ill persons who commit minor crimes are subject to more frequent arrests. The …

2004-2005 School Year, St. Mary's University School Of Law

The Witan

No abstract provided.

Lessons From La Morenita Del Tepeyac, Ana M. Novoa

Faculty Articles

The concept that the powerful and wealthy have the absolute obligation to offer political, financial, and social liberation to those at the margins of society should have special importance to those who are lawyers and professionals of color. People spend considerable time working through, working in, and centered in the dominant, or caucasian European culture. The legal system regularly fails to see, accept, realize, or believe when truth is presented at the margins. Nonetheless, it is at the margins that true legal and personal reform take place. Even in a friendly environment, where people are encouraged to step outside the …

A Continuing Whimsical Search For The True Meaning Of The Term “Product” In Products Liability Litigation, Charles E. Cantú

Faculty Articles

More than a decade has elapsed since an initial attempt was made to discern the true meaning of the term product in products liability litigation. At the time, a brief history of events leading up to the adoption of Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts was outlined, and it was emphasized that what had at first seemed so simple subsequently proved to be somewhat complex.

An examination of cases involving the sales/service transaction, as well as those involving real estate, blood, electricity, component parts, water, computer software, and ideas, sometimes held that what was involved was a product. …

Secured Transactions History: The First Chattel Mortgage Acts In The Anglo-American World, George Lee Flint Jr, Marie Juliet Alfaro

Faculty Articles

The chattel mortgage acts first arose in the southern mainland English-American colony of Virginia in 1643. Other colonies followed suit over the next 100 years. The function of the earliest chattel mortgage acts was not to legalize the transaction, but to declare it void if not registered, or to provide a priority rule favoring the registered transaction. Legislatures did not pass these colonial chattel mortgage acts to legalize an otherwise fraudulent transaction because reported cases indicate that the common law upheld the nonpossessory secured transaction prior to the passage of the earliest act in the southern states.

The Northeastern States’ …

Texas Annual Survey: Securities Regulation, George Lee Flint Jr

Faculty Articles

The ease of becoming judgment proof in Texas, with liberal exemptions from execution of judgment, makes secondary liability very important. Texas statutes provide for four such liability theories: aiding and abetting, control person liability, third party actual awareness liability, and third party beneficiary liability. In addition to these four liability theories, federal law adds primary liability for some secondary parties.

The 78th Texas Legislature made two changes geared toward reducing the cost to the State of Texas in operating the State Securities Board. The Board also made several rule changes to increase revenues and to make other non-substantive changes. Moreover, …

Transferred Intent In American Tort Law, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

The transferred-intent doctrine is a fiction that is no longer needed by American tort law, because of the replacement of contributory negligence with comparative negligence and development in the law of negligence since the creation of the transferred-intent doctrine. In the midst of decades of tort reform, the transferred-intent fiction has survived. Though total abolition is unlikely, its use and applicability should be greatly restricted given the existence of non-fictitious avenues for equal recovery.

The transferred-intent doctrine developed when no avenue for recovery existed for plaintiffs who were contributory negligent. Since the advent of comparative negligence, however, the need for …

Law And Bioterrorism By Victoria Sutton (Book Review), Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

The best primer for constructing a legal framework surrounding bioterrorism is a wonderfully researched and incisive book by Professor Victoria Sutton. Sutton brings a vast background of experience and expertise to her book, titled Law and Bioterrorism, which is in fact the first legal textbook in the field of law and bioterrorism.

The book begins with a brief examination of the history of law and bioterrorism, from ancient biological warfare to modern times. Drawing upon the lessons of this history, Sutton discusses historical events such as the use of anthrax in World War I, and further examines the rapidly growing …

Are Women More Ethical Lawyers – An Empirical Study, Patricia W. Moore, Kevin M. Simmons

Faculty Articles

We first noticed a possible "gender gap" in attorney discipline when we ran across the Oklahoma Disciplinary Commission's annual report for the year 2000. Women currently constitute 27% of Oklahoma attorneys, but 0% of the disciplined attorneys—none of the seventeen named—were women. Wondering whether the Oklahoma figures were aberrational, we attempted to locate research concerning gender and attorney discipline. But there have been few such studies, although “[p]robably no issue in the social sciences receives more attention than the difference between men and women.”

We thus embarked upon a national study of disciplinary actions decided in 2000. After collecting, coding, …

Maternity Rights In Mexico: With References To The Spanish And American Codes, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

Mexico, the United States, and Spain approach maternity rights and benefits from differing perspectives within diverse legal frameworks. Maternity and pregnancy deserve legal protection in the workplace by virtue of their vital role to society. Women worldwide share a concern for maternity rights and benefits, but countries approach legal rights related to motherhood and pregnancy from differing perspectives.

The laws in Mexico and Spain regarding maternity share many similarities, including protecting not only the mother and fetus, but also the infant and father. In contrast, the laws in the United States solely protect the mother and unborn fetus. The laws …

Appellate Mediation—A Mediator’S Perspective, L. Wayne Scott

Faculty Articles

A mediator helps the parties determine whether there is a bargaining zone that will allow a settlement to be reached. Mediation is an alternative form of conflict resolution, which promotes the interests of private and public resources that would otherwise be spent on litigation, while also empowering the parties to seek better justice than they would find in court. Anyone can serve as a mediator, but one should be well-trained in people skills, negotiation techniques, and knowledgeable about trial and appellate procedure and trends.

A mediator’s job includes: (1) helping the parties review and analyze their case; (2) bridging the …

Status And Tenure For Academic Law Librarians: A Survey, Robert H. Hu, Sharon Blackburn, Masako Patrum, Sharon K. Scott

Faculty Articles

The debate surrounding the issue of faculty and academic status for librarians has captured the attention of contributors to library literature for many years. This ongoing concern eventually led to collective action: in 1959, a report of the University Libraries Section of the Academic Status Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) “strongly recommended” professional librarians be granted academic status and privileges. Opinion pieces have since abounded, with some convinced that the perceived benefits attached to “faculty status” are the due of the librarian, while others are just as strongly convinced that “status” too often comes with …

Employment Law - Racial Discrimination - Circumstantial Evidence Of Racial Discrimination May Be Introduced To Raise A Genuine Issue Of Material Fact, Patricia W. Moore

Faculty Articles

In Hopson v. DaimlerChrysler, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided whether summary judgment was appropriate for the defendant on racial discrimination claims based on violations of Title VII, 42 United States Code § 2000e-2000e-17 and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated 37.2101.

What Lies Beneath: Determining The Necessity Of International Groundwater Policy Along The United States - - Mexico Border And A Roadmap To An Agreement (Comment), Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

The United States and Mexico share water in many aquifers along the border. Although significant attention has been given to international surface water, little to no policy has been generated regarding shared groundwater. Groundwater is a resource of growing importance because surface water resources are quickly being depleted.

While there are almost no international agreements for groundwater, guidance documents suggest what should be included. Increased dependence on groundwater by both sides of the border creates the potential for conflict because the only legal framework for water allocation involves surface water. The US and Mexico must shift from passive to active …

For Any Reason Or No Reason At All: Reconciling Employment-At-Will With The Rights Of Texas Workers After Mission Petroleum Carriers Inc. V. Solomon., Jason P. Lemons

St. Mary's Law Journal

Since its inception, Texas has been a favored destination for both up-start entrepreneurs and established corporations. One of the less heralded, but nonetheless significant factors that makes Texas so attractive to businesses is its long-standing devotion to the doctrine of at-will employment. The doctrine generally states that any employment relationship not governed by contract or a statutory provision is terminable at any time by either the employer or the employee for any reason or no reason at all. At-will employment has been praised by courts and commentators for the flexibility it offers both parties in decision making. Nevertheless, the at-will …

The Texas Cave Bug And The California Arroyo Toad Take On The Constitution's Commerce Clause., Daniel J. Lowenberg

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Un Enfoque Comparativo Sobre La Formacion De Los Contratos Electronicos, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

Understanding the basic principles governing the formation of contracts is of paramount importance when it comes to figuring out the most appropriate to enter into a new contract or to assess the legality of a contract existing ones. While the basic rules for the forming of general contracts are applicable to most type of contracts, regardless of how they are done, there are some legal rules that apply specify to contracts concluded electronically.

Insurance Decisions - A Survey And Empirical Analysis, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

During the period from June 2002 to July 2003, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided twenty-two appeals originating in eight federal district courts. Certainly, the greater majority of the insurance appeals involved recurring substantive and procedural conflicts. Major disagreements about the interpretation and enforcement of insurance contracts were before the court. Also, federal preemption questions and conflicts over subject-matter jurisdiction appeared in several cases. Furthermore, the Fifth Circuit addressed one case of first impression, and on remand from the Supreme Court, the appellate court modified and reinstated portions of a vacated opinion. For the most part, the …