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2004

Law and Society

St. Mary's University

St. Mary’s School of Law

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Is Sue And Be Sued Language A Clear And Unambiguous Waiver Of Immunity., A. Craig Carter Jan 2004

Is Sue And Be Sued Language A Clear And Unambiguous Waiver Of Immunity., A. Craig Carter

St. Mary's Law Journal

Because “sue and be sued” language is ambiguous at best, courts should not find that this language is a waiver of immunity. Under Texas law, governmental entities—including the state, its agencies, and political subdivisions—are entitled to sovereign immunity from both suit and liability. For sovereign immunity to be applicable to governmental entities, sovereign immunity applies unless the legislature has clearly and unambiguously waived it. Although numerous Texas appellate courts have held that “sue and be sued” language is a waiver of sovereign immunity, the Texas Supreme Court has squarely addressed the issue only once, in Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. …


Legal Malpractice In Texas: Examining Selected Cases And Forecasting Future Trrends Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Wallace B. Jefferson Jan 2004

Legal Malpractice In Texas: Examining Selected Cases And Forecasting Future Trrends Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Wallace B. Jefferson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Little hard data exists concerning legal malpractice in Texas. What’s more, few legal law malpractice rulings are published. To date, there are only fifty written opinions on legal malpractice from Texas intermediate appellate courts. The activity that most often gave rise to a claim of legal malpractice involved the preparation, filing, and transmittal of documents, accounting for about a quarter of all claims. In San Antonio, Chief Justice Alma Lopez of the Fourth District Court of Appeals discussed common issues she sees in her courtroom. The issues ranged from failures to follow simple court rules to more substantial failures of …


Confidentiality, Corporate Counsel, And Competition Law: Representing Multi-National Corporations In The European Union Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Sue Bentch Jan 2004

Confidentiality, Corporate Counsel, And Competition Law: Representing Multi-National Corporations In The European Union Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Sue Bentch

St. Mary's Law Journal

Professional ethics for corporate counsel in the European Union (EU) differs from the standards required in the United States. Consequently, conflicts may arise when US corporations deal with EU countries. For instance, if an issue regarding confidentiality emerges, the company bears the burden to prove to the European Commission that a particular document is protected from disclosure. Under EU’s Regulation 17, the European Commissioner has broad powers to investigate and adjudicate suspected violations of EU competition law. The Commissioner is the equivalent of an investigator, prosecutor, judge, and jury, all rolled into one. If a communication from a company was …


Punishment Evidence: Grunsfeld Ten Years Later., Edward L. Wilkinson Jan 2004

Punishment Evidence: Grunsfeld Ten Years Later., Edward L. Wilkinson

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article deals with the admissible evidence during the punishment phase of a non-capital trial in Texas. In 1989, the Texas Legislature amended Article 37.07, Section 3(a) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure to widen the scope of evidence admissible during the punishment phase of a non-capital trial. Grunsfel v. State, the leading case, the Court of Criminal Appeals interpreted the statute so narrowly as to render the changes meaningless. In 1993, the legislature amended the statute a second time; it provided for a more expansive range of evidence to be introduced, but deleted a critical definition of what …