Digital Commons Network^™

The Most Important Decision In Federal Securities Law - Texas Gulf Sulphur, Marc I. Steinberg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Although decided 55 years ago, the Second Circuit’s decision in Texas Gulf Sulphur may be viewed as the most important case under the U.S. securities laws. The decision addressed several landmark issues, including insider trading, company disclosure obligations, and the concept of materiality. Although a number of its rulings subsequently were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, others remain good law today. From a comparative perspective, Texas Gulf Sulphur also is a significant decision. Many of the principles enunciated by the Second Circuit in that decision today have been adopted by developed securities markets outside of the United States.

Front Matter

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Commentary: Lunar Court Operational And Constitutional Considerations, Megan Sieffert

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Aviation Law, Brittany C. Wakim

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Recent Developments in Aviation Law addresses developments in aviation law from January 2022 through December 2022. This submission focuses on certain cases in the area of aviation law that are expected to have a significant impact upon, and ramifications for, the industry going forward such as: (1) the Federal Aviation Act and Federal Aviation Regulations; (2) the Air Carrier Access Act; (3) the General Aviation Revitalization Act; (4) the Airline Deregulation Act; (5) the Montreal and Warsaw Conventions; (6) the Federal Tort Claims Act; and (7) the Death on the High Seas Act. Finally, this submission also discusses recent developments …

Front Matter

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Data For Sale: Navigating The Role Of Data Brokers And Reproductive Health Information In A Post-Dobbs World, Heather Chong

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Data privacy is a growing concern in our fast-paced society, as it has become increasingly necessary to relay and retain information digitally. However, the United States trails behind its counterparts in terms of the strength of existing data protection legislation. Unlike the European Union and its General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) law, the United States has no similar comprehensive data protection act. This lack of legislation has led to the exploitation of people’s private data and allowed companies to utilize loopholes in current laws to access sensitive health information. Data brokers have been collecting and reselling consumers’ personal information, including …

Deregulating Consumers From The Airline Industry—Dot’S Proposed Rule In Response To U.S. Airlines’ Refusal To Refund Unused Tickets During Covid-19, Alicia L. Hinton, Diana Hyunjin Malcolm

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant delays and cancellation of airline tickets without proper refunds to consumers by U.S. airlines. In response to an unprecedented number of consumer complaints, in August 2022, the Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) proposed new rules regarding airline ticket refunds and consumer protections.Does this rule go far enough?

This article provides a summary of the events and policy changes leading up to the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) of 1978 and challenges the scope of federal preemption over the field of airline regulation that has created a boon to air carriers while essentially eliminating …

Survey Of Recent Mandamus Decisions Of The Texas Supreme Court, Douglas S. Lang

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Partnership Law, Troy Christensen, Jeff Dorrill, Matthew Schindel, Madeline Ballard, James Barnett

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This Article describes and analyzes major developments in partnership law that occurred in Texas between December 1 and November 30 of 2022.

Family Law, Joanna L. Grossman, Christine P. Leatherberry

SMU Annual Texas Survey

More than 300,000 new family law cases were filed in Texas in 2022; more than a third of those were divorces (and there were more divorces in Texas than in any other state). Tens of thousands of children live in households that are involved in family court proceedings in any given year. Family law remains one of the areas with the greatest unmet legal need—more than half of litigants are pro se in cases with enormous stakes. The work of lawyers, judges, and other professionals in this area should not be underestimated. In this Article, we will try to lighten …

Civil Procedure: Pre-Trial & Trial, Amanda Sotak, Don Colleluori, Andrew C. Whitaker

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This Article identifies, categorizes, and analyzes the most impactful cases in the area of civil procedure decided by the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Courts of Appeals during the Survey period.

Real Property, J. Richard White, Amanda Grainger

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This Article covers Real Property cases from Southwestern Reporter (Third) volumes 633 through 652 and federal cases during the Survey period that the authors believe are noteworthy to the jurisprudence on the applicable subject.

A number of significant cases, mostly from the Texas Supreme Court, have been handed down during this survey period. The due process requirements for the scope of inquiry for substituted service have been promulgated in MAP Resources. Additional procedural issues for service on financial institutions, which were decided differently by various state and federal courts, were resolved in Moss. The Texas Supreme Court provided helpful guidance …

Professional Liability, Josh Sherman, Abbie Baker

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This Article describes and analyzes major developments in professional liability law that occurred in Texas between December 1 and November 30 of 2022.

Wills & Trusts, Gerry W. Beyer

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This article discusses developments relating to the Texas law of intestacy, wills, estate administration, trusts, and other estate planning matters during the Survey period of December 1, 2021, through November 30, 2022. The reader is warned that not all cases decided during the Survey period are presented, and not all aspects of each case are analyzed. You must read and study each case’s full text before relying on it or using it as precedent. The discussion of most cases includes a moral, that is, the important lesson to be learned from the case. By recognizing situations that resulted in time-consuming …

The Disembodied First Amendment, Nathan Cortez, William M. Sage

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

First Amendment doctrine is becoming disembodied—increasingly detached from human speakers and listeners. Corporations claim that their speech rights limit government regulation of everything from product labeling to marketing to ordinary business licensing. Courts extend protections to commercial speech that ordinarily extended only to core political and religious speech. And now, we are told, automated information generated for cryptocurrencies, robocalling, and social media bots are also protected speech under the Constitution. Where does it end? It begins, no doubt, with corporate and commercial speech. We show, however, that heightened protection for corporate and commercial speech is built on several “artifices” - …

Energy Dissipation In A Sand Damper Under Cyclic Loading, Ehab Sabi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Various seismic and wind engineering designs and retrofit strategies have been in development to meet structures' proper and safe operation during earthquake and wind excitation. One such method is the addition of fluid and particle dampers, such as sand dampers, in an effort to reduce excessive and dangerous displacements of structures. The present study implements the discrete element method (DEM) to assess the performance of a pressurized sand damper (PSD) and characterize the dissipated energy under cyclic loading. The idea of a PSD is to exploit the increase in shearing resistance of sand under external pressure and the associated ability …

Noted With Honor: Intersections Between Theology, Music Therapy, Psychotherapy, And Original Music Compositions For Hospice Patients, Stanton Nelson

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

This thesis investigates the intersections between theology, music therapy, and psychotherapy when creating a music composition that honors a hospice patient’s walk of faith. A pioneer organization inspiring this thesis is Swan Songs in Austin, Texas, where musical moments are created for the patient and family. However, its model is primarily based on collating previously composed pieces for recitals without a personalized honoring of the patient’s witness of faith. Noted with Honor is an emerging non-profit organization that creates an original work that reflects upon the testimony of the patient and forms a new narrative towards the end of one’s …

52 Nanotone Symphonies, Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Research

The 52 Nanotone Symphonies is a work of expanding and contracting nature, which reflects the paradox of size, length, speed, and tone of a work: a symphony is traditionally a massive orchestral work with many interactive parts, while a tone is an elemental form of sound, at the foundational level of music. This work distorts and challenges those categories, allowing for each measure (in 12 + 4 time) to constitute an entire "symphony" of sound in miniature: using a single piano (keyboard or organ) instead of orchestra. Performers are encouraged to play each as slow or fast as they wish. …

Regulation And Function Of The Mec-8/Rbpms Rna Binding Protein In Vivo, Xiaoyu Liang

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Alternative splicing is a major form of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression which plays a pivotal role in cell/tissue- specific identity, diversity, and function. The mechanisms of alternative splicing are well studied; however, the functional consequences of the spliced transcripts are relatively less demonstrated. Therefore, many efforts are needed to understand the physiological relevance of alternative splicing. RNA binding proteins are critical regulators of alternative splicing, their malfunction disrupt the normal networks, and further underlies many diseases. To understand how alternative splicing contributes to the physiological functions in the cells or tissues, we explored the regulatory networks of RNA binding …

Greening Criminal Legal Deserts In Rural Texas, Pamela R. Metzger, Claire Buetow, Kristin Meeks, Blane Skiles, Jiacheng Yu

Deason Center Reports

Texas’ rural communities urgently need more prosecutors and public defense providers. On average, Texas’ most urban areas have 28 lawyers for every 100 criminal cases, but rural areas only have five. Many rural prosecutor’s offices cannot recruit and retain enough staff. The Constitution’s promise of equal justice for all remains unfulfilled. Rural Texans charged with misdemeanors are four times less likely to have a lawyer than urban defendants. In 2021, only 403 rural Texas lawyers accepted an appointment to represent an adult criminal defendant. In 65 rural counties, no lawyer accepted an appointment. And the problem is getting worse. Since …

Moderating Roles Of Racial Identity In The Effects Of Racial Discrimination On Distress, Sarah Gobrial

Psychology Theses and Dissertations

Racial discrimination has been linked to psychological distress among people of color. The degree to which psychological distress is associated with racial discrimination experiences varies across individuals. Racial identity may be one key set of individual difference factors that can influence how discrimination impacts psychological distress, but existing empirical findings remain mixed on the moderating role of racial identity in the links between discrimination and distress. The present study leveraged virtual reality technology to experimentally invoke experiences of discrimination. The study was aimed to (1) determine the causal effects of racial discrimination on psychological distress (i.e., stress and negative affect), …

All Is Fair In Love And War: But What About War Trials?, Bronwyn Tuff

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

The right to a fair trial is not just protected by a state’s domestic statute but also by international law under the 1949 Geneva Convention. In the most basic sense, a fair trial theoretically requires competent courts, penalty proportionality, proper notification, right of defense, right of appeal, and restrictions on the issuance of the death penalty. However, the requirements set by international law often fail to account for the desire of justice that may diminish the true fairness of a trial even though all requirements are present. This note examines the recent domestic war crime trials conducted by Ukraine during …

Uncovering Lies With Family Ties: The Use And Legal Implications Of Investigative Genetic Genealogy In The United States And United Kingdom, Rebecca James

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

Investigative genetic genealogy is a fascinating, yet controversial, forensic technique that began to gather recognition around 2018. Investigative genetic genealogy takes identification through familial matches to a new level by comparing unidentified DNA samples to the samples submitted to increasingly popular direct-to-consumer databases, like AncestryDNA, 23andME, and FamilyTreeDNA. Because of the technique’s ability to supply significant leads in new and old cases, countries around the world have begun to consider the use of investigative genetic genealogy. However, some countries have been slower than others to adopt the technique due to privacy concerns and countries’ existing privacy laws. Using the United …

The Bridwell Quarterly. Issue 17, Fall 2022, Michelle Ried

Bridwell Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Stock Forecasts With Lstm And Web Sentiment, Michael Burgess, Faizan Javed, Nnenna Okpara, Chance Robinson

SMU Data Science Review

Traditional time-series techniques, such as auto-regressive and moving average models, can have difficulties when applied to stock data due to the randomness inherent to the markets. In this study, Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Networks, or LSTMs, have been applied to pricing data along with sentiment scores derived from web sources such as Twitter and other financial media outlets. The project team utilized this approach to complement the technical indicators observed at the end of each trading day for three stocks from the NASDAQ stock exchange over a 12-year span. A common benchmark to assess model performance on time series …

Examining Bias In Jury Selection For Criminal Trials In Dallas County, Megan Ball, Brandon Birmingham, Matt Farrow, Katherine Mitchell, Bivin Sadler, Lynne Stokes

SMU Data Science Review

One of the hallmarks of the American judicial system is the concept of trial by jury, and for said trial to consist of an impartial jury of your peers. Several landmark legal cases in the history of the United States have challenged this notion of equal representation by jury—most notably Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). Most of the previous research, focus, and legal precedence has centered around peremptory challenges and attempting to prove if bias was suspected in excluding certain jurors from serving. Few studies, however, focus on examining challenges for cause based on self-reported biases from the …

"In Nature, Nothing Exists Alone": The Collaborative Fight Against Climate Change, Kayla M. Bright

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

China's Belt And Road: Where To Now?, Leon Trakman

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Grading Injustice: Initial Appearance Report Cards, Malia N. Brink, Jiacheng Yu, Pamela R. Metzger

Deason Center Reports

Arrested people across the United States often wait in jail for days, weeks, or even months before seeing a judge or meeting an attorney. In November 2021, the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center published Ending Injustice: Solving the Initial Appearance Crisis, a comprehensive report about this ongoing crisis in pre-trial due process. That report described the devastating consequences of delayed and uncounseled initial appearances.

Now, these Initial Appearance Report Cards offer a closer look at the laws governing post-arrest procedures in each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. While the Deason …

How Should The Statute Of Frauds Apply To Reliance-Based Contracts?, Gregory Scott Crespi

SMU Law Review Forum

The “sufficient writing” requirements of the Statute of Frauds were formulated with bargain-based contracts in mind. It is often difficult if not impossible for persons to meet those requirements for reliance-based contracts, since this would require them to produce a writing signed by the promisor that not only sufficiently evidenced the promise, but also provided sufficient evidence of the other elements of such reliance-based contracts: the foreseeability of their subsequent reliance upon the promise, the fact of their reliance, and that failure to enforce the promise would be unjust.

There are several ways that courts can avoid the harsh results …