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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Vestiges Of The Texas Employment At-Will Doctrine In The Wake Of Progressive Law: The Employment Handbook Exception Comment., Brian Kennington Lowry Jan 1986

The Vestiges Of The Texas Employment At-Will Doctrine In The Wake Of Progressive Law: The Employment Handbook Exception Comment., Brian Kennington Lowry

St. Mary's Law Journal

Under a traditional approach of the at-will rule, if an employer hires an employee for an indefinite term then the employer may terminate the employee at will. Modification of the at-will rule has gained widespread support throughout the country. A majority of states now follow the progressive view, which allows the employment manual to become part of the labor contract, thereby obligating employers to abide by manual provisions. The progressive view maintains that an employee’s continued service after an employer issues a manual, constitutes ample consideration to make the document binding. Once a court recognizes the existence of independent consideration, …


Court-Sponsored Custody Mediation To Prevent Parental Kidnapping: A Disarmament Proposal Comment., Sue T. Bentch Jan 1986

Court-Sponsored Custody Mediation To Prevent Parental Kidnapping: A Disarmament Proposal Comment., Sue T. Bentch

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas should implement a court-sponsored custody mediation plan to prevent parental kidnapping. Each day, hundreds of parents kidnap their own children. These kidnapped children are often the innocent victims of an escalating custody battle between parents. The magnitude of the parental kidnapping problem has forced Congress and the legislatures of the various states to address its possible solution. Congress and state legislatures implemented the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980, state criminal laws, civil laws, and tort suits to address the problem. Unfortunately, these remedies only address the problem after the abduction has occurred. …


Cancellation Of Water Rights In Texas: Use It Or Lose It., R. Lambeth Townsend Jan 1986

Cancellation Of Water Rights In Texas: Use It Or Lose It., R. Lambeth Townsend

St. Mary's Law Journal

It is the constitutional duty of the State of Texas to conserve and develop the state’s water resources. Texas effectuates water conservation and utilization through its system of granting and administering rights for the beneficial use of the state’s water. The Supreme Court of Texas concluded the state can further conserve water by cancelling appropriations not beneficially used to the limit provided in the permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication. Cancellation of unused water rights enables the Water Commission to make water available for beneficial use by others. Only by the beneficial use of water can the state obtain …


Yellow Pages Legal Ads In Texas: The Complexities Of Dr 2-101(B) & (And) (C)., Vincent Robert Johnson Jan 1985

Yellow Pages Legal Ads In Texas: The Complexities Of Dr 2-101(B) & (And) (C)., Vincent Robert Johnson

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article explains how attorneys can avoid private reprimands for advertisements in the Yellow Pages pursuant to subsection (B) and (C) of the Texas Code of Professional Responsibility Disciplinary Rule 2-101, given there is no scholarship or precedent. Subsection (B) requires an advertisement to include the name of a lawyer who is licensed to practice law in Texas, who will be responsible for performing the legal service, and the areas of law in which they practice. Subsection (C) requires detailed statements be included concerning whether the individuals named in compliance with subsection (B) are certified with the Texas Board of …


A New Twist For Texas Lemon Owners., Ayala Alexopoulos Jan 1985

A New Twist For Texas Lemon Owners., Ayala Alexopoulos

St. Mary's Law Journal

Twenty-five percent of the consumers with car warranty problems are dissatisfied with the complaint-handling process in the automobile industry and the result of their grievances. In response to the frustrations of defective car owners, Texas, along with many other states, passed a “lemon law” providing more definitive relief for consumer. Lemon laws provide a clearly defined cause of action against the manufacturer and provide the consumer with a low-cost, readily available mechanism for resolving their disputes. Most states’ lemon laws require the consumer to resort to arbitration provisions before initiating a court action if a manufacturer sets up a dispute …


Determining Mineral Ownership In Texas After Moser V. United States Steel Corp. - The Surface Destruction Nightmare Continues., David A. Scott Jan 1985

Determining Mineral Ownership In Texas After Moser V. United States Steel Corp. - The Surface Destruction Nightmare Continues., David A. Scott

St. Mary's Law Journal

Total abandonment of the surface destruction test is essential for achieving mineral title certainty in Texas. Many instruments which grant or reserve mineral rights in Texas contain the words “other minerals.” When the instrument does not specifically list which substances the contracting parties include as minerals, a dispute often arises as to ownership of the unspecified substances. To resolve ownership disputes, Texas courts adopted the surface destruction test. This test focuses on the destructive effects removal of a particular substance would have on the surface of the land. Unfortunately, the surface destruction test yielded unpredictable results, causing uncertainty in mineral …


Lawyers' Negligence Liability To Non-Clients: A Texas Viewpoint., Brian J. Davis Jan 1983

Lawyers' Negligence Liability To Non-Clients: A Texas Viewpoint., Brian J. Davis

St. Mary's Law Journal

Courts should examine the relationship of a non-client to a negligent lawyer to determine whether a lawyer is liable to a non-client despite lack of privity. In most jurisdictions, attorneys enjoy the privity of contract requirement which limits their duty to exercise reasonable care. As a result, lawyers are normally immune to negligent malpractice actions brought by non-clients. Courts should examine the relationship between the attorney and the non-client to determine whether the requirement of privity is an overly restrictive limit on the lawyer’s scope of duty. These relationships can be classified into three categories. The first category involves plaintiffs …


An At-Will Employee May Be Fired Despite Motives Which Violate State Public Policy., Kelsey Menzel Jan 1983

An At-Will Employee May Be Fired Despite Motives Which Violate State Public Policy., Kelsey Menzel

St. Mary's Law Journal

Scholars generally agree children possess fewer rights than adults under the Constitution. Moreover, the school, as a restricted environment, places additional constraints on the constitutional rights of minors. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court extended to minor students the rights of equal protection and civil due process. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Court acknowledged children have First Amendment rights of self-expression in a school environment. This marked a significant change from the judiciary’s traditional reluctance to interfere in school matters. Subsequent First Amendment challenges to school board decisions have focused on library book removal. …


Electronic Piracy: Can The Cable Television Industry Prevent Unauthorized Interception., Kevin W. Grillo Sep 1982

Electronic Piracy: Can The Cable Television Industry Prevent Unauthorized Interception., Kevin W. Grillo

St. Mary's Law Journal

The FCC and Congress have failed to enact specific regulations regarding unauthorized interception of cable television. This lack of regulation concerning electronic piracy has allowed entrepreneurs to develop means of intercepting cable television signals without compensation to the transmitting companies. The cable television industry has lost a significant portion of income through unauthorized interception of cable television. As the cable television industry continues to expand, the problem of electronic piracy of cable television signals will intensify. This has forced the cable television industry to seek varied legal solutions to resolve the problem. Although the cable television industry has found effective …


Parental Child-Snatching: Out Of A No-Man's-Land Of Law., Wayne Young Jun 1982

Parental Child-Snatching: Out Of A No-Man's-Land Of Law., Wayne Young

St. Mary's Law Journal

Approximately 100,000 parental child-snatchings occur annually. When a parent takes a kidnapped child to another jurisdiction, the injured parent must convince the court to recognize a foreign custody decree and persuade the same court to enforce that decree. Congress enacted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) to eliminate relitigation of custody decrees in other states and end court practices which protect the kidnapping parent. However, the UCCJA does not resolve parental child-snatching because the Act is ineffective in non-adopting states and the Act fails to aid a state in locating the abducting parent. Non-UCCJA states such as Texas have …


Legislative Ethics, 1973., James R. Nowlin Sep 1973

Legislative Ethics, 1973., James R. Nowlin

St. Mary's Law Journal

Approaching the 63d Regular Session of the Texas State Legislature, the need to establish new standards of ethical conduct for the attorney-legislators had increased substantially in public support. The “Sharpstown” Bank scandal and the recent indictments of several present and former state legislators, on numerous counts of theft of state funds, had severely eroded public confidence in the moral turpitude of state lawmakers. This study examines the Texas state legislative process and the conflicting interests that arise in the task of drafting and passing bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate. There were several attempts, prior to 1973, …


Yellow Pages Legal Ads In Texas: The Complexities Of Dr 2-101(B) & (And) (C)., Vincent Robert Johnson Jun 1905

Yellow Pages Legal Ads In Texas: The Complexities Of Dr 2-101(B) & (And) (C)., Vincent Robert Johnson

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article explains how attorneys can avoid private reprimands for advertisements in the Yellow Pages pursuant to subsection (B) and (C) of the Texas Code of Professional Responsibility Disciplinary Rule 2-101, given there is no scholarship or precedent. Subsection (B) requires an advertisement to include the name of a lawyer who is licensed to practice law in Texas, who will be responsible for performing the legal service, and the areas of law in which they practice. Subsection (C) requires detailed statements be included concerning whether the individuals named in compliance with subsection (B) are certified with the Texas Board of …