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St. Mary's University

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Articles 331 - 360 of 869

Full-Text Articles in Environmental Law

Those Dangerous Student Prayers., Kelly J. Coghlan Jan 2001

Those Dangerous Student Prayers., Kelly J. Coghlan

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Does The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Exclude Gifted And Talented Children With Emotional Disabilities - An Analysis Of J.D. V. Pawlet., Laura Ketterman Jan 2001

Does The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Exclude Gifted And Talented Children With Emotional Disabilities - An Analysis Of J.D. V. Pawlet., Laura Ketterman

St. Mary's Law Journal

Disabled children benefit from federal legislation which guarantees a free, appropriate education. While no federal mandate requires providing special education for gifted and talented children, the government encourages schools to offer gifted and talented programs. Gifted and talented children with emotional disabilities, however, often fall between these two groups and do not qualify for special education under any legislation. Unfortunately, in many gifted and talented children with disabilities the gift hides the disability—or the disability hides the gift. To compound the problem, legislation and recent court decisions fail to recognize that gifted and talented children have unique needs which should …

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Jury Erosion: The Effects Of Robinson, Havner, & (And) Gammill On The Role Of Texas Juries., Ricky J. Poole, Kimberly S. Keller Jan 2001

Jury Erosion: The Effects Of Robinson, Havner, & (And) Gammill On The Role Of Texas Juries., Ricky J. Poole, Kimberly S. Keller

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Parental Rights In The Twenty-First Century: Parents As Full Partners In Education., Linda L. Schlueter Jan 2001

Parental Rights In The Twenty-First Century: Parents As Full Partners In Education., Linda L. Schlueter

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Bridging The Analytical Gap: The Gammill Alternative To Overcoming Robinson & (And) Havner Challenges To Expert Testimony., Kimberly S. Keller Jan 2001

Bridging The Analytical Gap: The Gammill Alternative To Overcoming Robinson & (And) Havner Challenges To Expert Testimony., Kimberly S. Keller

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Fair Labor Standards Act And Sovereign Immunity: Unlocking The Courthouse Door For Texas State Employees., Melinda Herrera Jan 2001

Fair Labor Standards Act And Sovereign Immunity: Unlocking The Courthouse Door For Texas State Employees., Melinda Herrera

St. Mary's Law Journal

Unless Texas expressly waives its Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity, its state employees will not have similar legal recourse and protection as those available to private employees. As in many other states, a party may not sue the State of Texas without its consent. Thus, in the absence of constitutional or statutory provisions to the contrary, a state may claim sovereign immunity against any suit brought by a private party in both federal and state court. As a result, the Eleventh Amendment effectively precludes private individuals from suing a state in both federal and state court for violating a federal statute …

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Regulation Fd: Sec Reestablishes Enforcement Capabilities Over Selective Disclosure., John P. Jennings Jan 2001

Regulation Fd: Sec Reestablishes Enforcement Capabilities Over Selective Disclosure., John P. Jennings

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Recent Development focuses on the potential effects Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) will have on the participants in the American capital market and on the stock markets themselves. Congress and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) seek to achieve confidence in the integrity and fairness of the American stock market and protection of investors from fraud by promoting equal opportunities for investors. In order to maintain a competitive edge, vis-à-vis its foreign counterparts, the United States must continually refine its financial systems to maximize fairness and integrity. This Recent Development focuses on selective disclosure—allowing a limited segment of investors access to …

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Reining In Property Owners' Associations' Power: Texas's Need For A Comprehensive Plan., Karen Ellert Pena Jan 2001

Reining In Property Owners' Associations' Power: Texas's Need For A Comprehensive Plan., Karen Ellert Pena

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Has The Fog Cleared - Attorney Work Product And The Attorney-Client Privilege: Texas's Complete Transition Into Full Protection Of Attorney Work In The Corporate Context., Fred A. Simpson Jan 2001

Has The Fog Cleared - Attorney Work Product And The Attorney-Client Privilege: Texas's Complete Transition Into Full Protection Of Attorney Work In The Corporate Context., Fred A. Simpson

St. Mary's Law Journal

The following discussion in this Article fills the gaps in the substantive rules surrounding the attorney work product doctrine and the attorney-client privilege, thereby encouraging practitioners to utilize these tools more freely. Initially, the attorney-client privilege contemplated application only to individuals. As the rule developed in the United States, however, the scope of the privilege broadened until it included corporations. Since 1982, Texas has provided for the attorney-client privilege in Texas Rule of Civil Evidence 503.149. Notably, the Rule defined client in such a way as to include a corporation. Unlike the attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine developed much …

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No Taxation Without Realization: Srivastava V. Commissioner, The Fifth Circuit's Answer To Tax Treatment Of Attorney's Fees Under A Contingency Fee Agreement., Bernard J. Grant Iii Jan 2001

No Taxation Without Realization: Srivastava V. Commissioner, The Fifth Circuit's Answer To Tax Treatment Of Attorney's Fees Under A Contingency Fee Agreement., Bernard J. Grant Iii

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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The Spanish Predominant Language Ordinance: Is Spanish On The Way In And English On The Way Out., Adriana Resendez Jan 2001

The Spanish Predominant Language Ordinance: Is Spanish On The Way In And English On The Way Out., Adriana Resendez

St. Mary's Law Journal

El Cenizo's Spanish language ordinance is likely to survive a constitutional challenge. The City Council of El Cenizo’s Spanish language ordinance, however, has generated a significant amount of controversy in the United States. The ordinance stipulates that all city council meetings will be made in the city’s predominant language—Spanish. Critics argue that the ordinance has made Spanish the official language. Critics also argue that the ordinance is discriminatory toward English speakers. English only advocacy groups, such as English First and U.S. English, argue that the ordinance will create a trend across the United States of immigrants refusing to embrace an …

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Getting It Right From The Beginning: A Critical Examination Of Current Criminal Defense In Texas And Proposal For A Statewide Public Defender System., Rebecca Copeland Jan 2001

Getting It Right From The Beginning: A Critical Examination Of Current Criminal Defense In Texas And Proposal For A Statewide Public Defender System., Rebecca Copeland

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Attorney Referral For Medical Treatment: A Wolf In Disguise., Martin J. Phipps Jan 2001

Attorney Referral For Medical Treatment: A Wolf In Disguise., Martin J. Phipps

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas attorneys should be obligated to disclose whether they referred their client to a pre-selected physician. Plaintiff attorneys, however, have been allowed to withhold this information from the court arguing the information is privileged. The practice of using a pre-selected physician is unethical and unfairly prejudicial. If the attorney and physician have an agreement, the attorney is likely to send numerous clients to that specific physician in order to receive a discount. The physician in turn is likely to recommend medically unnecessary procedures in order to inflate money damages. Therefore, in order to prevent potential abuse between the attorney-physician relationship, …

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Religion In Public Schools: Let Us Pray - Or Not., Carolyn Hanahan, David M. Feldman Jan 2001

Religion In Public Schools: Let Us Pray - Or Not., Carolyn Hanahan, David M. Feldman

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Essay addresses judicial interpretation and application of the religious protections of students in public schools. Part II addresses the evolution of the law governing prayer in public schools, including the creation of judicial tests utilized in determining whether a school district has impeded the rights of students in the area of religion. Part III examines the application of these tests to various activities, including a discussion of the disparity in judicial interpretation with respect to the permissibility of prayer at public school functions. This Essay concludes with a discussion analyzing the effect of the recent United States Supreme Court …

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Interpreting Mineral And Royalty Deeds: The Legacy Of The One-Eighth Royalty And Other Stories., Laura H. Burney Jan 2001

Interpreting Mineral And Royalty Deeds: The Legacy Of The One-Eighth Royalty And Other Stories., Laura H. Burney

St. Mary's Law Journal

Mineral and royalty deeds are notoriously difficult to interpret. Courts complicate the interpretive process in at least two ways. First, they produce opinions that fail to appreciate and explain unique oil and gas concepts. Second, they render deed records unreliable. A variety of title problems flow from this instability. However, a common trait is frequently encountered: the influence of the one-eighth royalty provision typically used for decades in oil and gas leases. Unfortunately, courts have failed to acknowledge this influence. For this reason, title litigation will continue to loom under the legacy of the one-eighth royalty, and title examiners will …

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Heci V. Neel: Application Of The Discovery Rule To Damages Arising Out Of Oil And Gas Leases., L. Melanie Martin Jan 2001

Heci V. Neel: Application Of The Discovery Rule To Damages Arising Out Of Oil And Gas Leases., L. Melanie Martin

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas landowners face a heavy burden in bringing claims for damages arising out of inherently undiscoverable damages to mineral estates because the statute of limitations starts at the time of injury rather than the time of discovery. Previously, courts adopted the discovery rule as an exception to the statute of limitations, effectively stalling the starting point of the statute of limitations. A two-pronged threshold inquiry is held before the application of the discovery rule. First, the court must determine if the injury is inherently undiscoverable or not detected despite the use of due diligence. Secondly, there must be objectively verifiable …

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Internet Property Rights: E-Trespass., John D. Saba Jr. Jan 2001

Internet Property Rights: E-Trespass., John D. Saba Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Plaintiffs whose Internet property rights were violated have depended on the common law tort of trespass to chattels. Plaintiffs in Thrifty-Tel, Inc. v. Bezenek and CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc. successfully argued defendants trespassed their chattels. In Thrifty-Tel, defendants hacked into plaintiff’s system to obtain long-distance access codes. The court reasoned that electronic signals were tangible and indirect interference in the form of electronic trespass could support a claim for trespass to chattels. In CompuServe Inc., defendants used plaintiff's internet server to send out mass emails to plaintiff’s clients. The court upheld a permanent injunction holding that electronic signals …

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Whither The Texas Tort Claims Act: What Remains After Official Immunity., J. Bonner Dorsey Jan 2001

Whither The Texas Tort Claims Act: What Remains After Official Immunity., J. Bonner Dorsey

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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Creative Sanctions For Discovery Abuse In Texas., Travis C. Headley Jan 2000

Creative Sanctions For Discovery Abuse In Texas., Travis C. Headley

St. Mary's Law Journal

Creative sanctions are necessary to deter litigants from abusing the discovery process. Under both the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, creative sanctions are allowed and within a judge’s discretion. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 215 provide judges a non-exhaustive list of available sanctions to deter abusive discovery practices. Nonetheless, discovery abuse has continued to escalate, and limited precedence exists in the field despite the increased use of sanctions. An unprecedented creative sanction was imposed by Judge Brotman of the District Court for the Virgin Islands. On …

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Much Ado About Spam: Unsolicited Advertising, The Internet, And You., Scot M. Graydon Jan 2000

Much Ado About Spam: Unsolicited Advertising, The Internet, And You., Scot M. Graydon

St. Mary's Law Journal

Internet users need protection from unsolicited commercial emails (UCEs), and this protection should come from federal legislation. Despite seventeen states having passed some sort of legislation regulating UCEs, this is insufficient to protect Internet users from UCEs. State laws are not uniformed and UCEs frequently cross state lines. Internet advertisers prefer commercial emails because of the ability to market to millions of consumers at a low cost. Consumers, however, suffer delays to their Internet access because of the amount of data UCEs accumulate, and in some cases may have to pay additional fees if they exceed the data limits of …

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Texas Workers' Compensation: A Ten-Year Survey - Strengths, Weaknesses, And Recommendations., Phil Hardberger Jan 2000

Texas Workers' Compensation: A Ten-Year Survey - Strengths, Weaknesses, And Recommendations., Phil Hardberger

St. Mary's Law Journal

The present Texas Workers’ Compensation system began development in January of 1989 and has been in effect since 1991. Texas is the only state in which workers’ compensation coverage is optional. Alternative benefits plans are provided in some cases; however, many injured workers receive less than they would under the Texas Workers’ Compensation system. The current system uses supplemental income benefits (SIBs), meaning injured workers can be cut off from benefits if they are less than 15% impaired, and the maximum time to appeal each case is ninety days (Rule 130.5(e)). The 71st Texas Legislature focused on decreasing attorney involvement …

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A Holy Mess: School Prayer, The Religious Freedom Restoration Act Of Texas, And The First Amendment., David S. Stolle Jan 2000

A Holy Mess: School Prayer, The Religious Freedom Restoration Act Of Texas, And The First Amendment., David S. Stolle

St. Mary's Law Journal

In Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court held the traditional compelling state interest standard for Free Exercise Clause jurisprudence should be replaced by a new test requiring a statute or government action to be facially neutral and generally applicable. In response to Smith, Congress, relying on its Enforcement Clause powers under the Fourteenth Amendment, attempted to resurrect the compelling state interest standard by passing the Religious Freedom of Restoration Act (RFRA). In June 1999, the Texas legislature passed the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (TRFRA). This Comment argues the TRFRA is unnecessary …

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Loss Of Earning Capcity Benefits In The Community Property Jurisdiction - How Do You Figure., Aloysius A. Leopold Jan 1999

Loss Of Earning Capcity Benefits In The Community Property Jurisdiction - How Do You Figure., Aloysius A. Leopold

St. Mary's Law Journal

In the interest of uniformity, benefits for the loss of earning capacity should be subject to the same legal principle when determining marital property rights, regardless of the context in which those rights arise. However, courts throughout the United States have relied upon four different methods to determine title to loss of earning capacity benefits upon divorce. These approaches include the unitary approach, the analytic approach, the mechanistic approach, and the case-by-case approach. Because the determination of title to benefits varies tremendously, the need for certainty in this area of the law is necessary particularly in light of the Texas …

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Resolving The Mult-Fractional Deed Dilemma - Conc.Ord Oil Co. V. Pennzoil Exploration & (And) Production Co. Recent Development, Noelle C. Letteri Jan 1999

Resolving The Mult-Fractional Deed Dilemma - Conc.Ord Oil Co. V. Pennzoil Exploration & (And) Production Co. Recent Development, Noelle C. Letteri

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

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America's Preoccupation With Ethics In Government Essay., Vincent R. Johnson Jan 1999

America's Preoccupation With Ethics In Government Essay., Vincent R. Johnson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Many Americans today expect that the law can, should, and will be used to ensure a level playing field in public life. Americans expect the law to eliminate, insofar as possible, any unfair advantage that might be gained through the use of special connections to those who exercise the power of government. There are numerous rules applicable to judges, lawyers, and public officials that each seek to promote equal treatment for all persons by limiting the ability of persons to use special connections and privileged relationships to gain an advantage in public affairs. There were two threads of development in …

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Texas Rule Of Evidence 503: Defining Scope Of Employment For Corporations Comment., Craig W. Saunders Jan 1999

Texas Rule Of Evidence 503: Defining Scope Of Employment For Corporations Comment., Craig W. Saunders

St. Mary's Law Journal

The attorney-corporate client privilege should be regarded as encompassing only communications made to the corporation’s counsel by employees in the scope of their employment. The Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the merger of the Civil and Criminal Rules of Evidence. The merger became effective on March 1, 1998 and is now known as the Texas Rules of Evidence. Although the civil and criminal rules often mirror each other, one monumental change is in the new version of Rule 503. This new version significantly alters the analysis used in a corporate context and determines …

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The Constitution And Reconstitution Of The Standing Doctrine Comment., Laveta Casdorph Jan 1999

The Constitution And Reconstitution Of The Standing Doctrine Comment., Laveta Casdorph

St. Mary's Law Journal

The most effective response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s construction of Article III standards will be to revise citizen suit statutes to reaffirm its important role in giving the injured citizen a voice against the administrative state. With the rise of the administrative state in the late 1930s and 40s, the Court developed a conservative doctrine of standing to protect New Deal legislation from court-based attacks. As individual constitutional rights expanded, standing rules were liberalized, allowing litigants to challenge the actions and decisions of administrative agencies more easily. Congress passed numerous environmental statutes containing “citizen suit” provisions in the 1960s …

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Keeping The Promise: Establishing Nontransferable Election Systems In Jurisdictions Covered By Section Four Of The Voting Rights Act., Adam J. Cohen Jan 1999

Keeping The Promise: Establishing Nontransferable Election Systems In Jurisdictions Covered By Section Four Of The Voting Rights Act., Adam J. Cohen

St. Mary's Law Journal

Jurisdictions covered by the Voting Rights Act (VRA or the Act) need to impose multimember districting and non-transferable election systems. The VRA was enacted in 1965 to enforce the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution: the right to vote shall not be abridged on the basis of race. The Act requires any change in election procedures to be approved in advance so that states are not able to continuously disenfranchise voters based on race by simply changing election procedures. Either the District Court for the District of Columbia or the Attorney General of the United States …

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From Little Acorns Great Oaks Grow: The Constitutionality Of Protecting Minors From Harmful Internet Material In Public Libraries Comment., Kimberly S. Keller Jan 1999

From Little Acorns Great Oaks Grow: The Constitutionality Of Protecting Minors From Harmful Internet Material In Public Libraries Comment., Kimberly S. Keller

St. Mary's Law Journal

Congress should focus on the receiver's end of Internet transmissions to overcome the anonymity and transmogrification elements of the Internet to protect minors from harmful material. Throughout the years, librarians have struggled with monitoring minors’ access to the accumulating number of controversial texts in the library. The Internet’s unique infrastructure affords librarians virtually no opportunity for the pre-shelf review available with books and videos. Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in 1996 in an attempt to protect minors from the underbelly of the internet. The United States Supreme Court, in Reno v. ACLU, struck down the CDA ruling that …

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Dead Man Talking: Competing Narratives And Effective Representation In Capital Cases Essay., Jeffrey J. Pokorak Jan 1999

Dead Man Talking: Competing Narratives And Effective Representation In Capital Cases Essay., Jeffrey J. Pokorak

St. Mary's Law Journal

As Karl Hammond’s case indicates, to serve justice, balance between the Kill Story and Human Story is necessary in a capital trial. This Essay seeks, through deconstruction of Karl Hammond’s case, to identify and illustrate the values of telling these combating stories. Part III describes the Kill Story and the Human Story in Karl’s case from the record of his trial, appeals, and petitions. Part III also demonstrates how the failure to tell one side of the story in either the guilt-innocence phase or the punishment phase can have a prejudicial effect on the jury’s decision. Part IV then discusses …

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