Back on December 16, 2015 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration instituted a requirement wherein most common carriers and drivers that are required to maintain records of duty status must maintain electronic logs. This electronic logging rule […]
In Schlumberger Technology Corporation v. Pasko, the plaintiff alleged he contracted skin cancer as a result of his exposure to frac fluid. The original exposure occurred in May 2013 when the plaintiff was asked to clean up a fluid spill, which […]
It is one of those arcane principles discussed at length in textbooks that manifests itself in the real world far less frequently: the rule against perpetuities, the notion "that no interest within its scope is good unless it must vest […]
The 85th Session of the Texas Legislature passed H.B. 1217 to allow online notarization, making it the third state (after Virginia and Montana) to allow notaries to perform remote notarial acts. Effective on July 1, 2018, the new law enables a signing […]
Retailers, restauranteurs, and hoteliers sometimes find themselves involved in litigation involving multiple parties. Often, when multiple parties are involved, a settlement is reached with one or more parties but not with others. In those cases, business […]
In Texas, the long-standing "rule of capture" controls claims for subsurface trespass predicated on hydraulic fracturing activities. The rule of capture is, of course, shorthand for the theory that landowners acquire title to the minerals […]
The tactic is used by plaintiffs’ and defense attorneys alike – and in each scenario, the receiving side feels the pain. The hourly-rate defense attorney reviews those 50,000 pages at the standard billable rate, and the contingent-fee plaintiffs […]
The United States Supreme Court issued an opinion on April 2, 2018 that Service Advisors working at a California Mercedes Benz dealership were exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act and not entitled to overtime. In a 5-4 opinion, the Court held that […]
Business bankruptcy filings have dropped by more than one-third over the last five years. One potential reason for this drop is that lenders have increasingly sought non-bankruptcy solutions for defaulted or distressed loans. Virtually all non-bankruptcy […]
On Tuesday, United States District Judge Robert Pittman issued a fifty-page order that will likely have a profound impact on retailers that currently sell or are looking to sell alcoholic beverages in Texas. The lawsuit, brought in 2015 by Wal-Mart Stores […]
In order to be liable for the improper sale or provision of alcohol to a minor, it must be shown that: (1) the person or provider was an adult that was at least 21 years old, who was not the minor's parent, guardian, spouse or custodian; (2) the […]
This month, the United States Department of Transportation voted to repeal a May 2015 proposed rule that would have required the installation of electronically controlled pneumatic (“ECP”) brakes on certain rail tank cars. The ECP rule rose […]