The Business Dispute Law Blog by Bill Garrison

Texas, like many other states, has passed legislation designed to address the ever-growing problem of identity theft.  The newly-added Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act (Chapter 48 of the Business and Commerce Code) requires businesses of all sizes to implement and maintain reasonable procedures to protect "sensitive personal information."   Further, "[i]f an information security breach [...]

One of our friends at Weblogs Work, Brian Oberkirch, was featured in the Washington Post recently for his efforts to connect people through the Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog and provide neighborhood-specific information:
I was able to get to my apt at the Anchorage Sat 09/03/05," said one message posted yesterday. "Came in thru Eden Isles off [...]

Hoping to avoid another disaster debacle, Gov. Perry recalled the Texas National Guard, Texas Task Force 1 and other emergency personnel and equipment from Louisiana in anticipation of Tropical Storm Rita entering the Gulf of Mexico. Current projections indicate that Rita will continue to strengthen into hurricane force and could threaten the Texas coast by [...]

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, complaints made by whistleblowers (persons who maintain and act upon a subjectively- and objectively-reasonable belief of corporate wrongdoing) represent a very significant potential source of civil and criminal liability. 
A company can minimize such risk by taking the few important actions suggested by the authors of "Whistleblowing Claims Under Sarbanes-Oxley":
1. Publish to all employees policies and procedures intended to [...]

Joseph Ratzinger, a defendant in a Texas suit filed before he was elected Pope Benedict XVI, wants to be dismissed from the litigation, arguing he has head-of-state immunity.  The case, John Doe 1, et al. v The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, et al., is pending before the U.S. District Court in Houston.  [via]

Normally located in New Orleans, the Fifth United States Circuit Court of Appeals has moved the court to Houston.  For the next two months all federal appeals from Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana will be heard at the federal courtshouse in Houston.  In early November the court will move to Baton Rouge (the lack of housing [...]

Posts to this blog have basically been suspended since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast (I will start back up next week).   If you are looking for a way to help Wilshire Baptist Church, is going to be taking donations and money to Baton Rouge on Monday.   For more information click here.  Or call/email Mark [...]

In the first of thousands of Vioxx lawsuits, a Texas jury found Merck and Co. liable for the death of a man taking its arthritis drug Vioxx and awarded his widow $253MM. [via]

John from The Legal Reader has been tirelessly blogging about a mass tort scheme involving 10,000 plaintiffs diagnosed with silicosis. He suggest that, “if they give awards for judicial integrity, a special one should go to U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack of Corpus Christi, Texas. Thanks to her painstaking 249-page order issued on [...]