Texas Civil Litigation Legal Questions

As a general rule, gifts once given belong to the recipient.  Some states (not sure about Texas) make an exception for gifst given in contemplation of marriage, which generally means the engagement ring.  In many, if not most, of these states, this rule applies only when the recipient is the one who broke the engagement, although this situation may be an exception, if you can show that the gift was not given unconditionally but was given in contemplation of marriage.... Read More

First of all, did you give them the money, or loan it to them?  If you loaned it to them you can sue to recover it regardless of whether they lied.  If you gave it to them, why were you "under the impression?"  If they lied to you, you would have a fraud claim to recover the money.  If you just assumed without htem lying to you, you could have a problem.... Read More

Your son would need to start by sending a cease and desist letter to anyone who is defaming him. He should then consider whether he wants to file suit against each person and organization for defamation. Defamation is the act of injuring a person's reputation by making a false statement. A defamatory statement can be made in one of two ways: by libel or by slander. Libel is a defamatory statement published in writing or other graphic form. Slander is a defamatory statement that is communicated or published orally. It sounds like your son is a victim of both slander and libel. To prove defamation, your son would have to prove the following: The defendant published (in writing or verbally) a statement of fact; The statement referred to the plaintiff (your son); The statement was defamatory; The statement was false; With regard to the truth of the statement, the defendant was acting with actual malice, negligent or liable without regard to fault; and  Your son suffered damages from the defamation. One of the first questions your son must answer is what harm he has suffered from the defamation. If has suffered harm, he has a right to pursue damages as a result of the harm caused by the defamation. ... Read More

No and no.  No lawyer would ever pay any settlement amount without an agreement that it was in full settlement of all claims and probably obtaining a release.  As for using his offer against him, in order to encourage settlements the law in every state that I know and under the federal rules as well, although I don't know specifically about Texas, makes settlement offers inadmissible to prove liability.... Read More

Do you know whether the pool has insurance which covers your daughter as an employee?  If so the insurance company might be willing to provide your daughter with separate counsel, but more likely it would offer to have the same attorney who represents the pool represent her at the deposition, as there doesn't appear to be any overt conflict of interest between your daughter and the pool (unless the pool tries to blame your daughter for the accident, which seems unlikely given the facts you've recited).  Any litigation atttorney could represent your daughter at the deposition if you want her to have separate counsel, but it may be expensive.... Read More

If you personally have not filed bankruptcy, you personally are not immune from suit.  Under certain circumstances, you may be able to hvae the suit stayed pending resolution of the bankruptcy (the suit against the bankrupt corporation is automatically stayed), but any debt that you owe would not be discharged in bankruptcy.... Read More

Yes.  Your daughter's ex appears (based on your account) to be a bad person.  Your daughter may have claims against him for property damage arising out of his tearing up the house.  But (assuming that his claim that you disposed of his property without his permission is true) none of that gives youor your daughter  the right to take and dispose of his personal property, unless he gave you permission to do so or unless he had abandoned it.... Read More

The short answer is both.  Your employer does not decide whether to pursue the criminal case, the local prosecutor does, although your employer can certainly urge the prosecutor one way or the other, and the prosecutor would probably not pursue it if your employer didn't want to.  Whether or not you make the payments, the prosecutor can pursue a criminal claim, but it is likely that he/she would not (and probably would never know about the crime) if you made the payments.  If you don't make the payments, it is far more likely that your employer will go to the prosecutor and seek to have you prosecuted, and far more likely that you would be.  Your employer can also sue you civilly  for damages.... Read More

You need to get a copy of the judgment showing your acquittal.  You then need to either talk to the lawyer who defended you in the county of the alleged offense. Any lawyer who does trial work can help you on getting your case expunged given certain factors.  A lawyer will need a certified copy of the judgment of acquittal.  Sometimes, certain filing fees can be waived if the expunction is filed within a given number of days from the date of aquittal.  Good luck.... Read More

If the bankruptcy goes through, his debt to you will (assuming it is listed in his bankruptcy petition and absent fraud or some other exception to discharge not apparent from your question) be discharged, and you will neer be paid.  You need to fight the bankruptcy, perhaps by showing that your ex does not meet the criteria for bankruptcy for a chapter 7, but rather is sorking and has hte money to pay his debts.... Read More

There are many different bases for venue.  I'm not familiar with Texas law, but un New York, one proper place for venue would be the county in which the accident occurred, another would be the county in which the plaintiff resides, which is probably the basis for venue here.  Also, if this lawsuit was filed shortly after the accident occurred, you generally would have a limited time to object to venue or would have waived the objection (if the lawsuit was only filed recently, 10 years after the accident ocucrred, it is likely that the statute of limitations has run(.... Read More

If in fact you were not served with process in the lawsuit, there was no jurisdiciton over you and you should be able to get the default judgment (it is a judgment, not a settlement; a settlement is a voluntary agreement to resolve a claim) vacated.  This civil judgment is separate from your ticket, and you would need to make a motion in the civil case to vacate the judgment.  However, personal delivery of the court documents to you is not the only wasy to serve properly, and if you were a minor at the time it probably wouldn't be valid at all.  You better check with your mother that she was never served on your behalf. ... Read More

An attorney will need to review the contract along with how the settlement agreement was entered into the Court records.   Since you are outside of the general statute of limitations for enforcing a contract (4 years), other details of this case become extremely important.  For instance, there could be tolling of the statute of limitations due to the mention of fraud or it could have been entered as an enforceable judgment. I would move quickly to seek legal review regardless. ... Read More

Your insurance company represents you.  A settlement through the insurer is a settlement with you.  Anybody can sue for anything, so nobody can guarantee that you won’t be sued, but a full settlement of all claims with the insurance company would provide a complete defense.  People who don’t settle with the insurer can and would sue you.  Your insurer would be obligated to defend you and pay the damages (assuming that the claim fell within the coverage, and didn’t invoke an unauthorized driver or the line) to the limit of your policy.  If you have already inherited assets, they can be used to collect on any judgment against you and there is no foolproof way of protecting them, but there are many ways of making it more difficult for your creditors, for example liquidating and putting the most net into buying a primary residence, because Texas has an unlimited homestead exemption for primary residences (check this and any other attempts to shelter assets with a Tecas lawyer)... Read More