Trial lawyers treat jurors with kid gloves. We are extra polite, extra respectful in regard to those citizens who perform their civic duty without complaint. The pay is low, yet their service is invaluable. But, what do you say when a juror violates one of the basic requirements of jury duty? A trial is a
Mad Juries = Large Verdicts
I have written here before that high dollar verdicts often indicate a jury became angry about a lawsuit. In Velez v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., the jury awarded $250 million in punitive damages. See posts here and here. This is the largest punitive damage award in any class action lawsuit, I am told. Novartis,
Lawyers Choosing Clients
How do employment lawyers choose clients? Mike Maslanka, a defense employment lawyer, talks about this topic. He discusses a talk he had with a plaintiff employment lawyer from Houston. The Houston lawyer said he asks two questions: 1) what reason did the employer give for terminating you? 2) what was the real reason? This
Judge Orders Facebook Updates to be Produced
In a recent decision, a federal court in Southern indiana ordered two plaintiffs to turn over their Facebook entries, wall postings, photos, groups joined, etc. See report. Mike Maslanka reports that the EEOC filed suit alleging sex harassment on behalf of two women. See EEOC v. Simply Storage Management, LLC. The Court
Lawyers Behaving Badly at Depositions
Another example of lawyers behaving badly at depositions. A Florida lawyer, Robert J. Ratiner was sanctioned for his conduct at a deposition. See ABA Journal report. His latest sanction is that he 
cannot attend a deposition alone for the next two years unless the deposition is video taped. As reminder, depositions is the event
State District Judge Serves on Jury
A state district judge was selected for a jury in Dallas County. Judge Carlos Cortez was shocked that he was not stricken by one side or the other. But, he says he enjoyed the experience. He declined to serve as jury foreman, because he wanted to watch the process. He eventually became the lone dissent
Plaintiff’s Attorney’s Fees Can be Very High
I have written before on the costs of litigating a discrimination lawsuit. Connecticut Employment Law blog reports about a case in which the employee obtained as part of her settlement $16,000 in lost pay and $130,000 in attorney’s fees. Note how much higher are the attorney’s fees of the employee’s lawyer. $130,000 means the lawyer
Do Not Change Lawyers Unless You Must
It is very unwise to change lawyers in the middle of a lawsuit. Allen Stanford, the Houston investment counselor who has been charged with fraud, has changed lawyers a couple of times already and is seeking to change lawyers yet again. His case is criminal, but the same principle applies: a lawyer or a
Length and Cost of a Lawsuit
My friend Gene Lee wrote a good post about how long discrimination lawsuits can take. He refers to statistics showing that from start to finish, the average lawsuit will take 22 months. That sounds about right for the San Antonio area, also. Here in South Texas, we can file the typical discrimination lawsuit in state
Employee Depositions Critical to Successful San Antonio Lawsuits
I spoke about depositions in general a couple of weeks ago. Now, let’s talk about employee depositions in a San Antonio employment lawsuit. The plaintiff employee deposition is critical to success for any employment lawsuit. The plaintiff employee must be able to show the opposing attorney and the employer that the employee can testify