Tag Archives: legal adventures

MY BIG FAT TEXAS HEARING

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This week I traveled to Midland with my boss for a hearing involving a lot of parties, a lot of lawyers, and a lot of money.

Feel the Energy

Midland, population approximately 170,000, is Texas’s 24th most populous city.  It’s located in the Permian Basin in the West Texas plains.  The view from the plane as we neared Midland left no doubt that this is oil and gas country:

The city rises up out of the flat landscape:

Once there, before getting down to the business of preparing for the next day’s hearing, we got a recommendation for lunch and headed to Abuelo’s (there are numerous locations around Texas).

The interior was cheery, with its sunny courtyard:Chips and queso, followed by fajitas, rice, and beans (all very good) provided ample fuel (feel the energy!) for an afternoon of plowing through the reams of paper filed by the parties in preparation for the hearing the next morning:

Our client arranged for us to stay in furnished corporate apartments (we each had our own — whew!), which were very comfortable and provided a perfect workspace:

There were a few surprises waiting for us:

My client must think I am more fun than I actually am

And a well-stocked fridge:

So thoughtful, and much appreciated 

There was a pumpjack right outside the complex — the first time I’d ever been that close to one:

We worked all afternoon and into the early evening preparing for the hearing.  After researching and writing about the key legal issue for almost a year, it was exciting/nerve-wracking to think about actually having the judge decide it.

We headed out bright and early the next morning for the hearing.

The hearing was held in Stanton, the county seat of Martin County.

Fortunately, the judge is not one of the “old sore heads.”

The Martin County Courthouse is not a grand old Texas courthouse, although there were two previous courthouses that would have qualified.  The present courthouse was built in 1975, and is a modern, concrete building, with colonnades:

On the front lawn is a pergola made from elements of the 1908 courthouse, the first of the three courthouses:

The Old Martin County Jail is next to the courthouse:

Outside the courthouse was a water tower, where buzzards had gathered — not sure if it was a gesture of solidarity with the many lawyers inside, or if they sensed something was about to go down.

The modest interior of the courthouse had a midcentury vibe (at least that’s what they call it at the estate sales I go to):

The circular courtroom reminded me a lot of the Nueces County Courthouse courtroom we had a trial in, with its vaguely “Close Encounters” ceiling:That’s my boss, sitting there by himself, waiting for the hearing to start.  On the one side of this lawsuit is my client, represented by my firm, and on the other side is approximately 140 defendants represented by a platoon of law firms.  We were seriously outnumbered — I joked that I was afraid the courtroom might tip over with all those lawyers on the other side.  In fact, at the start of the hearing, as the defendants’ side filled up, this is what our side looked like:

Eventually, though, our side filled up with representatives from our client’s company, interested parties, and onlookers. Honestly, it felt a lot like a wedding as everyone drifted in and milled about before the hearing — all dressed up, making polite chit chat, taking their seat on the bride’s side or the groom’s side.  Except there were no passed hors d’oeuvres,  no buffet, no dancing.  Well, maybe a little dancing, as the lawyers for each side kinda dipped and swayed as they passionately argued.

My boss did great, as usual, and I was glad he was the one arguing against all those lawyers on the other side instead of me.  The judge was attentive, but didn’t show his hand — I think if you asked any of the lawyers on either side they’d say it went well.  He promised he’d read everything and rule soon.  Until then, the proverbial jury is still out . . . .

UPDATE:  The judge ruled in our favor.  🙂

Everyone at the courthouse was nice.  The court clerk came by and introduced herself, telling us to let her know if we need anything.  The judge took off his robe (I was going to say disrobed, but it sounded inappropriate) and came down from the bench to mingle with the attorneys after the hearing.  And this really warmed my heart — I went to take a drink from the water fountain during a break (what was I thinking — everyone knows you can get Covid from drinking fountains, right?), and the stream of water arced up about two feet and landed on the floor about two feet away from the fountain.  Oops, clean up on aisle two.  I stood there pouting, and a woman next to me, one of the onlookers — I don’t know who she was or which side she was aligned with — said it was probably for the best, because really, we shouldn’t be drinking from public fountains.  I told her what I really wanted was a soda from the vending machine, but it only took coins, and the smallest thing I had was a $20 bill (first world problem, I know).  A few minutes later she tapped me on the shoulder and handed me 3 quarters.  I was stunned/touched by her thoughtfulness — and so happy to have a Diet Dr. Pepper.  If by chance you read this, thank you kind stranger.  🙂

HOLIDAY TRIAL IN CORPUS CHRISTI

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Last week I traveled to Corpus Christi–the Sparkling City by the Sea located on the South Texas Gulf Coast–to assist with a jury trial. Unlike some of the small Texas towns I’ve been to for trial, Corpus Christi is the big city, with a population of approximately 325,000, making it the 8th most populous city in Texas. In fact, the Port of Corpus Christi is the third largest port in the United States.

The Nueces County Courthouse, where our trial was being held, is a moderne style courthouse, built in 1977.

 

The city has a historic courthouse, built in 1914, which sadly has been abandoned since 1977. The six-story building’s facade is gray brick, with white terra cotta trim, a red tile roof, and Ionic columns. Whether the once-majestic building will be redeveloped, rehabilitated, or torn down is the subject of debate, and a recent plan to convert it to a 4-star hotel fell through.

Image: Google Maps

Corpus Christi means body of Christ in Latin, and it seemed a fitting place to have a trial during the Christmas holiday season. Each afternoon, as I entered the courthouse, I was greeted by local school children rocking Christmas carols:

The Omni Hotel, where I spent the night, was cheerfully decorated for the holidays. Just look at Rudy at the front desk, who can hardly contain his holiday cheer amidst all the sparkly shrubbery:

Rudy granted my Christmas wish for a room with a view:

That ship in the distance is the USS Lexington, now an aircraft carrier museum:

My room was comfortable, but more importantly, it was all mine:

Although I couldn’t help but think how much Jasper and Maisy would have enjoyed the extra bed:

The trial concerned trees that our client had removed from an easement, to the landowner’s dismay. Many of the trees were palms. (Did you know there are around 2600 different species of palms? Learn something new every day!) The landowner brought some palm fronds for the judge and the jury to see:

My partner (as in law partner, not life partner) couldn’t resist doing a little dance with one while the jury was out:

The courtroom’s ceiling reminded me of an alien space ship hovering overhead, like something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

Trial had been going on for 2-1/2 days by the time I was summoned. I got to watch the last witness’s testimony, and then we had a short conference with the judge before recessing for the day. We headed to the Republic of Texas Bar and Grill on the 20th floor of the hotel for dinner before retiring to our rooms to prepare for the final day of trial.

Most of the group had steak, but I opted for Shrimp Republic — jumbo shrimp in a white wine scampi sauce — which was very good:

Honorable mention goes to the epic hash browns my partner (law partner, not life partner) ordered:

The restaurant had a spectacular view of the water, and we enjoyed watching night fall over the water:

Even better was the full moon over the water:

Back in my room, I settled in to draft VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS and earn my keep. I was up until 1:30 a.m. drafting them, and then, of course, I was too wired to fall asleep. Flipping through the channels on the TV, I landed on “My 600-Pound Life,” and eventually fell asleep from sheer exhaustion coupled with depression brought on by the show.

The next morning my boss and partner (yeah, yeah) were up and at it at the crack of dawn. I was not. I joined them in time for the 10:00 a.m. jury charge conference, at which I had a rare speaking role. Our opposing counsel was starting to get on my nerves with her insignificant changes to the charge that I had been tasked with drafting. I didn’t have access to wifi, which I needed to circulate the charge to everyone, but my boss helped out by telling me to “get in his hot spot.” We had a break for lunch, and then the jury returned to the courtroom, the judge read the charge to them, and they retired to the jury room to make their findings.

The jury didn’t take long to reach a verdict. They awarded the landowner more than our client would have preferred, but a whole lot less than the landowner asked for, so who won? You tell me.

As the jury was leaving, a few of them stopped to talk to my boss, who continued to argue his theory of damages to them. I could almost hear the theme song from Frozen, “Let It Go,” softly playing overhead. Gotta admire his passion!

We didn’t waste any time loading up the car and heading back to Houston. Kinda fun running into Santa buying jerky when we stopped for gas. 🙂

With the trial behind us, we are all looking forward to the holidays. Wishing you a Merry Christmas!