7.1.10
On June 30, 2010, Brent Kugler and Eric Wood obtained a summary judgment to defeat a $2 million breach of contract claim against a Texas direct sales company. A Dallas federal court dismissed the plaintiffs' claims based upon evidence that the plaintiff did not own the direct sales distributorship that was the basis for the plaintiffs' claims and evidence showing that the defendant direct sales company had fully paid all amounts owed under the distributor agreement to the plaintiffs' former spouse.

6.3.10
On June 3, 2010 the Fifth Circuit issued a published opinion affirming the Eastern District of Texas' ruling, CFTC v. Hudgins, 620 F. Supp.2d 790 (E.D.Tex. 2009), enforcing an equitable lien on Florida homestead property in favor of the Receiver, Mr. Crawford. The opinion is a huge victory for the defrauded investors on whose behalf the lien was sought (and foreclosed). It means that not even the infamously protective Florida homestead exemption can prevent the recovery of funds obtained from defrauded investors and traced into a homestead. The opinion can be found at Crawford v. Silette, 2010 WL 2200464,_F.3d_ (5th Cir. June 3,2010). Mr. Crawford was represented by Charlene Koonce in the district court and in the Fifth Circuit.

5.11.10
Paula Beasley

Paula Beasley has been named one of D Magazine's "Best Women Lawyers Dallas 2010" in the Commercial Real Estate Section based on votes from other attorneys, as well as extensive research by the publication. She is featured in the May issue of D Magazine, and is also listed on their website. please visit: www.dmagazine.com

4.28.10
Scheef & Stone, L.L.P. hosted an open house for local minority bar associations on Tuesday, April 27th at its Dallas office.  In attendance were representatives and members from the J.L. Turner Legal Association, the Dallas Asian American Bar Association and the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association.
::Read More::

4.22.10
Brad Whitlock will be delivering his speech “Getting Your Client Ready to Sell” on Friday, April 30, at the Essentials of Business Law CLE sponsored by the State Bar of Texas. This Continuing Legal Education Seminar will be hosted live in Dallas April 29-30, 2010 at the Westin Hotel Galleria.

3.29.10
Scheef & Stone is pleased to announce the addition of Travis E. Schwaer to the Firm. Travis is a cum laude J.D. and M.B.A. honors graduate from Texas Tech University and a B.B.A. graduate from Texas A&M University. He has represented clients in all phases of commercial real estate transactions involving the acquisition, development, financing, leasing and disposition of raw land, office, retail, multi-family and mixed-use properties. Currently, Travis focuses on distressed real estate practices including the take back, sale and leasing of REO properties and the modification of CMBS loans. His clients include special servicers, real estate developers, investors, institutional lenders and other national and multi-national corporate entities.

3.23.10
Jay

Scheef & Stone attorney, Mitch Little, has been selected to Texas Rising Stars for 2010 as a top securities litigation lawyer. Mitch was selected based on nominations by other attorneys, including members of the Texas Super Lawyers list, and is currently the only honoree from Collin County in this area of practice. "Our objective with Super Lawyers is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys." - Texas Super Lawyers - Rising Star Edition 2010. This list of Rising Star Lawyers is also published in the April Issue of Texas Monthly. Congratulations Mitch!

3.23.10

Eric Wood has been selected to Texas Rising Stars for 2010 as a top business litigation lawyer. Rising Stars are selected based on nominations by other attorneys, including members of the Texas Super Lawyers list. Honorees are the top up-and-coming Texas attorneys who are 40 or younger or have been in practice for fewer than 10 years. Fewer than 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state were chosen for this honor. This year’s Rising Stars list is featured in the April issue of Texas Monthly magazine. It also is available in the current issue of Texas Rising Stars, a publication co-produced by the publishers of Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Media, Inc. Congratulations Eric!

3.8.10
Today marks the opening of a new Scheef & Stone office in Phoenix, Arizona. We are very pleased to now offer our services to businesses of Scottsdale and the greater Phoenix areas. After practicing 4 years in Arizona, Stephen Womack, Esq., has rejoined the firm and is heading up our new office. For more information please contact Steve by telephone:(480) 302-3704; fax;(480) 302-3705; email; Stephen.womack@solidcounsel.com Learn more about the office location by clicking here.

2.11.10
Brent Kugler presented a webinar in conjunction with the Direct Selling Association's Coffee Break Briefing Series titled "FTC Testimonials Guidelines- What You Need to Know." The webinar focuses on new guidelines recently published by the Federal Trade Commission for evaluating testimonials and endorsements used by companies in advertising and the criteria used by the FTC in enforcement actions brought against companies accused of unfair or deceptive advertising practices.

10.15.09
Scheef & Stone, L.L.P. seeks to recruit and retain new and lateral attorneys with strong legal skills and diverse backgrounds. Part of our commitment is developing strong relationships with professional, educational, and community groups. To this end, in the fall of 2009, Scheef & Stone created a Diversity Intern Program by partnering with with Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law to find talented young minorty law students looking to enhance their classroom education.
::read more::

10.13.09
Paula Beasley

Paula Beasley will be speaking on October 21st, 2009 at the SW-AHMA Annual Conference and Trade Show in San Antonia, Texas. She will be talking in Workshop 2 on “Eviction Procedures - How to prepare for and win your eviction case “ For more information on this conference please visit: www.swahma.com

9.24.09
KELLY MASSAD

In an effort to recover commissions for investors, the receiver for defunct oil and gas company Star Exploration Inc. is suing brokers who allegedly offered unregistered shares of Star and related entities. Receiver Kelly M. Crawford filed a complaint Sept. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against 15 broker defendants for nearly $1.3 million in commissions they allegedly made off of fraudulent transactions. Crawford also is seeking prejudgment and postjudgment interest, attorneys' fees, expenses and court costs…
::read more::

8.12.09
KELLY MASSAD

On Wednesday, August 12, 2009, Scheef & Stone Partner, Mark Simon, spoke to Vistage International members on “Recent Changes in Employment Law for CEOs”. Mark’s presentation included a variety of current issues and topics, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, the Texas Fair Pay Act, and the current state of the law in Texas concerning Non-Competition Agreements. Vistage International is the world’s leading Chief Executive organization.

If you are interested in receiving written information on any of the topics covered in Mark’s presentation, you are invited to contact him at mark.simon@solidcounsel.com or call him directly at 214-706-4230.


7.28.09

John and Bill Scheef & Stone partner Kelly Crawford obtained a significant opinion from the Colorado Bankruptcy Court that exempts a Receiver’s claim for the recovery of false profits from discharge. On July 20, 2009, the Honorable Judge Sidney Brooks of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado entered a lengthy opinion in a case brought by Kelly Crawford, as the Receiver, against the debtors who received more than $300,000 in false profits from a Ponzi Scheme. Mr. Crawford serves as the Receiver in a $78 million commodities pool scheme that was shut down by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission last year. As Receiver, Mr. Crawford traced $302,704 in false profits from the trading scheme to a couple in Colorado, Dennis and Donna Myers. When Mr. Crawford sought to recover the false profits from the Myers, the Myers filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the Colorado Bankruptcy Court and sought to have the debt discharged. Mr. Crawford, with the assistance of Scheef & Stone bankruptcy partner Patrick Schurr, filed an Adversary Proceeding in the Colorado Bankruptcy Court requesting the Court to declare Mr. Crawford’s claim exempt from discharge. The debtors filed a motion to dismiss that was denied by the Colorado Bankruptcy Court. The decision by the Court is significant in that there is no case law addressing the issue of whether a claim to recover false profits from an investor is exempt from discharge under Section 523(a)(19) of the Bankruptcy Code. Scheef & Stone partner Charlene Koonce also assisted.

6.24.09
Eric Wood

On June 3, 2009, Kelly Crawford as the Receiver for George Hudgins, prevailed in a claim to recover Receivership Assets from the recipient of those assets. Mr. Crawford traced cash gifts from the operator of the Ponzi scheme to an individual who paid off her condominium with the cash. After reviewing both parties’ briefing and hearing arguments, Judge Leonard Davis imposed an equitable lien on the condo in favor of Mr. Crawford, awarded sole and exclusion possession of the condo to Mr. Crawford, and directed the sale of the condo. By finding in favor of Mr. Crawford, Judge Davis pierced the homestead exemption raised by the individual. A published opinion regarding the ruling can be found at CFTC v. Hudgins, __ F.Supp.2d__, 2009 WL 1562965 (E.D. Tex. June 3, 2009). Mr. Crawford was represented by Charlene Koonce, also of Scheef & Stone, L.L.P.

3.18.09
Eric Wood

Our own, Eric Wood was selected to Texas Rising Stars for 2009. Rising Stars are selected based on nominations by other attorneys, including members of the Texas Super Lawyers list. Honorees are the top up-and-coming Texas attorneys who are 40 or younger or have been in practice for fewer than 10 years. Fewer than 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state were chosen for this honor. This year’s Rising Stars list is featured in the April issue of Texas Monthly magazine. It also is available in the current issue of Texas Rising Stars, a publication co-produced by the publishers of Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Media, Inc. Congratulations Eric!


 

3.16.09
Investors receiving checks as Hudgins receives his sentence
::Read More::

2.06.09
Bill Stone gave a presentation to a Baylor Executive MBA class regarding the nuts and bolts of an acquisition or sale of a business. The title of this presentation was “Sequence of Events in the M&A Process – What Happens between the Handshake and the Closing Table.

You can contact Bill Stone at bill.stone@solidcounsel.com.

1.14.09
Jay

Recently J. Mitchell Little was quoted in an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader called “When dry holes mean big bucks - OIL, GAS INVESTORS DESCRIBE LOSSES” The article states, “A Dallas trial lawyer who specializes in suing oil and gas con artists — known as promoters in the industry — says scams are so prevalent that regulators can't keep up. It's no secret who the promoters are, lawyer Mitch Little said. But there are so many of them, and the prosecutions of them are so expensive and labor-intensive, that fraud is rampant. "The problem is there are more bad guys than there are good guys," Little said. "They are so overwhelmed with these energy scams, they literally don't have enough manpower or man hours to devote to them." Mr. Little has been very successful at these types of Oil and Gas cases (please see his bio). To read the full article, please click on the link below.
To view the full article:
::Read More::

1.05.09
Jay

Tom Kulik had an article featured in the Dallas Headnotes January 2009 issue called “The Online Tug-of-War for Copyrighted Content”. Since the advent of the World Wide Web, the availability of content over the Internet has grown at an astonishing pace. It has been a driving factor in the commercial success of search engine
portals such as Google and Yahoo, which index various types of content for quick retrieval. Combined with the popularity of entertainment portals such as You-Tube and mobile media devices such as the iPhone, accessing entertainment content has never been easier. As more Web sites clamor to obtain entertainment content for competitive advantage in the marketplace, a tug-of-war is occurring between the copyright owners of such content, and the online entities that wish to exploit the content for profit.
To view the full article:
::Read More::

11.17.08
Scheef & Stone is pleased to announce our Sherry Lane office has relocated to the 27th floor of Lincoln Plaza in downtown Dallas. Our phone numbers remained unchanged, but please note our new address.

10.22.08
Brent Kugler co-presented a webinar titled "He Said, She Said: Managing Product Claims" in the Direct Selling Association's Virtual Successful Sales
Strategies Series in October.

10.6.08
C. John Scheef will be speaking at “The Basic Course in Texas Construction Law” on October 17th, 2008 at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, Texas. He will be speaking on the “Causes of Action in Construction Law”. This topic will address the various causes of action often seen in construction disputes, and those potentially available members of any given project. It will also cover the effect of the Economic Loss Rule and how to assess the claims and/or defenses that could arise from any given dispute. For more information please visit: www.clesolutions.com

10.6.08
KELLY MASSAD

Kelly Massad
successfully represented the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Board in a case involving prevailing wage statute (Tex. Gov’t Code Ann §2258.052) and whether the trial court was correct when it ordered the Airport Board to make determinations of wage violations for thousands of former subcontract employees and whether the plaintiffs could maintain class standing for those thousands of employees. The Court of Appeals found in favor of the Airport Board on all issues affirming the trial court’s judgment dismissing the class action and reversing the trial court and rendering judgment that the plaintiffs were not entitled to mandamus relief.
::read more::

9.17.08
John and Bill
Scheef & Stone L.L.P is pleased to announce that C. John Scheef and William E. Stone have been selected
for inclusion in 2008 Texas Super Lawyers. Only five percent of the attorneys in the state of Texas are named to this list.

The Super Lawyer process includes peer nominations, a blue ribbon panel review and independent research of candidates. Congratulations to John and Bill for being recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer.

6.22.08
Scheef & Stone is pleased to announce the addition of C. Brenton Kugler. Brent has more than 12 years of experience in representing direct sales companies in litigation and advising direct sales clients on regulatory issues, distributor policies and procedures, governmental affairs and risk management. Brent also represents businesses, professionals and individuals in complex business disputes as well as product liability and professional negligence litigation.

6.19.08

Jay

Jay Crutcher of Scheef & Stone, along with Christopher Castro and Ridge Dickey will be providing clients with answers to their sophisticated LLC questions. They will be discussing Updates and Emerging Trends, Advanced Tax Issues for LLC’s, Understanding the World of Minority Rights and Fiduciary Obligations, Walking the Ethical Line and Mastering Estate Planning Issues. You are invited to attend the Advanced LLC Issues seminar on Friday, July 11, 2008. To find out more about attending this seminar, please go to
www.nbi-sems.com.
::Download Brochure::

6.16.08
Richard McGary

Richard McGary recently obtained a favorable conclusion for his clients in defense of a million dollar bodily injury claim in General Electric Company v. Moritz, No. 04-0871, (Tex. S. Ct. June 13, 2008).
::Read More::

6.02.08
Paula Beasley

Paula Beasley will be an adjunct professor through the SMU Cox Business School. She will be teaching a portion of the Real Estate Law class to juniors and seniors in both the Fall and Spring semesters.

She will also teach Real Estate Transactions to MBA students in the Spring. (evening class, once a week). As Paula said, “No, I’m not quitting my day job!” But she is very excited about this opportunity and honored to have been chosen.

Congratulations Paula!!!

4.17.08
Paula Beasley was inducted as a member of the Class of 2008 Fellows of the Dallas Bar Foundation at the Seventeenth Annual Fellows Luncheon this month. 

The Fellows of the Dallas Bar Foundation was chartered in 1991 to recognize local attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their legal careers with significant contributions to the legal and civic communities of Dallas and to support the charitable mission of the Dallas Bar Foundation. 

The Dallas Bar Foundation was founded in 1971 for charitable and educational purposes to support research and forums for the furtherance of justice under the law; to establish educational scholarships and promote the study of law; and to support non-profit community organizations in their efforts to provide charitable and legal aid for the indigent.  Since 1981, the Dallas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $3.6 million in grants to area non-profits for law related services and to Dallas Bar Association programs and projects.  Over $1.5 million has been awarded in scholarships and summer clerkship opportunities for minority law school students during this time

3.24.08
New Attorneys Join Scheef & Stone
Sarah Benes · Dallas Location
Southern Methodist University School of Law, J.D.; University of Texas at Dallas, Business Administration, cum laude, B.S.

Ms. Benes’ practice areas include: Business Sales and Combinations, Business Transactions, Corporate Entity Disputes, Corporate Finance and Securities Law, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Emerging Businesses, Entity Selection and Business Formations, Mergers and Acquisitions, Shareholder Disputes, Venture Capital Transactions.

Leslie Sanderson · Frisco Location
Baylor University, J.D.; Baylor University, B.A.

Ms. Sanderson was a recent graduate of Baylor Law School and sat for the Bar Exam in February 2008. Her main area of practice will be in Commercial Litigation.

2.29.08
February 29th marks the firms 16th (4th) anniversary

Scheef & Stone celebrated our 16th anniversary today. Formation of the firm under its original name, Cassell & Stone, L.L.P., was on Leap Day, February 29, 1992, which has allowed us only 4 opportunities to actually celebrate our anniversary due to Leap Day.

2.07.08
Jay D. Crutcher, a Partner in our corporate transactions practice, will be a presenter for an upcoming seminar entitled “Advanced LLC Issues” sponsored by National Business Institute. The seminar will be held on Friday, July 11, 2008 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (location to be confirmed). Jay will be speaking on the topic “Current Issues and Emerging Trends for Limited Liability Companies.” Jay is on the Faculty of National Business Institute for limited liability companies. Jay has previously presented another LLC seminar for National Business Institute on the topic “Tax Advantages of Limited Liability Companies.

::More Articles::