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.
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10.13.09
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
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…
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8.12.09
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
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
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
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
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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
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:
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1.05.09
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:
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