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| Written by Jon Platt | |
| In the early 1970s, the Texas Legislature created the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), which was designed to provide owners of coastal property with windstorm and hail insurance when such insurance was unavailable in the market. The TWIA, however, no longer serves as an insurer of last resort. Recent hurricanes have caused tremendous liability to private insurers, and many of those insurers have now ceased from issuing policies in coastal regions. | |
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| Written by Elizabeth Henderson | |
| Forfeiture is “[t]he loss of a right, privilege, or property because of a crime, breach of obligation, or neglect of duty.” At common law, a felon’s conviction effectively removed title to any property the felon stood to inherit, and courts prevented title from passing to the felon’s heirs by the corruption of blood doctrine. | |
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| Written by David N. Strange | |
| In this article, David N. Strange provides a poignant case study of an American family torn apart and forced into poverty. When a U.S. consular officer denied the father’s application for a waiver of inadmissibility pursuant to §212(a)(9)(B)(v) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, his hope of returning to his wife and daughter-both U.S. citizens-vanished. | |
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| Written by Angela M. Clark | |
| In this thought-provoking comment, Angela M. Clark examines the unique problem child abuse cases present under Crawford, which revolutionized the way courts looked at the Confrontation Clause and set clear guidelines for courts to follow. The comment explores how children are often unavailable to testify because either they are incompetent to testify due to their age or they are emotionally unable to be in the courtroom with the defendant. | |
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| Written by Julie C. Caskey | |
| In this comment, Caskey discusses the potential negative consequences of recently passed Texas Senate bill 617. Senate Bill 617 amended several sections of the Texas Family Code and § 377 of the Texas Probate Code in an attempt to prevent a parent from depriving a minor child of necessary support upon his or her death. In effect, S.B. 617 makes the obligor’s estate liable for future child support obligations that are based on a court order. | |
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| Written by Bryan Dotson | |
| Carl Brentwood (Carl) is a cotton farmer in the Texas panhandle who suspected that there are oil reserves underneath his land. Lacking the technical abilities to extract the minerals himself, Carl executed an oil lease with Lowry Drilling Company (Lowry) to explore the land and extract any minerals it finds. Lowry indeed found an oil reserve and soon had a well that produced a considerable amount of oil. To dispose of this oil, Lowry contacted several local refineries and intermediaries who regularly purchase oil from other producers in the region. | |
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| Written by Jillian Gordon | |
| When asked whether women have achieved equality in the 21st century, the average American would probably answer with an emphatic “yes.” Women are now the majority on college campuses, and there are more female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies than ever before. It may surprise many people to discover t... | |
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| Written by Nathan White | |
| This Comment analyzes two major issues brought about by the Second Circuit’s review of the FCC’s current indecency standard in Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FCC: (1) why the rationale for applying a lesser level of constitutional scrutiny to broadcast media restrictions no longer holds true, and (2) why the current FCC indecency standard regarding a single fleeting expletive is a violation of the First Amendment. | |
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| Written by Allie J. Hallmark | |
| Samantha’s summer vacation involves a five day trip to the Florida coast: shopping, dining, sunbathing, and sailing. Samantha flies from her New Orleans home to her vacation spot in Miami. She is unaware that she is under investigation for a copyright violation—illegally downloading music online. | |
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| Written by Frank T. Messina | |
| Recently, the burdensome “F-Word” has been injected into the banking industry—“FIDUCIARY.” Ambitious plaintiff attorneys, in the pursuit of deeper pockets, have attempted to label banks as fiduciaries, thus exposing banks to a greater chance of liability. Plaintiff attorneys have chosen a perfect ... | |
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| Written by Keith Drennan | |
| The black-and-white footage shot from an Apache helicopter over Baghdad appears innocuous at first. The footage, narrated by United States military personnel, begins by showing nondescript buildings and a black van. Seconds later, however, the pilot identifies targets on the ground and acknowledg... | |