It's the Law

These are a series of articles by Dallas attorney Carl David Adams, who recently celebrated 30 years of private law practice in Texas.

Adams received his JD from Baylor University School of Law cum laude (where he was first in his class) in August of 1975 and was licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas in
October 1975. Board Certified in Civil Trial Law, Adams handles a wide range of civil legal issues, at trial and on appeal, for clients throughout Texas.

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Article I: Election of Judges
Texas must finally remove the "Crocodile from the Bathtub." ©
Fall 2003

During my 30 years of law practice in the Great State of Texas, I have come to realize that no single issue is perhaps more important to the integrity and the independence of the critically important third branch of Texas Government (i.e. the judicial branch) than is the issue of whether Texas should continue what has become, in my opinion, the questionable practice of electing its trial and appellate court judges in popular elections, just like the other "politicians" serving in the executive and legislative branches of Texas Government.

A few weeks prior to the general election in Fall 2003, I attempted to set forth my concerns about this issue in a Letter to the Editor of a local newspaper. I chose to entitle my submission: Texas must finally remove the "Crocodile from the Bathtub."

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Article II: A Deadly Convenience
The Cell Phone: A wonderful new tool. ©
February 20, 2007

Recent stories in the Dallas Morning News have dealt with the suddenly hot topic of the use of cell phones by Texas drivers and the recent legislative proposal in Austin to restrict cell phone users from driving. The proposed legislation purports to restrict only hand-held cell phone devices, not the hands-free device.

This article, A Deadly Convenience, is intended to be an educated response, from the perspective of a civil litigation attorney with 31 years of experience, to this suddenly hot legal issue. The theme of this article is that, irrespective of what the state Legislature may do by way of creating criminal penalties for the use of cell phones by Texas drivers, the common law of negligence has, for many decades, protected Texas citizens from unlawful and unreasonable behavior by Texas drivers (including drivers that would use devices while driving that distract them from their primary task leading to accidents, etc.).

In other words, the civil law in Texas already offers substantial protections, in the form of an action for civil liability for damages, against drivers who would continue to use cell phones in the face of the mountain of information establishing the devices, in such circumstances, constitute a deadly convenience.

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