Daily Archives: July 28, 2005

And you thought Tropical Storm Allison was bad?

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Allison.jpgDuring a five day period from June 5th through the 9th in 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped a huge amount of rainfall on the Houston metropolitan area that caused widespread and tremendously damaging flooding. The Port of Houston recorded 37 inches of rainfall over that five day period. With damage estimates exceeding $5 billion, Allison remains the costliest weather event in Houston’s history.
However, as bad as Allison was, it’s hard to imagine that this Indian monsoon hit Bombay with 37 inches of rain in one day as “the rainfall descended in what looked like a solid wall of water.”

Kelo ripples hit the Cowboys stadium project

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cowboys stadiummain.jpgAs noted in this earlier post, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kelo v. City of New London inevitably will have ripples, including the use of government’s eminent domain power to increase the value of privately-owned professional sports franchises at the expense of private property owners.
Thus, it is not surprising that Arlington landowners have filed the first lawsuit over the City of Arlington’s use of its eminent domain power to seize the landowners’ land for the benefit of Jerry Jones and his Dallas Cowboys stadium project. The landowners contend that the stadium project — although tacitly owned by the City — is beneficially owned and certainly controlled by Mr. Jones through a long-term ground lease, and that using the government’s eminent domain power to take private property from one person and give it to another is unconstitutional. Sounds like Kelo II, doesn’t it?

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A personal experience with Judge Roberts

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John_roberts2.jpgAlthough I do not agree with the writer’s conclusion, this post tells a personal story about Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, Jr. that reflects why he is one of my favorites for a spot on the Supreme Court and certainly will not result in this type of embarrassment. Hat tip to Craig Newmark for the link to the post on Judge Roberts.

The ubiquitous Mr. Lipton

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lipton.jpgWhen the Walt Disney Co. board needed advice regarding Comcast’s adverse takeover offer for Disney, who did the board call?
When Richard Grasso was negotiating with the New York Stock Exchange Board regarding his compensation package, who did he call?
And when the Morgan Stanley board was considering recently departed CEO Phillip Purcell and his cohort Stephen Crawford’s controversial exit pay packages, who did the Morgan board call?
Martin Lipton, that’s who. This NY Times article profiles the longtime New York merger and acquisitions specialist, who is famous in corporate legal circles for having refined the use of the poison pill anti-takeover strategy. The article is an interesting read on one of the legal profession’s real heavyweights.
As an aside, Mr. Lipton’s place in Texas legal history was cemented back in 1985 when his testimony on behalf of his client Texaco was one of the main reasons that jurors awarded $11 billion to Pennzoil during Pennzoil’s famous lawsuit against Texaco over Pennzoil’s failed bid for Getty Oil. After filing a historic chapter 11 case to avoid paying the resulting judgment, Texaco settled the Pennzoil judgment for $3 billion in 1987, insuring Houston plaintiff’s lawyer Joe Jamail’s place among Texas’ richest lawyers.