Texas Lawyers Blog

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The Texas Lawyers Blog provides useful information on the law and Texas lawyers. For more information on this Blog or a legal topic, please feel free to submit an inquiry or send an e-mail message to blog@texaslawyers.com

Saturday, June 15, 2013

SEC Bounty Actions and Confidential Reviews: New SEC Bounty Action Laws Help Protect The Identity of SEC Whistleblowers by SEC Bounty Action Whistleblower Reward Lawyer Jason S. Coomer


SEC Bounty Action Whistleblowers can work through a lawyer to have a potential bounty action confidentially reviewed prior to exposing their identity.  This protection of a whistleblower's identity combined with large potential rewards that a whistleblower may receive for properly exposing SEC violations are intended to encourage high end financial professionals and investors to step forward and expose significant securities and investment fraud schemes.

Persons with evidence of  securities fraud, insider trading, false information on SEC filings, insider trading; stock manipulation schemes, embezzlement by stockbrokers, or other securities fraud schemes, should contact a SEC Whistleblower lawyer to confidentially review their potential case.

SEC Fraud Whistleblower Bounty Actions Are Designed to Expose Significant SEC Violations and Provide Large Financial Rewards For People That Are The Original Source of Information That Expose The Fraud Against The SEC

SEC Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuits or SEC Bounty Actions are a product of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  These laws were designed to create bounties that can be collected by whistleblowers that properly report SEC violations, financial fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and stimulus fraud that result in monetary sanctions over one million dollars ($1,000,000.00).  The SEC can award the whistleblower up to 30% of the money collected.

By creating whistleblower bounties for investors and people with specific information of fraud, it is expected that hard to detect fraud will be exposed to help regulate the financial market and prevent large investment corporations, banks, hedge funds, and other large corporations from committing financial fraud of billions of dollars.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and SEC Whistleblower Incentive Program

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (frequently abbreviated SEC) is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States. The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.

In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law which includes significant new financial fraud bounty whistleblower provisions.  These provisions create economic incentives for SEC violation whistleblowers and other financial fraud whistleblowers with "original information" of SEC violations and financial fraud to blow the on large scale financial fraud and SEC violations.

These SEC bounty claims must be brought voluntarily under the SEC Bounty Programs by one or more individuals.  The whistleblower or whistleblowers must be a natural person or natural persons, companies or other entity is not eligible to be financial fraud bounty whistleblowers.  Successful SEC violation bounty whistleblowers and financial fraud whistleblowers can collect financial rewards for whistleblower bounty actions that result in the imposition of monetary sanctions of greater than $1 million dollars.  This new financial fraud SEC bounty program is called the "Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protection".

Through SEC Whistleblower Bounty Actions the SEC will award between ten percent and thirty percent of the money collected to a qualified whistleblower who voluntarily provides the SEC with original information about a violation of the securities laws that leads to a successful enforcement of an action brought by the SEC that results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1,000,000.00. 

So long as the financial fraud whistleblower or financial fraud whistleblowers base their claims on "original information", any person (not just an employee or insider) may file a SEC financial fraud bounty claim.  Further, if the financial fraud whistleblower is represented by an attorney, the whistleblower may file the financial fraud bounty claim anonymously.  However, before the financial fraud bounty award is paid, the whistleblower's identity shall be revealed to the SEC and SEC shall be provided information about the whistleblower that it requests.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Texas Probate Litigation Lawyer: Several Factors Can Create a Contested Probate Lawsuit by Texas Probate Litigation Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

Texas Probate Litigation Lawyer:  Several Factors Can Create a Contested Probate Situation Where Family Members and Beneficiaries Are Drawn into a Texas Probate Litigation Lawsuit  by Texas Probate Litigation Lawyer Jason S. Coomer
Several situations can create an environment for contested probate litigation between family members or between family members and beneficiaries.  These factors can include a communication failure or lack of estate planning by a decedent (failure to wishes prior to death), "do it yourself" Wills, discovery of new family wealth including mineral interests, unreasonable family members, greedy opportunists, and the proximity of families living in different locations.  These factors often can create an environment where a contested probate lawsuit is necessary.

For questions on a Texas probate litigation matter including Texas contested and uncontested probate lawsuits, inheritance, and estate matters, please feel free to send an e-mail to Texas Probate Litigation Lawyer Jason S. Coomer.

The Most Common Scenario For Contested Probate Litigation

The most common contested probate scenario occurs when an aging or elderly person with limited capacity signs a new Will during the last year of their life and the new Will drastically changes the disposition of inheritance.  This can shift of disposition can sometimes be the result of elderly person appreciating the help and companionship of those taking care of them and providing support during their later years.  However, in other situations, the elderly person was forced, coerced, or fraudulently tricked into signing a Will by someone who is close to them or wants to take advantage of them.  In the later situation, the person exerting undue influence on the elderly person can be a family member or an outsider that has access to the elderly person and is taking advantage of a person with limited memory or capacity.

For family members that live in different cities, states, or countries, it is often difficult to determine if the change of disposition was intended.  From a legal perspective, the key issue in these situations is to determine if the testamentary disposition is the result of undue influence or incompetence, and if so should the Will be held to be invalid?  
Many Families have Spread Out Across The United States and Throughout the World, Therefore it is Often Helpful to Hire a Texas Probate Lawyer to Assist with the Texas Probate Process and to Handle Estate Issues

Many families have spread out throughout the United States and around the World. For many families, gone is the time where several generations live with in a few miles of each other in the same town, city, or county. This lack of proximity can make it difficult, when a family member becomes incapacitated or passes away. This can be especially true when a new Will pops up that disinherits relatives living in other states or other parts of the World in favor of someone that has had access and influence over the decedent. 
In these situations, the family members that live out of state are often caught off guard and need help from a Texas probate litigation lawyer that is familiar with the Texas probate process, Texas probate law, Texas guardianship issues, and Texas probate courts.  For these family members, it can be extremely important to act quickly and hire a Texas probate litigation lawyer that can help expose an invalid or fraudulent Will.
With The Growing Popularity of "Do It Yourself" Wills Texas Will Contests, Fraudulent Wills, Forged Wills, and other Texas Contested Probate Lawsuits will become More Common

As "do it yourself" Wills and other "do it yourself" estate planning packages become more popular, many Texas families are opting to save money in the short term by using these cheap Will packages.  However, some of these "do it yourself" Wills are not compliant under Texas probate law and do not come with a Texas probate lawyer that can make sure that a valid Texas will has been created.  In some of these situations, the "do it yourself" Will can be determined to be an invalid Will and can result in the Will being thrown out and a prior Will or no Will being able to be probated.  In both instances, the wishes of the decedent will not be adhered to and either earlier testate dispositions will be used or Texas intestate dispositions will be used.
Both earlier testate dispositions and Texas intestate dispositions can cause a huge change in inheritance and can cause some beneficiaries and heirs to lose a significant amount of inheritance.  These shifts in inheritance can often result in Texas contested probate lawsuits.

Failure to Communicate and An Unexpected Death Can Often Result In Texas Contested Probate Litigation


All too often a loved dies unexpectedly and does not leave a Will or any directions on what needs to be done if they die.  In these situations, a Texas Probate Court will apply intestate statutes to determine the rightful heirs of the decedent's property.  For more information on Texas intestate law distribution feel free to go to the following web page Texas intestate law.  In these situations where the decedent has substantial wealth and real property, the decedent's estate will often have to go through the Texas Probate Courts to determine who the proper heirs are, to settle the decedent's estate, and transfer wealth to the rightful heirs.  For more information on this process, feel free to go to this web page on Texas Suits to Determine Heirs.

On other occasions the death of a loved one brings in estranged family, fraudulent claims of inheritance, and opportunists that prey on the elderly and disabled or those left behind.   In these cases, it can be difficult to gather up information on what property is in their estate or to fight off aggressive family members from wrongfully taking inheritance.  In these situations, it is often best to have an experienced Texas Contested Probate Lawyer help you through the probate process and explain your rights and what needs to be done to protect the rightful heirs and beneficiaries of an estate.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Texas Shareholder Suppression Lawsuits: Majority Shareholders and Directors That Commit Corporate Malfeasance, Fraud, and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Can Often Be Held Liable Through Texas Shareholder Lawsuits by Texas Shareholder Suppression Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

Texas Shareholder Suppression Lawsuits: Majority Shareholders and Directors That Commit Corporate Malfeasance, Fraud, and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Can Often Be Held Liable Through Texas Shareholder Actions by Texas Shareholder Suppression Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

Majority shareholders sometimes wrongfully and fraudulently use their controlling interest in a company for their own benefit at the expense of minority shareholders.  When a majority shareholder commits corporate malfeasance, fraud, or breach of fiduciary duty, minority shareholders may have a viable shareholder suppression lawsuit against the majority shareholder. 

If you have a questions about a Texas shareholder suppression lawsuit or other Texas business fraud lawsuit, please feel free to send an e-mail to Texas Shareholder Suppression Lawyer Jason Coomer or go to the following web pages: Texas Shareholder Suppression Lawsuit Information and Texas Business Tort Lawsuit Information.    

Texas Business Litigation Understanding Rights, Duties, and The Importance of Evidence

In any Texas shareholder suppression lawsuit, corporate malfeasance lawsuit, or breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit, it is important to understand the rights, fiduciary duties, and responsibilities of the majority shareholders, board of directors, managing partners, corporate officers, corporate counsel, chief financial officers, and managers.  It is also important to obtain as much evidence of the malfeasance, self dealing, fraud against shareholders, wrongful suppression, embezzlement, or other bad acts as possible prior to the start of litigation.  In many of these cases, once litigation has begun, obtaining evidence of the unlawful and bad acts are difficult and heated battles as many documents begin to disappear and proving spoliation becomes a key issue.  The term spoliation broadly refers to the intentional, reckless, or negligent destruction, loss, material alteration or obstruction of evidence that is relevant to litigation.

Texas Business Torts and Unfair Competition

Unfortunately, some businesses face illegal challenges from businesses that commit unfair and illegal actions to steal business, trade secrets, intellectual property, and customers for the purpose of increasing their own profits and putting their competitors out of business.  This illegal competition, unfair competition, or corporate malfeasance can include theft of trade secrets, release of false press releases, use of short term predatory pricing, making demands of exclusive contracts from suppliers, forcing lenders to call in loans, stealing business & customers, hacking computers, infringing on intellectual property, and spreading false information in the business community.

If you are a Texas business owner and have been unfairly harmed by illegal and unfair business actions and are looking for a Texas Business Litigation Lawyer, feel free to send an e-mail message to Texas Illegal and Unfair Business Competition Lawyer Jason Coomer or use our online submission form.  As a Texas Illegal Business Competition Lawyer, he provides advice to Texas business owners concerning business torts including unfair competition lawsuits, intentional interference with business contracts, theft of trade secrets, and breach of contract claims.