Weekly Docket
Justin Timberlake's DWI, Oregon Ride Malfunction, Google Scams, and Texas False Advertising
Join Phil Silberman and Austin Black in Episode 23 of the 'Weekly Docket' as they unpack the latest legal news. This week, they discuss Justin Timberlake's recent DWI arrest in the Hamptons and the terrifying malfunction of a theme park ride in Oregon that left 28 people hanging upside down for 30 minutes. Dive into legal questions about what to do when your lawyer won’t call you back and how false advertising is regulated in Texas. Plus, don’t miss their rant on Google’s role in website spoofing scams. Tune in for expert insights and engaging discussions on these pressing legal issues!
Join Phil Silberman and Austin Black in Episode 23 of the 'Weekly Docket' as they unpack the latest legal news. This week, they discuss Justin Timberlake's recent DWI arrest in the Hamptons and the terrifying malfunction of a theme park ride in Oregon that left 28 people hanging upside down for 30 minutes. Dive into legal questions about what to do when your lawyer won’t call you back and how false advertising is regulated in Texas. Plus, don’t miss their rant on Google’s role in website spoofing scams. Tune in for expert insights and engaging discussions on these pressing legal issues!
Welcome to the Silberman Law Firm's Weekly Docket, Episode 23, where we talk legal news and practical law. Today is June 20th, 2024, and I'm Phil Silberman, your host and owner of the firm. I'm joined by Austin Black, my co host. He works in our Dallas office. How are you doing today, Austin?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I am sad today that the Mavs lived up to my prediction last week, which is that they were going to win one in Dallas and then get blown out in the very next game, and that is exactly what happened. very sad. But they had a good run. They had a good run.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:a non sports guy, that was an extremely good call. So sorry to all those Mavs fans out there. Congratulations to the Celtics fans. What's on our docket today? Mr. Black?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:So first, in our legal news section, we're going to be talking about bringing Drunken driving back. that's a sexy back joke in case you didn't get that because Justin Timberlake had a DWI arrest, and I don't think he's seeing very much at the moment in the jail, and so we'll be talking about exactly. What happened there and the legal ramifications of it. And then, we will be moving on to talking about a theme park in Oregon. I'm sure everyone's. favorite topic on a Friday there was a malfunction that left 28 people hanging upside down for quite a long period of time. They were just left hanging out there. and, that's always a fear, right? like when you go on a amusement park ride really worrying that you're going to get stuck upside down on the roller coaster or something. That would not be fun with all the blood rushing to your head, but talking about some potential courses of action legally for those people. And then moving on to our legal questions section. Which is the 1st 1 very common question for anyone who deals with lawyers or people bound by professional responsibility rules. What do you do when your lawyer doesn't call you back or will not call you back? How do you deal with that? and then 2nd. How is false advertising regulated in Texas and exactly what is false advertising going over that and the First Amendment implications there. Then, finally, Phil's favorite section, we'll be going over our rant and rave. Section, which is discussing Google's role in website spoofing scams. And if you don't know what website spoofing is, we'll be talking about that as well. So
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:So we have a lot on the show today. Justin Timberlake, who I was not a big fan of. So I'll be leaning heavily on you for, Justin Timberlake, information, and then amusement park stuff, and then we'll answer some legal questions, and I'll, we'll talk about our love hate relationship with Google. let's go ahead and kick it off with our legal news section, talking about Justin Timberlake's recent arrest. Mr. Timberlake was on tour in the, I don't believe he was on tour in the Hamptons, but the incident occurred in the Hamptons and he was on tour probably in New York and the Hamptons, Austin, have you ever been to the Hamptons or know much about it?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I've been to the Hampton Inn.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Different, this is a different vibe. The Hamptons are the playground for the wealthy. So
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:So I do actually know that there is a, there's someone I follow on TikTok, who is a private chef for a couple in the Hampton. So I get the vibe. I get the vibe. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:So Mr. Timberlake was up in the Hamptons and I guess he was out and he decided to drink and drive and gets pulled over. for DWI basically, right? And my favorite part of this story is when they pull them over, Justin looks at the cop who's a younger officer, who's I guess generation Z, 23, 24 years old. and Justin's like, oh, I can't get a DWI, this is gonna ruin the tour. the cop, the 23-year-old cop is what tour? And who are you? So not recognize Mr. Timberlake that hurt his feelings quite a bit. now Austin, would you have recognized him?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yes, I would recognize Justin Timberlake.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:so I understand that he got his star. Disney on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with sort of Britney Spears. they were all on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together And there are also some other famous pop stars that came out of that little group. that was his start. He was basically a child actor. and then he became a very famous, singer. And he did some songs, Austin, tell us about the songs he did. What would, now this is where I, cause I'm not a fan. what are some of his
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:his accomplishments I mean, I think it would take a very long time to list those and i'm probably not aware of all of them But he's a very prolific singer. I think his most iconic song probably would be sexy back. the
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:he was with NSYNC?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:no, that was not when he was with NSYNC. I'm talking about his solo stuff. Obviously, his NSYNC stuff is probably more iconic. people recognize those songs. But when he went off to do his solo career, after that, he had a few things that people identify. and yeah, that's it.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:did you, which band did you like better, NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:So I, I'll be honest. I was not really the generation that listened to a lot of that. now I think I like NSYNC better, but that's probably just cause their songs are generally more popular than Backstreet Boys.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:is almost exactly my same age. And he was a big deal. It was and Backstreet Boys. I know him for is the Super Bowl debacle of 2004.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah. Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:remember this, Austin, but the allegations are he ripped Janet Jackson's top off exposing
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yes. Yep.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I didn't remember he had done that until I did some research for the show. I thought it just came off and it was a wardrobe malfunction.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:it, that's what it was said. I, it was pretty obvious it was planned though. yeah. Yeah. little weird. that would definitely be his most, his, I think his most infamous, event in his life. maybe until now. Maybe until now, maybe now everyone will remember him for his DWI
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:so he gets a DWI, but I don't understand what the big deal is because you're a singer, you're in a band. you do stuff like that. Like he's not a doctor or a lawyer or a politician. there's, they're
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:sure.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:to get drunk and high on tour and party and cause havoc. Right.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah. Yeah. I think so. And should we briefly explain the difference for our listeners between,'cause I don't think a lot of people would know this. I actually had someone ask me this week, the difference between DWI and DUI. Do you think
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:we're not criminal lawyers,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:we're not criminal lawyers, and this is just specific to Texas, right? So this might be different, but DWI. Okay. So usually is used for alcohol impairment, right? there's a blood alcohol content of 0. 08 percent or higher. Okay. and then for a DUI, that is usually just means. Impairment by anything, right? It could be drugs or anything like that. A DUI is typically used for minors. So people under 21 who have any amount of alcohol or anything else in their system, whereas DWI is different and typically applied to adults.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:so I did not know that and that is great information. We do have some, information on DWIs in Texas. Now, obviously this happened in New York, but we're Texas attorneys. So we usually talk about things in a Texas And in, in Texas, a person commits an offense of a DWI. if they operate a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. And that's Texas Penal Code section 49. 04. And
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yep.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:for first time offenders, you get fines, you get your license suspended, do some alcohol education programs, maybe some jail times, but it's a class B misdemeanor. you might serve between three days and six months in jail, but I think even for first time offenders, that would be unusual. if you were pulled over, and I'm not saying you drink and drive, Austin. I'm not, just, let's just, hypothetically.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Hypothetically, if I was to go on a booze cruise, Okay.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you're under the influence, you drank a little bit, a cop pulls you And
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I think you've been drinking and driving Mr. Black, why don't you blow into this breathalyzer? what do you say to him?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:if I have been doing it, if I have been doing it, yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:it, yeah.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:If I have been doing it, then I'm probably going to blow into it, right? Cause. Yes, yeah. Because if you don't, then you automatically have your license suspended. Maybe,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:automatically, that's better than having that evidence against you on DWI charges, right?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:it depends on how many times you've done it.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:See, I, see, I don't trust it. if I get,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:You don't test it.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:but I don't, I, so I don't drink and drive, but if I had been drinking and driving and the cop's like blowing his breathalyzer, I'm telling him no. I
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:it and I don't want them to have the evidence at trial, against me or I don't even want the prosecutor to have that number.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:sure.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:of it. Now, I think most criminal attorneys in Texas would advise their clients not to blow into it.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I guess that just shows I'm not a criminal attorney.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you're right. You're like, okay, first time, maybe first time offense. Austin's first time offender. to lose my license. So in, in Texas, you accurately point out that you can lose your life suspended six months if you don't blow. And that's an administrative thing. You might think, Haven't they violated your due process, Austin, by being able to take your license away or suspend your license without, a court
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:And, and no, it's not, it's because it's an administrative thing. It's just revoked automatically, regardless of any criminal proceedings. yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:a due process violation to me, but that's the way the law is written. you can't take away my bar license just because you suspect me of something. You have to give me due process, but
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yeah, no, I actually think if you don't call back your client within three days, they can automatically suspend your bar lice. Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:there, I do have a couple of friends who are criminal attorneys, and I do think they say never blow. If you don't blow, then the officer's probably going to give you a field sobriety test. That's where they have you walk out, get out of the car, walk down the line, hold your hands up, and all that kind of stuff too.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around. Yep.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Yeah. now you,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:That's what I would do if I was an officer. I would just have them do random things like that. Do the chicken dance for me. I would probably get fired quite quickly, but yes.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you can refuse the field sobriety test as well. and if you do that, then I do think they arrest you and they could get a warrant to have your blood drawn, which I don't like medical things. So I may have a V a basal vegal reaction and faint if they try to draw my blood at that point.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:At that point, they just let you go. They're like, we don't, you're too much trouble. We don't care if you've been drinking and driving. Just go, please.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:So I think you don't blow I don't know what the advice is on the field sobriety test. If you don't do anything and they prosecute you, I'm pretty sure the prosecutor is going to during trial going to be like, he didn't blow and he didn't take the field sobriety test. So that's any, cause he knew he was drinking. Yeah,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I didn't blow, but you do blow, and that's why you're bringing this.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:that, that's a
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:That wouldn't work, that wouldn't go very well, just FYI, but yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:said what everybody says. And I don't, tell me what your name is. He's Oh, I just had one martini. That's what they always say, officer. I just had one.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, just one.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:is always Have you been drinking, Mr. Timberlake? I just had one martini. I don't think you want to lie to a police officer. But,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Probably not.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:You just say, I just had one. You don't blow I guess if you're feeling pretty coordinated, maybe you do want to do the filled sobriety test because you can nail that and that's going to be good evidence for you. we'll
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yeah. And he's a dancer, he's a dancer, right? So it's probably even easier for him. Cause I know, and we've even seen people, what was it, there's Some video circulating social media of Justin Bieber, like just completely drunk as a skunk doing his performance on stage. It's if you're a performer, you perform drunk. Absolutely. So I guarantee you, you could nail that field sorority test. I
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:so he, I don't think he did the fill. His eyes were like all bloodshot. I guess your eyes get bloodshot when you have too much to drink and
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:guess so.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:he thought it was gonna ruin tour. I think it might help the tour because now he's got all this,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Publicity. I didn't even know he was on tour.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:exactly.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I'll tell you think this is great publicity. I think you can't pay for this, kind of publicity. I don't see what the big deal is. I don't, it's a big deal if someone's seriously hurt and we don't want to encourage people to drink and drive because it can be
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:absolutely. Don't do that. We are not saying drink and drive.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:terrible things happen when you drink and drive and
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:and it's not good. but he doesn't as a performer, he doesn't quite have the same standards as lawyers or doctors. And. or politicians. Now you, I'm mentioning that group and you're thinking, oh my goodness, all the terrible things that lawyers do and all the terrible things that politicians do. So maybe we're not any, any better, but think it's a great publicity. I think this is relatively benign. I had Aaron, our producer, look up some crazy things that happened on tour. And, he pointed out that Guns N Roses, famously set a hotel room on fire. Like the drummer, for the Who, Keith Moon, like drove,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Mm,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:into a pool. Ozzy Os, do you remember, Ozzy Osbourne, I guess he had done so many drugs that he could barely, he had a television show at one time. I think he'd done so many drugs he could like barely talk or, or think. But one point, like he bit a bat's head off on stage. I thought it was on purpose. Did you know that his story is that a fan? Threw the bat on stage and he thought it was a rubber bat, and
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:no, I did not know that.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:head. It turned out it was a real bat.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, I did not know that at all.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Justin Timberlake has a long way
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Well, a, a and then there was like, like 50 cent recently, like I think in 2023. He threw a mic. He threw a mic into the crowd and hit a woman in the head. we talked about that. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:on the show,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, exactly. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:great. If you obviously need a PR person, call me, Justin. Because you're not getting this. what's going on? Alright,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:was injured. I hope the tour is very successful. I was asking my wife, how popular is he? Could he sell out, a basketball arena or whatnot? And I, she said, maybe as he could sell out like 30, 000 seats or something.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I don't think this DWI is going to rock your body. Justin. Justin. I think you're okay. You're okay. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you're
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:money. Gotta keep touring. call me for your PR because clearly you don't, your team doesn't know what they're doing. right, let's move on to our next legal news topic and this is Oregon theme park ride. malfunctions leaves 28 hanging upside down. This is in Portland, Oregon. Portland, by the way, a really beautiful town in the summertime. Have you ever been up there?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:no, I've not been to Portland. I've been to Oregon, but not Portland.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:great town in the summertime. I've heard in the winter it gets, it doesn't have much daylight. It's cold and dreary all the time. for their outdoors activities. I think they've had some really ridiculous kind of things happen with all the woke ism in Portland and towns got a bad rap. But I did not know there was an amusement park there. But on June 14th, about seven days ago, this ride, the Atmosphere Ride at Oaks Amusement Park Portland, Oregon. It's the kind of ride, there's like a big pole in the middle of it, and you're, there's a circle, and people are all on it, and I guess the thing turns upside down, and goes up and down, and all that kind of stuff. They're stuck for 30 minutes in the upside down position, which is like my biggest fear. when going to amusement parks, and I
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:of them, but now this fear is confirmed. Have you ever been stuck on a ride, Austin?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yes, actually, I was stuck on Space Mountain, at Disney World, the one that, gets really dark,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:yeah.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I was, it, I got stuck in the scene on, like, when it's just completely pitch black, you're just stuck. It was really weird, stuck there for about, it was about five, seven minutes. So it wasn't that long, but we were stuck. So we were all just this is interesting. And it was cool air. It was cool air. So no one really had a problem with it. But yeah, it was weird.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:place to be stuck, unless you're scared of the dark.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, exactly. I don't think anyone was scared of the dark. So it was good.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:they were stuck outside. You don't want to be stuck upside down. you don't want to be
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:No.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I don't know if it was extremely hot. They were stuck upside down for 30 minutes. emergency crews got him down, I was curious, is there, like, how long can you be upside down before you start to have legitimate health concerns?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, that, it's probably not super long. I know, just from reading about For instance, if you know about, what happened in Nutty Putty Cave, you know about that?
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:about nutty putties or caves.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:It was a specific cave, and I forget, I think it may, maybe in Kentucky, I'm forgetting the state it's actually in. But there, it was a dangerous, cave, but it was very, popular amongst spelunkers. And there was a guy who went in there, thought he was in a certain passage of the cave, called the Birth Canal. Wow. cause it's very small. You go through and you get into this larger area. And he kept going down into this, area and it wasn't that one. It just kept getting narrower and he couldn't get out.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:no.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:And, so he was stuck upside down. He was too deep down. They couldn't get rescue efforts to him in time. And he ended up dying from being upside down like that and the blood all pooling in his head.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Oh,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:so it can be really dangerous. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:luckily they were okay for 30 minutes. what is Splunk?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Okay.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:by the way?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Splunking it's cave exploring.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:All right.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yeah
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:ride an amusement park. Every ride, everybody was okay. Someone did have a preexisting medical condition and they went to the hospital. I don't know. I think that I assume they were okay as well. We do have a list of health issues, bladder pain, leg aches, nausea and vomiting, increased blood pressure in the head and eyes. I guess that's what you're talking about. I didn't know you could die from that. Possible loss of consciousness. all right. So, you know, legal considerations, if you're going to file a lawsuit against the amusement park, what do you think you're filing Austin?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Negligence I suppose, you probably file a negligence action against you could but against the operator at the right if they had anything that led to it being stuck. you could file it against the manufacturer of the ride if there was Any issue in the construction of it. or if the maintenance of it led to this issue, you'd have to determine negligence, you'd probably just sue all of them and then let the, let them hash out, like which one of the liability actually landed with, but yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you have to have damages and I,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:of course.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, so it likely only be the people who, had medical issues and then, it was determined that this exacerbated them, or, caused any medical issues,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:all these people should be thrilled because they ended up getting a, another day at the park or a refund. I think they could choose between a refund and another day at the park. That was the,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Oh, man.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:put out by the amusement park on Twitter.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:How generous.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:hey, it's a tough business. Amusement park is tough business.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I just don't, I don't think it's a very good look. Like maybe up it a little bit, right? Be like, okay, you can come back and you can either get your money back or you can come this next day. give them like a year pass or something, right? Season pass,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:pass. Okay.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:get a season pass. That would look so much better, man.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:It's like the restaurant that gives you food poisoning is here's a free meal.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah, like Chipotle, right? Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I think Austin's right. You can sue the park for negligence. A lot of it stems from premises liability as well. what we haven't talked a lot about on the show is products liability. And you're talking about, was this a defective product? And maybe it wasn't. but there's no real, in Texas anywhere, there's no real strict definition of a defective product. it just refers to a product unreasonably dangerous in Texas. because of a defect in marketing, design, or manufacturing. It's pretty vague. Was anything defective with this ride? I don't know. Austin is right. they tend to, plaintiff's attorneys tend to throw Everything on the wall and see what sticks there may be some lawsuits coming out of this A lot of the people stuck on the ride may not be happy with the free day or the refund but luckily, fortunately, nobody was seriously injured that we know of let's let's keep moving right along And answer some legal questions and we're talking about How is false advertising regulated in texas or what to do? for false advertising claims. And I think the answer to that is, false advertising in Texas is regulated by one, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the Texas Attorney General will get involved with that kind of thing.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:If it's big enough, to be clear. Don't call the Texas Attorney General at the mom and pop shop down the street, that you misunderstood something. they're not going to do anything about that.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:the Attorney Generals at all states are pretty backed up.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:can certainly file. a complaint. Many of them have online forms, whether they get to those and take it seriously, who knows. most people don't pursue individual claims against false advertising because your damages would be so small. Sometimes there are some statutory damages like in the DTPA. but even then it's tough to really, if someone is falsely advertised to you and maybe you don't buy the product, You don't really have any damages. It could be a big ticket item, right? So you and then you do have a lot of damages. So like someone could have made false advertising, maybe regarding a. a house or a car, maybe you do have some more damages. DTPA in Texas is section 17. 46b of the Texas Business and Commerce Codes. List specific acts considered false, misleading, or deceptive. Some examples include representing goods or services with characteristics, uses, or benefits that they do not have. goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised. And making false statements about the reasons for existence of the amount of price reductions. Those are just a little flavor false advertising under the DTPA. We do have a couple examples here. do you use any, L'Oreal products? Austin, you ever heard of that? They're French. I guess they're a French manufacturer, a French cosmetics
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I do not. I typically use Garnier fructose. Yeah. the fruit based one. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:no idea what that is. And I sense a hint of sarcasm. I hope I'm even pronouncing Lori all right. I assume I am, but
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:no, I, it's actually not sarcasm. I actually do use that for my hair.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Okay. Austin, as you may know, if you're a frequent listener of the show, Austin's a little bit younger than me. And he's that age group where the men do things like that and they take care of themselves in that sort of way. but L'Oreal made some false statements claiming that their products, and YouthCode provided anti aging benefits by targeting users genes.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:actually alleged that their products engage in some sort of gene therapy to quit aging. And I think the FTC tagged them pretty good on that one. that. be an example of some false advertising. you don't really want to do that. And we talked about the Texas Attorney General can get involved as well. In 2018, sued an Austin based HVAC company, by the name of Airtek for misleading advertising practices. The company falsely claimed that its air conditions were energy efficient and eco friendly. The lawsuit sought 1 million in restitution. That probably has something to do with Austin being our most liberal city in Texas. That's where we put everyone from California. The joke is that California moved to Austin. So maybe this HVAC company was trying to take advantage of this energy efficiency. I think there was a crackdown on that and how you could really advertise energy efficiency. Because not everything is eco friendly and energy efficient,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:no, it's not.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:tagged. AG, Texas Attorney General tagged them on that. FTC, Attorney General, Private Causes of Action, DTP, DTPA, all of these things regulate false advertising. and, businesses out there, they tend to do it, or some of them do it. We have one more example. 2019 FTC settled with a weight loss supplement company NutraClick for 350 grand and the company was, I guess telling people they could lose a bunch of weight and the efficacy, really how effective it really wasn't there. and they also engaged in something called negative option billing and that I had not known what that is, but what a lot of companies do out there, Austin, as if. Let's say you sign up with a service, like let's say you have an internet service and they, and you're paying 50 a month for megabytes up and down, and if your internet company just opts you in to a higher speed and charges you more for it and requires you to take an affirmative action to decline, that's called a negative option plan, and that is under false advertising law. FTC did not like that.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:That's good.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:click.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Good.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:and I,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:That's an example of something the FTC can do. The FTC cannot just say, By the way, non competes are illegal, and any non compete in existence is illegal and revoked. No, you can't. just do that and the courts are going to sort that out. yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:that legitimate power of the FTC to make some
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Correct.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I'm moving on to our next legal question and this, we get this one a lot, or it's talked about among lawyers. it's the number one complaint, I believe the number one grievance filed with the state bar. is my lawyer's not communicating, my lawyer's not calling me back. you ever had a client, say that you weren't calling them back, Austin? Yeah.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:say that they don't have my phone number when they've received multiple emails from me with my phone number in my signature. I have a client say that they don't know who their lawyer is when they, again, they've received multiple emails from me with my phone number, physical address and signature. yeah, it happens. It happens. So.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:a good lawyer, okay? that's why he works for me. there are some bad lawyers out there. these bad lawyers are probably not super communicative, okay? They're not doing a good job of keeping their clients informed. there is a common misconception though. the state bar rule, the rules of professional conduct, and these are rules that all attorneys are required to follow, lawyers to keep their clients reasonably informed, okay? And this is Texas Disciplinary Rules, Professional Conduct 1. 03a. Provides that a lawyer should keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter promptly comply with a reasonable request for information. Okay, that doesn't mean, in this, that doesn't mean if you're a client and you call the lawyer back at, 8 a. m. on. Monday that you have to get a call back same day. And what happens at our firm a lot, and we, I hear this from our staff is a client will call at 4. 30 PM on Friday and then call back Monday at 9 AM and say, it's been three or four days since my lawyer, he won't call me back. I was like, no, wait a minute. left a message at 4. 30 PM on Friday. Okay. Saturday was a weekend. Sunday was a weekend. So let's be clear about the responsiveness issue.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Exactly what's happening here. Yeah, absolutely. and now, just some personal experience. There, there are always situations where, a client, sends you emails, and for some reason it gets sent to your spam or something like that, right? And so there can be reasonable communication breakdowns. But, you'll also notice that language and the rules of the role of professional responsibility uses a very lawyerly language, right? So it makes it reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed representation, informed decisions regarding the representation, right? So it doesn't mean that there's any hard and fast time in which they have to respond. It just has to be quote unquote reasonable.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Yeah. So you need to know what's going on with your case. It
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yes, absolutely.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:that your lawyer is going to, jump, jump to every time you call. there are people out there and a lot of lawyers that are just, there are bad lawyers not calling people back. And let's say since you've heard from your lawyer, you paid him, he's disappeared, it's a bad lawyer, no question. what do you do? what you probably don't want to do, although you could file a bar complaint. And the problem with filing a bar complaint is the general public thinks that the bar has this like oversight, of position where the bar is going to scold that lawyer and get the lawyer to call them back and do a better job handling their matter. That's not what the state bar does. The state going to investigate that lawyer and determine whether there's any credibility to the allegations and take disciplinary action against that lawyer if they violated that rule. So if you
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:mm,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:complaint against your lawyer, you're almost certainly Guaranteeing that your lawyer is going to withdraw from representation because you've created a conflict with your lawyer. Now you have this adversarial relationship with your lawyer. it's not, it's generally not a good idea to file a bar complaint against an attorney who's not calling you back to court. If you just want your lawyer to be more responsive and be more proactive in your case, that's probably going to do the opposite of what you really, intended to do. Okay. Now, after, your case is over and maybe you subsequently hired another lawyer, it might then be an okay idea to, file a bar complaint. If you want to do that, it's not really going to help you any. Maybe you feel like you're doing the public a service by reporting this lawyer and maybe getting him in trouble. So maybe that there's some good in that. how about calling the supervisor, your supervising attorney, Austin? is that, does that work so well? I say, okay, you, my lawyer's not calling me back and it's a bigger firm. And let me talk to the partner in charge. How does that work?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I can guarantee you I will be nicer than the supervising attorney. If there is a supervising attorney, I can guarantee you in our scenario, I will be nicer than the supervising attorney.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:so at the Silverman Law Firm, we do have a supervising attorney for our lawyers, and that's an okay process. It's not quite the same. A lot of times when people are like, I want to talk to your supervisor, they're imagining a situation. where they're like, at a Walmart or something and they're having a problem with the cashier and want to talk to an assistant manager.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Sure.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:not how lawyers work. Lawyers are, independently responsible for their own bar licenses and there's not really, even firms that have a supervising attorney, ultimately it's your attorney's case, just like if you had a doctor. It's that doctor's patient. And if that doctor standing there doing the operation, providing, post operative care,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Mm.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:just call up another doctor and complain against that doctor. these are professional services. So my point is, this is a different arena. one final thing you don't want to do, especially if you're in protracted litigation. is you don't want to just willy nilly terminate the lawyer. and that's because while that lawyer is on the pleadings, that lawyer is still responsible for the file. No matter how bad your lawyer is, it's better that you have somebody responsible for the file than nobody. Because
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:that lawyer at least has malpractice insurance, so you want to keep that lawyer who maybe he's had a substance abuse problem. Maybe he's just negligent. I don't know, but you keep him on the hook. What you should do is, if it's really extreme, call another lawyer, get a second opinion, and to the new lawyer what's going on. The current lawyer has been unresponsive. You're not a problem client. You're super easy to get along with. You're not demanding. You just got a bad lawyer pay, pay that lawyer to give you a second opinion, see if he's interested in taking over the case. And then when that lawyer has agreed to take over the case, that lawyer will substitute in, and then you can terminate your previous lawyer. So
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah. It's a bad idea to go ahead and terminate your council without finding new council first, is what we're saying, The
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:of people make that mistake. When they're calling us, I said, I turned, I fired him. He wasn't calling back. I fired him. Now I want you to be my lawyer. He's basically given the guy an out to file a motion to withdraw. And now you've been without a lawyer. So you, and that emboldens opposing counsel. If opposing counsel sees that you're pro se, what are they going to do, Austin?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:first thing I do is file a motion for summary judgment.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you're, they're going to smell blood in the water. Austin's a shark. He's going to smell blood in the water and start trying to take advantage. So you don't, you really don't want to be a, without a lawyer. So, all Now, finally, we get to our rants and raves section here, as Austin correctly points out. My favorite part of the show. Okay, so Austin, like Google, are you, are Google is good or Google is bad? You have to choose one. are you a person? I think Google, what's Google? Look up Google's company slogan. It used to be like, do no evil or be good or something like that.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:So in 20, October of 2015, Alphabet took do the right thing as its motto instead of don't be evil.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:which makes sense because you want to state something in the positive, right? As opposed to,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:We're trying really hard to not be evil. It's hard. It's hard, but
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:when you're a big tech company, it's really hard to not be evil.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:I always thought that was the most ridiculous slogan ever, right? But that's their,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I appreciate the honesty. I appreciate the honesty.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:that's the truth at Google. I really think it's the truth at Google. Our relationship with Google, and I've owned several businesses over the years, and obviously I'm the firm owner, it's always been a love hate relationship with Google because you use them to advertise. And you're paying all sorts of money for advertising. And all the time they're trying to charge you more money. And I think they are evil. That's what I think. But nobody cares what I think.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I think probably every big tech glomerate is evil. It's probably just by and large, the rule.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:it's a good thing we don't represent any big tech companies or I'd be getting a phone call from like Amazon after the show and be like, you're fired. So don't be evil. And we've got all of this super, um, generated crime going on right now. And what's happening right now, Austin, let's say you wanted to buy a pair of Oakley sunglasses. I'm just using that as an example. If you Google Oakley sunglasses, You can have all these really elaborate spoofs, these fake Oakley websites, and they're going to offer you these discounts. And you're going to maybe click on the site and go there and give your credit card information up and it's going to be sold on the dark web. So this is really pervasive right now. And it used to be you could, prior to ChatGPT, prior to AI, it was really easy to spot the fraud. Because you could see, if you're in, these are the countries that mostly, if you're in Nigeria or if you're in like these are large criminal organizations. These are international criminal organizations doing that. And I didn't know this, but they have compounds of like slaves. that their job is to just commit online fraud. And some of the biggest countries are Nigeria and places in Asia. I think Burma is a big one. But I don't know, you think about these kind of countries that maybe lack a little bit of rule of law, that have some instability. That's where a lot of this stuff is coming from. Probably
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:too. I'm just going to throw that out there. Probably also North Korea. All right, that's done. I'm over my list now of evil countries. But you've got this, it used to be that if you've got some Nigerian in Nigeria, okay, and he's in a criminal compound, and he's trying to spoof a website, he's going to have all kinds of stupid misspellings. thanks to Chad GPT, we don't have that anymore. So he now has perfect grammar, and the fraud is really hard to spot.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:it's easy if you know you're looking for, like a typical like texting one, is where someone texts you and they pretend like they're like, Hi, I'm like, Susie, don't you remember me? that's always how they start off. And that nine times out of 10, if that's how someone opens it, it's a Chinese scammer. And so I have this copy and paste. Like thing halfway in Chinese and halfway in English that mentions Tiananmen Square mentions Winnie the Pooh, like all of these things you would not want the CCP to be looking at. I just respond with that every time and they stop. It's great.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:That's a good strategy. Those are some easier ones to spot,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Google is now doing is they're verifying, they have this thing called verified advertising, and I guess it's part of their standard to not be evil, to advertise on Google, you're supposed to submit some, we did it for our law firm, you're supposed to submit some paperwork, prove that you're a bona fide business, and then all of a sudden you can just start advertising. it ends up that they're verifying all of these criminal companies, like they're very, like all the, all these criminal organizations are getting through getting verified, and they're launching these really elaborate fake websites, and they're taking people's money and stealing their information. and my rant about this is, as big as Google is, as, as sophisticated as they allege their AI is. They can't figure out how to keep fake companies in Nigeria and coming out of Hong Kong from getting through their verification process defraud the, the public. there's been just out of control kind of stuff going on. I, I think this is ripe for a, if this hasn't already been started, this is ripe for kind of another class action lawsuit against Google, for these standards. I, it's just ridiculous. There's this, there's been some different schemes. iSpoof website, that, now I don't know if they, that was specifically affiliated with Google, but they created all these banking websites and government institutions, and that was like a hundred. 15 million. That one was finally shut down,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:that's good.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:they're, yeah, they're all over the place. it's so bad that, okay, fine. Fraud is going to exist, but I don't think Google should be verifying these with, basically giving them impunity to be on their platforms and buying advertising. And I think this is something we need to take a look at. We don't, our firm does not do class action lawsuits, but. I've always wanted a project with a lot of potential reward against somebody with deep pockets. And this may be it. If I have enough coffee tomorrow and get moving, we may be working on a
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Class action? Okay,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:against,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:this is the first I'm hearing of this, but just sign me up.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:sign it up. You're going to, you want a piece of the pie, don't you?
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I want a piece of the pie, absolutely. Let's go for it. I think our firm would love to deal with Google's attorneys.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:So, so one I've thought about how do you tell? like if it's Oakley. If it's a really good website and you can't tell the difference to the naked eye, one website is oakleysunglassesofficial. com and the other website is oakleysunglasses. com, how do you know the real one, Austin? It's not an easy question,
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:if there are multiple websites that come up, like attempting to replicate something, then I'm obviously going to be looking into a lot more closely and
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:think you'll figure it out.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:I've never been punked by a fake website like that before. usually if you like, look at the source code of the website, you can see some weird stuff too going on with it if it is a spoof, but I don't know.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:here's the only idea. I looked at one the other day. My wife had actually been tricked by trying to buy some water bottles or something.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Okay.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:the best way I can figure out is go to a domain service like a lookup there they
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:who is who they
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:see who owns the domain. Yeah. Yeah.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:the registration information. Now, they
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Yeah,
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:even put fraudulent information in that, where it could
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:of course.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:you'll see the date that domain was first registered, and almost certainly the fraud domain is going to be the that was recently registered.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Bye.
philip-silberman_2_06-20-2024_133104:Oakley, Sunglasses, whatever website, whatever the official, the real URL is for that is going to have a registration much older. So that's generally a good rule of thumb. But every time you're doing online shopping, don't think you want to have to do the domain research. Amazon has been hit really badly. There's all kinds of spoof Amazon websites out there too. So it's a real problem. And I think, if big tech companies could really, do more than just not be evil, they can figure this out. So, that brings our show to a close. I've been your host, Phil Silberman. Austin Black has been my co host. Like us, follow us, review us, wherever you get your podcasts. As always, nothing in this show is to be considered as legal advice. This is all for entertainment purposes only. you have a legal question, feel free to email us at info at silblawfirm. com. S I L B U S E N B O Y L A W F I R M D O T C O M. Tell us you want it answered publicly in the podcast and we will do our best. Everybody have a great rest of your week.
austin_2_06-20-2024_123106:Bye.