Weekly Docket
NASA Space Debris Lawsuit, Tree Poisoning Scandal, Evicting Roommates in Texas, and Ten Commandments Law
Join Phil Silberman and Austin Black in Episode 24 of the ‘Weekly Docket’ as they delve into the latest legal news, including a lawsuit over NASA space debris crashing into a Florida home and a scandal involving a wealthy Maine couple poisoning trees for an ocean view. Get insights on how to legally evict a roommate in Texas and discover how to claim unclaimed property. Plus, a lively rant about the new Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Don't miss this episode packed with legal insights, expert advice, and thought-provoking discussions!
Join Phil Silberman and Austin Black in Episode 24 of the ‘Weekly Docket’ as they delve into the latest legal news, including a lawsuit over NASA space debris crashing into a Florida home and a scandal involving a wealthy Maine couple poisoning trees for an ocean view. Get insights on how to legally evict a roommate in Texas and discover how to claim unclaimed property. Plus, a lively rant about the new Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Don't miss this episode packed with legal insights, expert advice, and thought-provoking discussions!
Welcome to Silberman Law Firm's Weekly Docket, Episode 24, where we talk legal news and practical law. Today is June 27th, 2024. My name is Phil Silberman, your host and owner of the firm. I'm joined by Austin Black, who works in our Dallas office, and my co host. How are you doing today, Mr. Black?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Doing just fine, trying to stay cool from the Dallas heat.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:It is miserably hot, and it is that time of year where we basically stay inside and hide from the heat in Texas, What do we have on our docket today, Mr. Black?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:So first we're going to have an update from our last episode on the Oregon ride malfunction. And then we'll move on to our legal news section for the day. we're going to be talking about a couple in Maine who decided to go poison some trees for an ocean view. now a lot of ecoterrorists may be mad about that, but, What they're probably, worried more about the larger view than smaller view of people just poisoning trees. So to talk about what exactly happens in those sorts of suits, because this is actually more common than you might think. and then we're going to move on to a sort of out of this world scenario where a space debris from NASA crashed into a Florida home. Some people are considering filing lawsuits against NASA there. we'll talk about exactly what that could look like if that does eventually happen. and then we'll move on to our legal question section for the day. I'm first discussing a commonly asked topic, by our law firm, which is, can you legally kick out or evict your roommate in Texas? Now, those are two sort of separate things, but we'll be going through both of them. and then. Unclaimed property. if there's unclaimed property or unclaimed money, how can you claim that in Texas, and how can you find it? and then finally, I'll rant and rave section. We will be talking about the new Louisiana law, that requires classrooms to display the 10 Commitments in a very tiny way. area. I think this is really stupid. I'm just giving away my opinion on that, but we'll talk more about it later. So
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay, we'll see how that goes. It sounds like you and I may differ on, on, on that opinion a little bit, but we'll see how that shapes up. Before we get into the meat of our show, we've got an update. Last show, Austin, we did a story or we covered a story where some people were at an amusement park in Oregon on a ride. The ride got stuck upside down. 30 minutes maybe? So bad deal, stuck upside down for some period of time. My worst nightmare at an amusement park come true and the amusement park decided to offer them maybe a free day or a refund on the day and we laughed at how silly that was. So there, the update is there's been a lawsuit. A mother of a girl who was stuck on the ride filed 125, 000 lawsuit. We've got a quote here. I think that my daughter and potentially other riders are entitled to some compensation for the trauma they experienced. That was mom, Amy Yanota. So teen had some abrasions, some soreness, body aches and increased blood flow. to the brain, as you can imagine, if you're upside down, you got a lot of blood going to your brain, which caused some dizziness. mom said daughter is dealing with some post traumatic stress syndrome, which I completely understand. 125 grand is the number on that.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I will say this mom did not talk to her lawyer before making that statement. Okay. That is like a weak statement. I think that my daughter and potentially other writers are entitled to maybe some compensation for the trauma. what is that?
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:No, you've got to be Firm. My daughter and every other writer are entitled to compensation for the trauma they experience. You've gotta be firm, direct. Contact us, Amy. If you wanna change attorneys, let
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah, we're not licensed in Oregon, but, yeah, you,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:you want us, Sue in Texas, for some reason it won't be successful, but we could. they're,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Plaintiff's attorneys are really good about painting that story and that picture. And there's plaintiff attorney school, so to speak. And they all take the class where this is your opportunity to paint the picture of the victim, of the plaintiff. And to Austin's point, the attorney probably would have done a much better job than mom would have. But that's the update. We'll see if there are any of the lawsuits that come out of that and follow that story. so let's go ahead and kick it off with our legal news section. And the first thing we have is a Maine couple, and this is in Camden, in Maine. And the way Maine works, Maine is the ultimate summer destination. They're, the way,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Would you say it's the main summer
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:that yes, the main, the main stay. great summer destination. Good weather. If you like hiking, biking, outdoor stuff, Maine is your place. the downside though, is that the beaches are rocky. There are not very many sandy beaches in Maine and the water is very cold. But anyway, wealthy people, they,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:of rocky relationships,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yes. Yes. Here we go. Austin and Austin has set us up for this. So There's, to own property really anywhere in the United States, but especially on the East Coast, it's extremely expensive. there's just only so much coastal property out there, Austin. So the widow of the former L. L. Bean president, Leon Gorman, L. Bean. Do you ever wear any L. Bean, Austin? Do you know what that is?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, I know what it is. Bit too bougie for my
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:okay, like outdoor stuff, like bougie outdoor stuff.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:they, L. being Widow, they have this very expensive property on the coast in Maine, in Camden. I'm sure it's multi million dollar property. there's also some very wealthy people that live behind Miss Gorman, Miss Lisa Gorman. And their property's not quite as expensive. But they could potentially have a view of the Atlantic Ocean, Austin. And if they were to only get that view. Their lives would one, be complete, and then two, their property values would probably increase substantially.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I wish I lived that sort of life, where the most important concern in my entire world is having my ocean view obstructed by my, by my neighbor's trees.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:That, this is important stuff. Yes, we can all live vicariously through the lifestyles of the ultra rich. So this is their concern. And they've hatched a plan. And their plan, okay, is to poison the trees, and I don't know the exact circumstances, but I can only imagine that they do this research and in the dead of night, they sneak out there and they infiltrate and they spread the herbicide. Okay. And it was a specific kind of herbicide. I looked up how to pronounce it. I'm sure I'm going to mispronounce it, but it's, tebuthyron, I believe. Do you have any suggestions on that pronunciation? I don't know.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:No, that sounds like the best effort I would make
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, it's some kind of nasty herbicide. And so they sneak out there in the dead of night, they poison the trees. And Lisa Gorman, the widow, figures it out. I don't know how she figures it out. They're discovered. but while the trees are dying, okay, the couple, the wealthy Maine couple is like, Oh, I'm sorry, your trees are dying and all that. I'll, if, if you want, I'll split the cost to remove the trees with you. So that, that was their deal to Miss Gorman. and I don't know if that, it was like a serious offer. Like I snuck across at night, poisoned the trees because I wanted the ocean view. So now my offer to you is you pay half the cost for removing,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:and to be clear, they admitted to poisoning it,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:eventually. I don't know if they admitted that right away.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I wonder, I guess I would have to look at the suit to actually know this, but I just wonder if the Gormans, actually had their soil tested found this. That must've been what happened,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I'm sure they're, I'm sure they're exports. And the way this works, you have to, you're going to designate experts. Because this ended up being a big deal. And we did a little research on this herbicide. But, It contaminated the whole soil and this is right next to the ocean. and people in Maine, these are like, liberal tree hugging people, the whole, the populace of Maine, generally speaking. So the residents of Camden are just absolutely furious. And it's a big deal. They were like, you have to be really stupid to poison trees next to the ocean because it gets into the ocean. you have to remedy this some kind of way, and apparently this herbicide is so nasty. The only way you can really remedy it is just to dig up the entire soil that it's into. So you'd be like digging up tons and tons of beach and earth and bringing in new soil to try to remedy it because. If you don't do that, then it's going to get into sort of the aquatic life and poison fish and Nemo and little mermaid and stuff like that. So
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, very sad.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:bad deal. now legal causes of action. This is in Maine, but again, we're Texas lawyers. So assuming this is in Texas, what's your main cause of action here, Austin?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:so main cause of action on behalf of the people. Soon, it trespass would be the major one, right? You're trespassing because you can trespass on the property. Yes. They probably walked on there to put their besides, but then also Distributing like a foreign substance like that, like an herbicide onto someone's property is also a form of trespass.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:trespass. you're intentionally causing this herbicide to invade Ms. Gorman's property. Absolutely a trespass. if you had herbicide and you were doing, normal stuff and maybe you wanted to kill some weeds or something or whatever you use it for and it just accidentally went on to the property, that would probably not be trespass, which is an intentional tort, probably be negligence. there are other environmental causes of action out there, so you can get into criminal and civil and environmental issues, for when you do this kind of thing. So the townspeople, the residents are just absolutely furious about it. it turns out that the fines for this kind of thing in Maine are pretty, pretty cheap. maximum fine,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:comparatively for, especially for people of this
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yes. Max, 4, 500 is, Maine, Board of Pesticide Fines. The Attorney General's gonna get involved. the bonds, that was the name of the couple that poisoned the trees. They've paid 1. 5 million to Gorman and Damages. The citizens of Camden are saying the fine's not enough to really punish super wealthy people. And that may be true. I have a story about this, Austin. one summer I went up to the vineyard, okay, Martha's Vineyard, and I'm staying in Martha's Vineyard with my family and I'm on the interior of the island. Okay. I cannot afford to be like on the coast of the island where the property values are, you want something on the coast and Martha's Vineyard, you're talking about, 10, 20, 30 million. So I'm on the interior of the island. If I want to take my family to the beach, I've got to drive to the beach. We wanted to check out this beach called Lambert's Cove and I've got the suburban loaded up and we're going to the beach. and I try to park in a place and I'm looking at, the signs where it says do not park and it tells you the fine, right? in Martha's Vineyard, the fine for a parking violation was 5, 000. And it, yeah, it's funny, but here's my thought. I was because it was like a mile walk to this Lambert's Cove beach. And I was like, I was expecting to see 250 bucks, 500 bucks. And I'm, I'm schlepping four kids with me. And I'm like, For 500 bucks, I might pay that to park here for the day, right?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:But in Martha's Vineyard, they're not stupid. They know, that the fine needs to be five grand for the parking.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Oh my God. Those are
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:of the story, in places like Martha's Vineyard and Camden, Maine, you need to have some serious fines for rich people. Yeah, I wish I would have taken a photo of the sign. That's my takeaway of this. My takeaway from this is You get the fines have to be right for the area, So
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:absolutely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:terrible thing to those that happened to those trees. And as a somewhat of a side note, just so we've got a case here. Do you see, the elements?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Enterprises,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. Yeah. I just give the listeners real quick, the standard for trespass.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, so the trespass, whether it is, you putting something on someone's property or you physically going there, needs to be physical, it needs to be intentional, it needs to be voluntary and unauthorized. So all those have to be met for whatever sort of trespass you have going on,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, that's in Texas. All right. we absolutely nailed that one. All right. Moving on to our next legal story. And this is Austin's out of this world story comment. we're going from firm earth to space. So I did not know about this. but apparently there's all this space junk floating about, okay. And outer space as of 2024, there were about 35, 150 tracked objects in orbit, but only about 25 percent of them are working satellites. That's a lot of space junk out there. So there's all this space junk out there, and I guess some of this junk can get pulled in by the Earth's gravitational pull. And most of it burns up in space. something's going through, the atmosphere and the heat from the speed, whatever, burns up. Most of it does. Some of it does not. on March 8th, 2024, a piece of the International Space Station, some debris, crashed into Alejandro Ortero's home in Naples, Florida. And the debris, some piece of equipment from the space station weighed 1. 6 pounds. measured four inches in height and 1. 6 inches in diameter, and it just goes right into his house, like burns a hole, like through his house, like a, it's like a, I don't know, a laser or a bullet, just boom, and it narrowly misses his son. Narrowly. So he, he's got damage, okay, he,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:okay, I laugh. It would not be good if it hit his son, but it's just very funny, just be living, and sort of very small comet
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:come through the ceiling of your
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:it would scare you.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I would have to laugh after it happened, but then of course I'd be
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:No, the odd, the odds of it happening have to be infinitesimal. It was like I was driving from Texas to Massachusetts and we were, I was struck by lightning. I looked up the odds. It was one in a million. I was in my car. Okay, yeah. For my listeners who don't know, look up what a Faraday cage is, and that's what saved me. But that's another story. Odds of getting struck by lightning. One in a million, the odds of getting struck by space debris. Space debris have to be, just even. Off the charts, smaller than that. Okay. there were some other, this has happened before notable incidents. 1997 Lottie Williams from Oklahoma was struck but uninjured by a piece of the Delta two rocket. So I guess you're, burn. It almost burned all the way up and it slowed way down. It was like a little pebble, that offer something like that.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I've got the odds here.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:remember the odds of being struck by lightning is one in 1.4 million, right? And the odds of being struck by space debris being injured by following space debris is one in 1 trillion.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. I'm telling you. This guy, Ortero, needs to go buy a lottery ticket.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Absolutely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:did because he's suing NASA. he thinks he won the lottery because he's suing NASA. NASA has historically taken responsibility for this kind of stuff. the causes of action, I don't think he's filed a lawsuit yet. I think his attorney's investigating it. There's something called the Federal Tort Claims Liability Act. Now for our listeners out there, you don't get just to you don't just get to Sue the government. We have something called sovereign immunity. The government has to give you a permission, give you permission to be sued. And that's what
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:You can sue me for this, by the way. If I say you can't. But if I say you can sue
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:the king can do no wrong. why might you ask? Would the government ever give you permission in a place like the United States? we have elected officials. There are some things that Congress laws that Congress can pass that they think, okay, at some point you ought to be able to receive compensation from the government in Texas. We have something similar that a lot of states have them that, tort came tort claim liability act. It gives. you permission to sue certain thing, certain entities like municipalities. So there's a Federal Tort Claims Liability Act, that might give Mr. Otero the permission to sue NASA. It would likely arise out of some sort of negligence claim. NASA had negligence as a tort. NASA has a duty to keep, things from falling off the space station and, from coming and crashing through people's houses, Yeah, there's a lot of space debris out there. I'm a little worried about it. 200 to 400 tracked objects re enter Earth's atmosphere annually. But Austin, you have given me a huge degree of comfort now that I know those odds are about 1 in a trillion, something like that. I probably have a better chance of dying in a car accident or a heart attack or something like that.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:And I think you've exhausted your weird occurrence allotment by the lightning
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay, I'm good. I'm good. there's an asset for you and I think that's all we have to say about that case. I hope Mr. Otero gets some relief there. I'm glad it missed his son and that everyone is okay. That's a good example of the story that the plaintiff can, the plaintiff's attorney can really paint trying to sell that story.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, absolutely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:All.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:off the lawsuit. So and so son was laying in his bed when suddenly he was shaking the world, shaking awake with a comet coming through his ceiling and passing within inches from his
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. That's post-traumatic stress syndrome. the boy will never sleep again.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:He will never sleep again. He has been awake since this lawsuit was filed, and he will not sleep until we reach a settlement.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. E, exactly. Yeah. We're gonna, we're gonna do more plaintiff's work after this show. I, I.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Absolutely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I just feel it. All right. let's go ahead and answer some legal questions. Okay. and the first question we have is, can you legally kick out, evict your roommate in Texas? So depends on the situation. If you have a roommate that's on the lease, you're basically both on the contract. You leasehold interest. provided the lease is being complied with. No, you don't get to just tell your roommate to get out of there, right? So same concept with co owners, joint owners of real estate, of property. In Texas, it's weird if you own a property together, we call you co tenants. It's counterintuitive. You're not actually a tenant in the leasehold sense, but you're called a co tenant and your co tenant has equal rights of possession of the property. Same thing with the leasehold interest. If you think about real property, the in real property 101, when you're in law school, you Austin, you went to the University of Texas. Did your law professor mention the bundle of sticks at the University of Texas? Or no, that was way below Texas students, intellectual abilities.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:no, trust me. He mentioned the bundle of
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay. So a leasehold is one stick in the bundle. And if you're, have roommates both on the lease, you're equally entitled to that stick. You can just fight over it, but let's say it's not a situation where they're both tennis on the lease. Let's say,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:You own the property and you let a friend come stay there and is paying you a couple hundred bucks a month for a room. And your friend doesn't pay the rent. So can you evict that person, Austin?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Absolutely. You can
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:You can evict that person.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:be a violation of this like sub lease that you have. And then the, it, the analysis wouldn't even change if you are leasing it. You don't have to own the property either.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:have an apartment. And you, you lease it. You're the only one on the lease agreement and you have someone come to stay with you. They pay you the subleasing. Even if there is a clause that says no subleasing in your contract, that doesn't mean you can't do it. It's just the lease violation on your part.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, and this is really why you never bring strippers home from the strip club. Okay, because you bring a stripper home, you move her in, she's staying. Okay, you, if the stripper doesn't leave, then you're going to have to evict her.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah. And this apply actually surprisingly, this does apply to people who are not service as well.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:It does. It does. But we've, I think we've had some stripper cases like that before. So you, it's the same eviction process. And.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Michael cheats. Right.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Michael, please. Michael's an attorney at our office. He's like the nicest guy in the world. I don't know if he listens to the show. maybe he does. Michael is not bringing home any strippers from the club. I can,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:For some reason that's become a running gag in our meetings. I don't really know why, but
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I don't know, but no. Michael, you're safe on that one, but if you do, Michael's perfectly qualified to do that eviction.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Absolutely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:one of the basic things, you're going to have to do all the steps. So you've got a guy living, or a girl living, or a person living in your room. You've got to go through all the steps. You're going to have to serve a notice to vacate. You're going to have to say, hey, here's your three day notice to vacate. Put it on the front door. It's going to be real awkward. I guess using the kitchen and going to the fridge for milk. Or whatever,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:even more awkward when it's your, son,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:When it's your
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Oh, I can see.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Remember, we've had those
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I can see that, I can see me evicting some of my children for certain. I, yeah, I'm not above that. you don't know how they're going to end up. you're one, your children that are really good right now could be, not so good later. So yeah, serve the notice to vacate. It's probably going to, it's most likely not a written lease that you had with the stripper. It's probably some sort of oral agreement. So you're most likely going to have to give them a 30 day notice to terminate the tenancy. Then you do the notice to vacate. Then you're going to have to get them served. Okay. which the constable is going to have to come over and serve them, whoever they send out. So do all that stuff, go through the eviction, and then you're, if they don't get out, you're going to have an eviction hearing, and that's a trial, and you and the judge can go, you go in front of the judge, your roommate can go in front of the judge, you talk about the reasons for the eviction, non payment of rent, then the judge is going to give you an order. They don't always get out just because the judge signs the order. Did you know that, Austin?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Wait, what? The people don't always obey signed orders
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:No.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Some of them,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:not what they told me at the university of
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:no, they don't tell you real world stuff at the University of Texas. Y'all are talking about, real theoretical stuff. I have one judge said, I've got a pen. What do you want me to do counselor? put them in jail. Sign the contempt order, judge. They're kind of reluctant. But you get a, you go to an eviction hearing, you get a writ of possession, they have five days to appeal. If they miss their appeal deadline, then you can get a, you can get the writ of possession enforced by the constable. I don't think you've done a set out before. Have you ever supervised a set out? Do you know what that is?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:supervised the set out. I do know what that is. It's where all of their
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:No.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:etc. are taken and set out
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. Oh,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:now you may, if you go through this procedure, you may be in the unfortunate circumstance to have a completely imbecilic court clerk at the JP court who calls and notifies out of a courtesy to the, to the person who's being evicted. Today is your last day to appeal this, by the way, and that person could be a complete deadbeat and doing drugs in the property, everything, and they, there is no reason that the court clerk needs to call and inform them that it's their last day, they've already received notice of that multiple times, and they weren't going to file that appeal. Of course, I'm not speaking about any particular circumstance I've been in, but this is just a hypothetical.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:activist court clerk. Yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:don't do anything else, but they're activists on
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Or the activist, judge, the activist Democrat judge who does everything they can to,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:don't, I like, I like a good Christmas Eve eviction, Austin. That gets me fired up. if I could get a December 24th set out, whoo, to get me going for the holiday. Alright.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:far, but if it's some deadbeat that's doing drugs in the property, absolutely, yes.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, they don't just get out. they, if they don't get out, the constable will actually come and you have to coordinate movers over there. You coordinate a locksmith and the constable will, will remove their stuff and the movers will set their stuff on the curb. In poor neighborhoods, the neighbors know, like them when that happens because then the neighbors will go through all their stuff and it's like a garage sale for free. And, It's not a pretty process. You don't want to get set out. Okay.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:We've had people call us when they were in the middle of getting set out. don't
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:No, it's too late. Too late for help. Too late.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:No.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I've done a high profile set up. Most of the stuff is completely worthless.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:was doing a high profile set out where the guy had really expensive stuff in there. And I think the constable called a buddy and was like, Hey, you're going to want to come get this stuff. Yeah, they call the movers and they put it in storage and then they go through the process of taking the stuff. So the constable was hooking his buddy up to, you know,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:so wait, this is actually, I'm actually curious about this. So you, if there's a setup that happens, cause I don't know. As I said, I haven't done one myself.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:People can just come take that
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:No, they would be, that's what they do, right? yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Okay. is illegal,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:is,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:is
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:it would be illegal for you to steal. even though the stuff is on the curb,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Great.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:illegal for you to steal it. But, Down in the hood, okay, you set some stuff out on the curb and you,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:you were talking about the high profile set out. I was like, Ooh, a little sketchy.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah, no,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:that stuff was not getting set out. The, when the constable knows it's good stuff, they call the movers and they're going to put a storage lien on it.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Got
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:the buddy is either going to make money on the storage lien and the storage fees, or the buddy's going to make money on extra sizing the lien to sell the stuff.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Of course. Of course.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:so this is, you got, you've, when you practice a little bit longer, you'll learn all the ins and outs of government corruption and where all the money is, Austin. all right, here's our, here's our next question. Unclaimed property in Texas and how to claim it. This is really a public service thing and we're not going to spend a lot of time on this. But have you ever searched for, you may have unclaimed property Austin, have you ever gone to claimanttexas. org and just checked if you have unclaimed property? Okay, you have a really common name, for those, for listeners out there, if you lived life long enough, you probably have some sort of utility deposit or overage or refunds that you're owed and you'll find, likely find a little bit of money out there. Okay. There are many situations where maybe you're an heir to some property and someone died and the state comptroller is holding a significant sum of money. You can also find out about that at climatetexas. org. The state of Texas has a huge amount of money out there that's held for citizens. You hear a lot of people say, Okay, oh, if I. if I die or whatever, don't do it, the property is going to escheat to the state. have you heard that, Austin?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Of course.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:people I hear that from don't use the word a sheep, but yes.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, they, that's a very rare, the state of Texas, it's got to be, I've never seen it happen for someone to actually not have any heirs in the state. Actually, they've never seen it happen. So usually the state comptroller holds it and there are companies out there, I call them like troll companies because they're trolling the public records They're trying to find people or heirs that have 50 to 100 grand out there that they're owed and then they contact the heirs and then they say, okay, I'll get you this property for 40 percent of the proceeds. and then the troll company calls us up because there's different processes to get the property. The state comptroller has to be read, certain, reasonably certain that they're giving the property to the right people.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Absolutely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:they're going to require some sort of evidence if it's a lot of money, they may require, an order from a judge, a probate judge, determination of airship, saying who the airship, they may, if it's a small amount, they may take an affidavit of airship, different kind of easier documents, they take different things. If it's a really small amount of money, like 100 bucks, they may just take, and you're alive, they may just take like your license and a utility bill or something. They want to get rid of the money. They don't want to, they don't want to hang on to this stuff. But if you ever get contacted by a troll company, you don't really need them. You can just call, call a probated lawyer. and that you can pay the hourly fees for the probate lawyer. Our firm has a big probate section. We've done that kind of work. We've actually even represented some of the troll companies and they don't like it when I call them that and no hard feelings if you're thinking about calling us and if that's your business model. Okay, fine. you sign up people, you're paying us to get property, but as a public service, if you think if you lived in Texas long enough, go to claimanttexas. org you may find money out there. If you have a lot of money, call a competent probate lawyer or some other type of lawyer. They can get that money for you a lot easier than go through going through a, a troll company. all right. I think that brings us to our rant and rave section as always my favorite part of the show and our producer, Aaron brought this up. He said, Phil, a lot of people are talking about this Louisiana thing. Had you heard about this, Austin?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yes,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:about
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I, it was new to me. I thought we were over this because in 1980 was a Kentucky case.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yep.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:wanted it to have the Ten Commandments in school. U. S. Supreme Court shut it down. I thought we were done with that, that was over. But state of Louisiana enacted a new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. And 11 inches by 14. It's not very big. It's a, like a sheet of the 10 commandments and
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:it's this size, right? It's just it's like this size here,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah. Yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:size of paper, like
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. Austin's holding up a sheet for our podcast listeners. So yeah,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:standard office paper.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:it's now it must be accompanied by a four paragraph context statement describing the historical significance of the 10 commandments in American public education. Now, as someone with a Jewish background, Austin, when I think about a four paragraph statement of historical significance, I'm thinking, the paragraph is going to outline how Moses came down the mountain with the tablets and found our people worshiping the golden calf and the, and then the broken tab, that's what I'm thinking of historical context.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Oh, okay, but it did say, in American public So I don't think that
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:That's, I realize that. So that must mean then, okay, that the founders of our country believed, in Judeo Christian values and how the Ten Commandments have shaped our Constitution and our formation documents. Is that more accurate?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Seems like some of them did.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yes. We had some stragglers in there. some. some questionable, characters, but, allegedly this country was founded on Judeo Christian values. but yeah, so historical context. All right, so that Louisiana passes the law that will likely be challenged, by the Supreme Court. It also authorizes, but does not require some other things. Now don't look at the notes, don't look at the notes.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Mayflower Compact. You and I both, I think most of our people know what that is. The Declaration of Independence. That one, got that one. Now I did not know what this was. You probably do Austin because you're homeschooled. did you know what the Northwest Ordinance was? Or is?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:over it, I did go over it in school.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay, all
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:yeah. Because I was homeschooled,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, better education than our public school system. I'm giving you a backhanded compliment.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. yeah, no, we did. it was like, went over how new states were going to be admitted to the union.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay, so chartered government for the Northwest Territory. I'm pretty cool that I learned something about that. what's the conservative view? What's the conservative argument, Austin? What are they going to, say?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:they have to play up the historical significance of the 10 commandments to the U S because otherwise then this is just completely already ruled on in that Kentucky case you that they have to draw a distinction. That's their biggest issue.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:th they got to say that this law is Here to show students how significant the Ten Commandments is like historically, not for the moral values of what it actually says in there. That can't be what it's for. It can't be, it can't be for like anything religious, right? It just has to be history. and so I, that, that's the path they're going to have to take. And I don't really know if they're going to buy that.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I don't know either. the liberal view or the, if you're a Democrat or if you're on the left, civil liberties groups are going to argue that the law violates the separation of church and state, okay, by the First Amendment. The Kentucky case, Stone v. Graham, 1980, that was, found the similar Kentucky law unconstitutional because, it had no secular purpose. and served as a religious function. yeah, they're going to say the left is going to say it's going to alienate students. That's going to be their big argument. Jewish Muslim atheist students, although I don't know why I would alienate Jewish students, believe in the Ten Commandments. I don't know if Islam believes in the Ten Commandments as, as well, Austin. Not exactly sure if they recognize that in, in their text. But certainly the left will say, if you're an atheist and you don't believe in God, there's an alienation component there. Um, we do have a list of the Ten Commandments. All right. I'm a little hazy on the verses, Austin, you may or may not know this, but in, in the Torah, okay. The first five books, you know that the chapters aren't in the scrolls, in our Jewish scrolls, the chapters aren't just numbered, right? There's no you just,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:know that. I attended the Messianic Jewish like service
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:you really? Okay.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:church I went to previously. I was a regular attender of
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay. then you know about that.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:They would bring out
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:The scrolls yeah, it's you have a little pointer. Okay, and when you're bar mitzvahed it's really you don't want to lose your place and in that Hebrew text. I remember when I first saw something called the NIV Bible and I was like, Oh my goodness, there's big bold print and it's in English and you've got these numerical reference points. And I was like, this is the easiest. I was like the Gentiles came up with something good. Like why can't we institute some of that? But all right, the 10 commandments let's go through these one by one and let's see, which ones some of the left may have a problem with. Okay. Okay. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Okay, I give you that one. If you're an atheist, all right, fine. All right, let's move on to number two. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Don't, they probably have a problem with that one too. Don't make idols,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah. if you want a fat Buddha, you get a fat Buddha. It's
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I used year, years ago, I started a property management company. I still have a property management company, but many years ago. And when I was first starting the company, I'd go around in Sugar Land and Sugar Land, for those who don't know, is Southwest Houston. And it is the place, the neighborhood where a huge number of ethnic people live. A lot of Asian peoples, a lot of Indian people live in Sugar Land. And they, I don't pretend to fully understand all of the different religions, of the people that live in Sugar Land. But I would go, part of this property management deal is I'd go into their houses, I'd look at their houses, and then I'd, I'd give them a quote for property management services. And I was shocked when I would go into their closets, I would actually find their like ancestral shrines and their, they're little gods. And I remember feeling a little bit awkward, about that. But so yeah, they, if you're that kind of religion and you've got a shrine in your closet, you're probably offended by the graven images. Ten Commandment, I'm thinking, maybe. Yeah. All right. Number four, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Yeah. I guess if you're, number three? Did we miss three? Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:So yes, people would have a problem with that.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I've got a story about that one.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Okay.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I've had many businesses over these years, but I had this one apartment locating business and the, and back then we had offices, Austin. I had this big office in the Galleria. And the building was owned and managed by Orthodox Jews. And they knew I was a Jewish guy and all the time we'd have conversations, but it always bothered me how they would take the Lord's name in, in, in vain. like how people do oh my,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:And they would, and I, one time I was like, I just didn't understand it. And the guy's name was Jack, but he called it, his real name was Yaakov. So he's Yaakov. We called him Yaakov. I'm like, Yaakov, why? I thought you were an Orthodox Jew. And he's what do you mean? I'm like, dang, I knew the numbers. Cause I had an NIV Bible at the time. And I w I was like, don't you believe in Exodus 20? I think that's the number. And he's what do you, I was like, it says thou shalt not take the Lord thy God name in vain. and Yaakov looked at me, he's It doesn't count if it's in English, Phil. it's only the unspeakable Hebrew name that we can't say. And we, in Hebrew we have a term for it, you HaKodesh is the Hebrew term for, the Holy Tongue, right?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:was how, and I was just blown away, and I was, I was like, Okay, so you, So the lesson here from the Orthodox rabbi to, me, a backsliding, Jew is it's okay. It's okay to blaspheme in English is the lesson I took away from that.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:like even like when they're like songs that we would sing in that Orthodox like Jewish service Like they would have the dash when they wrote God,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. Yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:and obviously Yahweh things like the other wouldn't spell out any of that. So
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:So far. but look, if you're, does do Muslims have a Sabbath day? I don't know. I mean,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:it's not that like sometimes it's Friday, I think,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:but no, they don't really have a
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:All right. Okay. remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. I guess we haven't found one that an atheist would be okay with. okay.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:that there would at least be some that would be okay with this. Honor thy father and mother.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. and by the way, that is the only one that promises long life.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yes.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:They should love it.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:it's not in here, but yes, in the verse. Yes, it says that.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Everybody should love this one. If you want, if you're an atheist and when you, because atheists, you don't, if you're an atheist, you believe that when you die, you just go into the big blackout. So you probably would want to live longer, I would think. so they should like this one. Honor your father and mother. So even if you don't like your parents, you should still honor them because you can live longer.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:unless you seek oblivion and then
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Now we can all agree on this one. I would think thou shalt not kill.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Oh, yes, agreed. And then, but there are some people who would like to define that in different ways, right? You might actually have a big problem with that, right?
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay. thou shalt not commit adultery. I think if you're an atheist, or other religions, or you probably, hold on. There's the whole Mormon thing with polygamy and that's not adultery because they're wives.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:it's different because they're wise. Exactly. I actually, I actually think more people would agree with seven than agree to six.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Really?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I do. Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:that's a whole nother show in itself. All right, number eight, thou shalt not steal.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:So if you're an elementary school teacher in Louisiana and like some kid steals a lunch, the fat kid steals a lunch or whatever,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:you can just point up there on the wall, Johnny, that thou shalt not steal. All right, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah. don't make up things in court, guys.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah, we're in your depo. This is a good one. we used to have a verse in our conference room. I think it's something like, I think you should know the truth and it shall set you free, which is also on the tower at the University of Texas, I believe.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Maybe. I don't
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I think so.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:that, but I'll take your word for
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:You were too busy in law school trying to figure out what is truth.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Exactly.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:you and Pilot were over there still debate, still debating that. thou shalt not covet. I don't know, I guess everyone should agree with that one. Look,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:don't think people do, but you would hope. Yes.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:okay, I still think that the Ten Commandments are way better than the other posters that they put up in school.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:the periodic table
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yes, it would be better than the periodic table, but you, see, you were, okay, you were homeschooled, so you don't know. if, I went to public school up until the ninth grade, and in public school,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:remember? Sorry, I did teach in public school for a little
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Oh, did you have the posters with all the cheesy statements?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:yes. I saw all the posters. Yes.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay, we've got some posters. Aaron, our producer, included some posters. Alternatively, nobody has any problems with these posters. If you're an atheist, or if you're a Jewish or Muslim, or whatever you are, here I've got some posters. Can you read some of the sayings? Do you have the posters Austin, I got Okay, give me the first one.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Look for the rainbows when it rains.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:That makes me a lot happier than thou shalt not steal. Especially if I stole something.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, definitely.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:want to look for rainbows. Alright, what do we have next?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:We use good manners and then it has one guy saying please and the other guy saying thank you.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:that's so much better than honor your father and mother.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, it's a lot easier too. I would hope
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah. what's our other poster?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Throw kindness around like confetti.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:That again. It just makes me feel happier than don't commit adultery. Because if I commit adultery, I think I get stoned to death.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Yeah, and this one makes me think of that funfetti cake and that stuff's good
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I'd much rather get hit with some confetti than be stoned to death.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:absolutely. Yeah, that does sound a bit lighter of a punishment
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Yeah, I, this is all, okay, we're making a little bit fun, but, this is all about historical context. They're going to present the Ten Commandments in historical context. That's going to be the conservative argument. there's going to be this issue of the establishment clause. Okay. And that's part of the first amendment, obviously. And. the establishment clause says that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion prohibiting the free exercise thereof. if you're on the conservative side, you basically say that means you can't tell everyone to be Protestant, or you can't tell every, you can't tell everybody to be Episcopalian.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Absolutely, so so so the establishment clause like Both right and left, like that clause, they use different sides of it, right? So obviously the left is going to use all, always the make no law respecting an establishment of religion, right? And then there's a bunch of case law describing what exactly establishing religion means, right?
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:yeah.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:that's what the argument is going to be here, that this is establishing religion for them. And then the other side, right? that you striking this down would they can't even argue that this is prohibiting the free exercise, but you can use it as a weapon to say that it's something that discriminated against people practicing their religion. For instance, there was people who identified as pastafarians, who had like colanders on their head.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:they were allowed to wear colanders on their head for their driver's license picture because they're saying you not doing that was prohibiting the free exercise of your religion,
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:I see.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:like that, but
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Okay. That's if I go to prison and I don't want to shave and I say, because I'm, I decided to be a Jewish rabbi that day that I,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Maybe a more practical application of that. Correct. Yes.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:Well. I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that our country and our children would be a lot better served by the 10 commandments instead of these cheesy, stupid posters. Yeah,
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I, as I think I've said before, like my ideal government would be a theocratic monarchy. If we had that government, I'd be all for this, but with us having the first amendment as it is with, I do think that this runs afoul of the establishment clause in my opinion.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:probably right. now we, they're trying again, because obviously we now have a conservative majority on the Supreme court. The Democrats want to pack the court, to even it up. But so they're going to give the Supreme court another look at it and we'll see what they say. I think the Supreme court will probably shoot this down even though it's a conservative majority, who, who knows?
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:I think it'll be nine zero.
phil-silberman_3_06-27-2024_125319:okay. All right. Nine zero. There you go. we'll see if that calls right in the very near future. 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. Nothing in this show is a reminder, is considered legal advice and this is all for entertainment purposes only. If you have a legal question, want it answered on the podcast, we'll take a crack at it. Email us at info, I N F O at silblawfirm. com. S I L B L A W F I R M. com. Say you want that question answered publicly in the podcast. thanks everyone. It's been a great show. Have a great afternoon.
austin_3_06-27-2024_115314:Thanks guys.