Preparing Civil Litigation via the Internet

PREPARING CIVIL LITIGATION VIA THE INTERNET

The Internet today provides access to a wealth of information that can be useful to legal professionals in preparing a case. Following are the steps that can be used to prepare such a case for trial. Then these steps are applied to a sample case.

1. KNOW YOUR OPPONENTS

Litigators need to know as much as possible about the opposing parties and their counsel. The internet can be a significant source to gain knowledge that could provide insight into the legal theories and arguments that opposing counsel might rely upon. Table 1 lists sites that can be used as starting points for locating attorney and law firm websites.

TABLE 1: ATTORNEY AND LAW FIRM WEBSITES
West Legal Directory	www.lawoffice.com
Martindale-Hubbell	www.martindale.com
Attorney Find	www.attorneyfind.com
The Legal Directory	www.legaldirectories.com
WWW Virtual Library: Law Firms	www.law.indiana.edu/law/v-lib/lawfirms.html
Lawyers Center	www.lawyerscenter.com
Appellate Counselor Page	www.appellate-counselor.com/index.html
Insurance Lawyers	http://ins.lawnt.com
Link to Law Firms	http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/

Websites of opposing parties can provide corporate histories and information about a company's officers, products and services. The sites in Table 2 are useful starting points for locating corporate information.

TABLE 2: CORPORATE INFORMATION
Free EDGAR	http://www1.FreeEdgar.com/main.htm
Annual Reports of Fortune 500	http://www.darden.virginia.edu/library/fortune.htm
Business Finder	www.bigbook.com
Directory of Associations	www.asaenet.org/gateway/onlineassocslist.html
EDGAR (SEC)	www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm
Hoover's Corporate Information	www.hoovers.com
Company Link	www.companylink.com
Companies Online	www.companiesonline.com
Guide to Conducting Business Research	www.hbs.edu/applegate/bizinfo3/
Insurance News Net	www.insure.com/info.html
Secretary of State	www.sos.state.tx.us

In preparing a lawsuit, one of the tasks is locating individual parties and witnesses. There are several sites that offer searchable databases for locating people. Several of these are listed in Table 3.

TABLE 3: LOCATING PEOPLE
USPS Zip Code Lookup and Address Info	www.usps.gov/ncsc
Bigfoot's Global E-Mail Directory	www.bigfoot.com
Global Mega People Finder	www.web-search.com:80/people.html
Info Space - The Ultimate Directory	www.infospace.com
Information	www.555-1212.com
KnowX	www.knowx.com
People Finder	www.peoplesite.com
Public Data	www.publicdata.com
Switchboard Find a Person	www.switchboard.com
Toll Free Directory	www.tollfree.att.net/dir800
TRACKEM People Search	www.toolcity.net/~richreen/trackem/html

The sites in Table 4 can be used to locate information on experts and consultants. If an expert belongs to a professional organization(s), it could be helpful to check out that organization's website for information on membership criteria, qualifications, and rules of professional conduct. Those rules could provide a source of information for cross-examination, especially if the expert fails to adhere to the standards of his/her own organization.

TABLE 4: EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS
Directory of Experts	www.experts.com
Expert Witness Directory	www.findlaw.com/13experts/index.html
Expert Witness Network	http://witness.net
Experts 4 Law	www.expert4law.org
Internet Directory of Experts	www.expertwitness.com
National Directory of Experts on Internet	www.claims.com
Accident Reconstruction Resources	www.c-design.com
Expert Pages	http://expertpages.com
Hieros Gamos List of Expert Witnesses	www.hg.org/expert-serv.html
Texas Legal	http://texaslegal.com/experts.html
American Law Net - Expert Witnesses	www.americanlawnet.com/Expert.htm

2. KNOW YOUR FORUM

Most state and federal courts maintain web sites that contain case docket information, opinions, court rules, phone numbers, addresses, court schedules and other court information. Table 5 below lists a few of these websites. Table 6 provides links to the rules of evidence and procedure for state and federal courts.

TABLE 5: STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS
Harris County Courts	www.co.harris.tx.us
Texas Supreme Court	www.courts.state.tx.us/supreme.html or http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/
5^th District Court of Appeals - Dallas	www.courtstuff.com/5th
8^th District Court of Appeals - El Paso	http://204.90.111.60/rules.htm
Bexar County Courts	www.co.bexar.tx.us
Clerks of Courts	www.txlaw.com/clerks.html
El Paso County Courts	http://rgfn.epcc.edu/rgfn/projects/county/index.html
Harris County Municipal Courts	www.ci.houston.tx.us/departme/courts
Tarrant County Courts	www.tarrantcounty.com
Texas Direct	www.txdirect.net/users/rrichard/news.htm
Texas Courts	www.courts.state.tx.us/
Travis County Courts	www.co.travis.tx.us
Court Stuff	http://courtstuff.com/toc.html
Ct. of Appeals (3^rd) - Austin	www.3rdcoa.courts.state.tx.us
Ct. of Appeals (2^nd) - Ft. Worth	www.2ndcoa.courts.state.tx.us
Ct. of Appeals (1^st) - Houston	www.1stcoa.courts.state.tx.us/
Ct. of Appeals (14^th) - Houston	www.14thcoa.courts.state.tx.us
Ct. of Appeals (8^th) - El Paso	www.8thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/
Texas Center for the Judiciary	www.yourhonor.com
Texas Judicial Server	www.courts.state.tx.us
10^th District Court of Appeals - Waco	www.10thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/
Harris County JIMS	www.co.harris.tx.us/jims/
Harris County Site Guide	www.co.harris.tx.us/sguide.htm
Texas Trial Courts	www.courts.state.tx.us/trial/index.htm
U.S. District Court - Southern District of Texas	www.txs.uscourts.gov/
Lone Star Law - Law Libraries	http://www.lonestarlaw.com/resources/LawLibrary.html
Findlaw	www.findlaw.com
Federal Judicial Center	www.fjc.gov
Judicial Branch	www.washlaw.edu/
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas	www.txed.uscourts.gov
U.S. District Court Northern District of TX	www.txnd.uscourts.gov

TABLE 6: RULES OF EVIDENCE AND PROCEDURE
UT Law Evidence Site	www.law.utexas.edu/hookem/subject/evidence.html
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure	www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/overview.htm
Federal Rules of Evidence	www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/overview.html
Southern District Local Rules	www.txs.uscourts.gov/lclrules.htm
Texas Judicial System	www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/rules/index.htm
Procedure & Rules	http://cust2.iamerica.net/tcba
Travis County Local Rules	www.travisbar.com/distct.htm
Civil Practices & Remedies Code	http://capitol.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/cvtoc.html
Texas Judicial System Procedure & Rules	www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/rules/

3. KNOW THE LAW

Although many primary law materials and search tools are still generally available online only through WESTLAW and LEXIS, many of the state and federal statutes, recent court opinions, and administrative rules can be accessed through the Internet.

Table 7 below lists a few examples of substantive legal sites, legal search engines and other websites that can be helpful in locating and understanding the law in a particular case.

Table 7: Find the Law
Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, Appellate Decisions (fee based)	www.versuslaw.com
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions	http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topic.htm
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, 1937-1975	www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/sct.html
1^st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.emory.edu/1circuit
2^nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.tourolaw.edu/2ndcircuit
3^rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/ca03.html
4^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.emory.edu/4circuit/
5^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.ca5.uscourts.gov/documents.htm or www.law.utexas.edu/us5th/
6^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.emory.edu/6circuit
7^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.kentlaw.edu/7circuit/
8^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.wulaw.wustl.edu/8th.cir
9^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/ca09.html
10^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.emory.edu/10circuit/
11^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.law.emory.edu/11circuit
D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	www.11.georgetown.edu/Fed-Ct/cade.html
Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals	http://teddy.law.cornell.edu:8090/questtr2.htm
U.S. Code	http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ or http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/metaindex/
U.S. Code Search	http://uscode.house.gov/usc.htm
Code of Federal Regulations	http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html
American Law Sources Online	www.lawsource.com/also
ABA Legal Research Starting Points	www.abanet.org/lawlink/home.html
CATALAW	www.catalaw.com
Chicago-Kent Guide to Legal Resources	www.kentlaw.edu/index.html
Cornell Legal Information Institute	www.law.cornell.edu
Find Law	www.findlaw.com
Hieros Gamos	www.hg.org/hg.html
Indiana University Law Linkds	www.law.indiana.edu/law/lawindex.html
Internet Legal Resources Guide	www.ilrg.com/
Law Crawler	www.lawcrawler.com
Law Engine	www.fastsearch.com/law
Law Vantage	www.lawvantage.com
Legal List	www.lcp.com/
Meta-Index to US Legal Research	http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/metaindex/
Seamless Website	www.seamless.com
Tarleton Law Library	www.law.utexas.edu/hookem/
Texas Legal Services Center	www.tlsc.org
U.S. House Internet Law Library	http://law.house.gov
Law 101: Basic Legal Web Links	http://www.law.uh.edu/librarians/tmulligan/law101.html
Legal Megasites	http://www.focuscorp.com/megalinks.htm
State Law and Information	http://www.law.smu.edu/library/statelaw.htm

4. ORGANIZING THE INTERNET SEARCH

Most Internet browsers have the ability to create directories or bookmarks that link to a particular URL, or web address, that you want to return to or that you visit frequently. In organizing Internet research one may want to create folders in which to save these bookmarks.

Consider how the following case may be organized:

WEAVER v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD CO.

Richard Weaver was employed by Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. as an engineer of a train on the night of June 12, 1996. It was very warm and humid and as his locomotive did not have air conditioning, Weaver opened the window in the cab.

As the train approached Pinehurst, Texas, Weaver noticed a person standing in the tracks. After the person jumped to avoid the train, Weaver turned t see if the person had been hit. As Weaver was doing so, Einar Ristroph threw a bottle through the open window, striking Weaver in the head and rendering him unconscious. Weaver filed suit against Missouri Pacific claiming that under the Federal Employers Liability Act, the railroad was negligent in failing to provide a safe place to work; to warn of the danger that Ristroph posed; to provide air-conditioning for the locomotive; and to arrange the configuration of locomotives on the train so that the lead locomotive was equipped with air conditioning. They also claimed violation of the Locomotive Inspection Act and the regulations promulated under it.

Here are the websites that might be useful in prepare this case for trial and how the bookmarks of these sites can be organized into a manageable filing system:

Case Folder: Weaver v. Missouri Pacific

Subfolder 1: People

Sub-subfolder: Opposing Counsel

Phelps Dunbar

http://lawyers.martindale.com/marhub/cite?_ansset=GeHauKO-MsSDAARGRUUBRAUU-EBYB-A-AZWRAREVBYWVCZYRURARU&_startdoc=1&_form=firm.html&maxanswers=500&_session=d2388a7e-a5da-11d3-8e5d-8a0c585aaa77.0.1.0.%20.0.0&_state=&wchp=dGLkbb-lSlAS&_md5=5279db087e625dd87a1632a16c95f757

http://www.legaldirectories.com/results.asp

Sub-subfolder: Opposing Party

Missouri Pacific Railroad dba Union Pacific Railroad Company

http://www.uprr.com/

Sub-subfolder: Experts

Michael P. Massie

4446 C.J. Heck Road, PO Box 550 Salem, IL 62881 Tel: 618-548-5534 Fax: 618-548-5679 Railroad Practices Expert; Train Handling Operations, Railroad Train Collisions, Railroad Train Derailments, Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Incidents, Railroad Industrial Incidents, Railroad Train-Pedestrian Incidents, F.E.L.A., Railroad Liability.

http://www.expertpages.com/cv/massie.htm

Ronald T. Luke
President
7600 Chevy Chase Drive, Ste. 500
Austin, TX 78752
Tel: (512) 371-8100
Fax: (512) 371-0327
http://www.rpcconsulting.com

Expert Category: ECONOMICS - Economic Losses/Damages

Subfolder 2: Factual Research

United States Department of Transportation:

http://www.dot.gov/general/

US Railroad Retirement Board

http://www.rrb.gov/

Weather:

http://weather.noaa.gov/

Federal Railroad Administration:

http://www.fra.dot.gov/welcome.html

Safety data on railroads

http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/

National Transportation Safety Board - Railroad

http://www.ntsb.gov/Railroad/railroad.htm

FELA info

http://www.employmentlawcentral.com/treatise/FELA.htm

Recoverable damages:

http://www.crowlaw.com/feladesc.htm

Right to use designated counsel

http://www.crowlaw.com/fela1.htm

How to Protect Yourself When Injured on the Job under FELA

http://www.ibewsc10.org/fela.htm

Subfolder 3: Court Information and Rules

U.S. District Court - Southern District of Texas

www.txs.uscourts.gov/

Southern District Local Rules

www.txs.uscourts.gov/lclrules.htm

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/overview.htm

Federal Rules of Evidence

www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/overview.html

Subfolder 4: Legal Research

Federal law

FELA: Federal Employers' Liability Act (Railroads) (45 USC 51 - 60)

Locomotive Inspection Act

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/49/20701.html

A Guide To Understanding The Federal Employees' Liability Act

http://www.crowlaw.com/fela.htm

Negligence:

http://www.crowlaw.com/neg.htm

Provide safe place to work:

http://www.crowlaw.com/unsafe.htm

Duty to Guard Against Intentional Acts

The Supreme Court found that the railroad failed to exercise its duty to take reasonable measures to protect the plaintiff against a foreseeable danger, and found that plaintiff''s injuries resulted from the railroad's negligence .

Harrison V. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 372 U.S. 248 (1963)

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&linkurl=<%LINKURL%>&graphurl=<%GRAPHURL%>&court=US&case=/us/372/248.html

Tiller V. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 323 U.S. 574 (1945)

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=323&invol=574

Hileman v. City of Dallas, Tex., 115 F.3d 352, 353 (5thCir. 1997)

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/95/95-11062-cv0.htm

Texas Manufactured Housing Ass'n v. City of Nederland, 101 F.3d 1095, 1099 (5^th Cir. 1996)

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/95/95-40803-cv0.htm

Smith v. Medical and Surgical Clinic Ass'n, 118 F.3d 416, 419 (5^thCir. 1997)

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/96/96-10913-cv0.htm

Oglesby v. Southern Pacific Transp. Co., 6 F.3d 603, 606 (9^thCir. 1993)

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=9th&f=3&invol=603&vol=6&exact=1