Putting an End to COVID Abuse

Amid the outbreak of the coronavirus and the numerous stay-at-home orders issued by state, county, and city officials, there has been a dangerous and unfortunate rise in the number of domestic and family violence cases. According to a recent article in the Houston Chronicle, Harris County saw a 158 percent increase in the number of aggravated family assault reports. Deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to a staggering 1,588 reports during the month of March, while the City of Houston reported an 8.72 percent increase in the number of domestic violence calls. In a press release issued on April 22, 2020, the City of Houston announced a partnership with the Houston Area Women’s Center (HAWC) and the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (HCDVCC) in an effort to stem the tide of domestic violence and get the word out that there is help for these victims even during this global health crisis. As part of this initiative, ride-hailing company Uber has also announced a $50,000 grant, which will help provide rides to victims of human trafficking and family violence.

Part of this initiative rolled out by the City includes the creation of a social media campaign, #noCOVIDabuse, by HAWC and HCDVCC with safety tips, hotline numbers, and videos featuring players from MLS’s Houston Dash; a new website, nocovidabuse.org; a partnership with the Houston Food Bank and H-E-B for the printing and distribution of flyers about domestic violence; and the consideration of short-term hotel lodging for victims because of the need for social distancing.

The website, nocovidabuse.org, has information about crisis hotlines; tips for planning safety at home; a list of resources and referrals including crisis centers and shelters, counseling centers, legal aid groups, and important law enforecment numbers; and links to the websites of all community partners.

For victims living in southeast Harris County, help is also available through the Victim Assistance - Domestic Violence Unit of Harris County Constable Precinct 7. In cooperation with the Family Criminal Law Division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Precinct 7 has instituted a protective order pilot program in which a case worker from the district attorney’s office assists with completing applications for protective orders each Tuesday. Harris County Constable Precinct 4 in northwest Harris County also has a Domestic Violence Unit, which investigates cases of domestic violence.

The following additional resources may also be of help to victims of domestic violence.

• AVDA: Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, based in Houston, providing free legal aid in Austin, Fort Bend, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington counties.

• TexasLawHelp.org: Protection from Violence or Abuse / Protective Orders

  • Protective Order Fact Sheet

  • I Need a Protective Order

  • Emergency Protective Orders

  • Sexual Assault Protective Orders

• COVID-19 Family Violence FAQs from Legal Aid of Northwest Texas

The most important thing for thing for victims of domestic violence to realize is that they are not alone and that help is available, especially now.

Amended Petitions

A common question that we at the Harris County Law Library would get at the reference desk involved amending an original petition. In most cases, the patron had to submit an amended petition because they failed to check a required box on the form or they needed to change a response given in the petition. Whatever the case may be, the patron is still coming to us and looking for answers.

In our experience, TexasLawHelp.org is the source for free and reliable legal information for our self-represented litigants. This time is no different. TexasLawHelp.org has a webpage devoted to Amended Petitions in Family Law Cases. There, users can find answers to some of their most pressing issues. Topics include:

• reasons for filing an amended petition;

• deadlines for filing an amended petition;

• requirements of an amended petitions;

• service of the amended petition; and,

• the effect that the amended petition has on any waiting periods.

If you’ve been asked to submit an amended petition, don’t fret. Just visit TexasLawHelp.org for guidance. Of course, you’re always welcome to visit HCLL’s Virtual Reference Desk, too.

A Call for Justice: SCOTUS to Hear Oral Arguments via Telephone

Access to accurate information from trustworthy, authoritative sources is the key to an effective public health campaign. Maintaining reliable channels for sharing that information is just as critical. In the age of the Internet, we are bombarded with health data and facts (not to mention conjecture and outright lies), but during the flu pandemic of 1918, communicating with the public about how to best mitigate the spread of disease was definitely more of a challenge. The telephone, invented more than 40 years before the outbreak of the Spanish flu, held great promise. Although home phones were still quite uncommon, social interaction via the nascent telecommunications infrastructure of the day was a viable option for some.  

While people sheltered in place and avoided public gatherings, the telephone became an increasingly indispensable tool for maintaining life as usual. However, unlike the Internet, which consistently serves up information via a network of anonymous computers, early telephones required human intervention. Operators manually connected each caller, via a switchboard, to an intended recipient. Like computers stacked in server farms around the world, these telephone operators executed calls, connecting one node to another. Also like computers in a server farm, these telephone operators worked in very close quarters at banks of switchboards, the perfect environment for sharing not just information but germs. With so many operators falling victim to the flu and unable to work due to their illness, communication by phone became difficult. Phone companies asked callers to limit telephone use and to reserve open phone lines for doctors and drug stores. Despite the promise it held as a powerful communications tool, the early telephone had a weak link – the vulnerable human.

Strangely, as a sure sign that history does in fact rhyme, the telephone is again having a moment. Those of us fortunate to be performing our jobs from home can communicate, collaborate, and remain productive thanks to an array of sophisticated tech tools and the infrastructure that supports them. We’ve gotten comfortable with Zoom and Trello and Slack, but the telephone -- at least for spoken conversation -- has become almost vestigial. Not so for the highest court in the land. For six days in May, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments by telephone. In a press release issued on April 13, 2020, the Court said:

“In keeping with public health guidance in response to COVID-19, the Justices and counsel will all participate remotely. The Court anticipates providing a live audio feed of these arguments to news media. Details will be shared as they become available.”

With so many media resources at our disposal and no shortage of real-time citizen journalists (as well as snarky would-be comedians) providing synchronous commentary on Twitter, those who listen in to the live audio will be able to monitor their various feeds as the arguments are being made. The channels for communicating have no doubt expanded, but the humble telephone is still playing a significant – indeed, historic -- role in the pursuit of justice in the time of COVID-19.

#StayHomeWorkSafe with Free Access to Westlaw Edge

The Stay Home Work Safe order in Harris County remains in effect until April 30. As we all do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19, access to digital legal research resources remains critical. That’s why we are pleased to report that Thomson Reuters is providing free access to Westlaw Edge for Harris County Law Library patrons!

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Free Access to Westlaw Edge

To help you keep researching while you stay home and work safe, you can sign up for a free Westlaw Edge account that extends the typical 7-day trial to give you 20 hours of research through June 30, 2020. Edge is the latest research platform from Westlaw that integrates artificial-intelligence search capabilities with Thomson Reuter’s catalog of must-have titles and tools for legal researchers. Access Keycite, headnotes, annotations, and more legal research necessities for free while you work remotely. To get started, download the instructions:

Please note: if you’ve subscribed to Westlaw in the past or signed up for a trial account, the email address you used may not be eligible for this offer.

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Keep Researching with free access to Lexis, HeinOnline, Fastcase, and more!

Westlaw joins a growing number of legal research database providers who are extending free access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, we shared news about an offer from LexisNexis to make Lexis Advance database subscriptions available to all Harris County Law Library patrons. Additional options include:

• The Texas State Law Library offers access to several databases to all Texans through its website. If you are in Texas, you can sign up for a free account and learn more about accessing Lexis eBooks, Fastcase, HeinOnline, and more at https://guides.sll.texas.gov/electronic-databases/remote.

• Update! Casetext is offering free access to its AI-powered legal research platform through May 31 for attorneys who are unable to access their usual research resources. More details at https://casetext.com/covid-access/.

• Texas Bar Books is offering free access to the Texas Guardianship Manual Online through May 31. The Manual includes a wide range of power of attorney and advance directive documents that many attorneys will find useful while assisting clients during the current public health concerns.

• New Emergency Procedure Forms from the Texas Family Law Practice Manual are now available for free online. The new forms help attorneys and litigants request modification of deadlines, leave to appear remotely, and other procedures in family courts during times of public emergency.

• Visit the Harris County Law Library’s Online Legal Research Tools page to learn more about free access to digital legal materials at your fingertips!

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Document Delivery from the Law Library’s Legal Research Databases

Even with free access to standard tools from Lexis at your disposal, not every copyrighted practice guide, form book, and treatise is available to you. Under normal circumstances, everyone has access to robust subscriptions from Lexis eBooks, Westlaw, Lexis Advance, HeinOnline, State Bar of Texas Practice Manuals, and more within steps of the courthouse on the Law Library’s research computers. To help maintain access while we’re all working remotely, our law librarians can make many of these materials available to you via email through our Virtual Reference Desk. If you need a document, let us know and one of our law librarians will provide it to you via email (subject to limitations set by the vendor) as soon as possible.

International Haiku Poetry Day

Amid all of the news about COVID-19, it’s so easy to forget that the world is still spinning as it always did and that our daily lives, though disrupted and different, are still meant to be lived and enjoyed. Little things, perhaps once viewed as inconsequential or taken for granted, seem to take on greater meaning, such as dappled sunlight on a wooded path, the smell of jasmine in the air, or a cool breeze in Houston in mid-April. If it seems that we are waxing a bit poetic, it’s perfectly understandable because it’s April, and April is National Poetry Month.

In the past, the Harris County Law Library has celebrated National Poetry Month with an exhibit in the Law Library lobby and a series of blog posts, highlighting the poetry and verse that can be found (perhaps
surprisingly) in the law. We, like most spaces, are closed to the public, so an exhibit in our lobby did not seem quite feasible. However, we do invite you to look back and read our past posts for a bit of a chuckle:

• Poetry of the Bench and Bar: The Calf-Path or Precedents (April 1, 2016);

• Poetry of the Bench and Bar: Wills in Verse (April 8, 2016);

• Poetry of the Bench and Bar: The Taxman Cometh (April 15, 2016);

• Poetry of the Bench and Bar: The Things That Lawyers Know About Earth Day (April 22, 2016);

• Poetry of the Bench and Bar: Quoth the Raven, In Re Love (April 29, 2016);

• Poetry of the Bench and Bar: Poetic Justice (April 26, 2017);

• Talking with the Taxman About Poetry (April 11, 2018); and

• Legal Tech and the Justice Gap — A Few Haiku for Poetry Month (April 30, 2019).

You can also visit Gallagher Law Library Judicial Humor page for some parodies, humorous plaintiffs, and veiled references.

Or you can go about creating your own poem. If that sounds intimidating, it’s okay to start small, as in how about a haiku? After all, today, April 17, is International Haiku Poetry Day. To refresh your memory, a haiku, is a type of poem originating in Japan that is unrhymed and, in the English-language format, follows a pattern of three lines consisting of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. It finds its inspiration in nature and the natural world and generally focuses on the seasons. Other characteristics include two juxtaposed subjects separated by punctuation and an unusual observation made by comparing the two subjects. For a good explanation of haiku, see Haiku-Poetry.org. You can find some examples of famous haiku written by Japanese masters, such as Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa, here. There are also plenty of how-to guides online to help you along if you are having trouble.

If creating your own poem still seems a bit daunting, no worries! April 17 is also National Cheeseball Day. Feel free to check out those recipes on Pinterest and the Food Network and try your hand at crafting your own delicious cheese masterpiece. There is an added bonus, too. As luck would have it, April 17 is also Malbec World Day, honoring that wonderful medium- or full-bodied red wine from Argentina. What better pairing is there than wine and cheese? So, just sit back and relax with your cheeseball and glass of Malbec and simply experience the poetry that’s all around you. Who knows? Maybe, you will be inspired to write that haiku after all.