Judge Larry Weiman kept his campaign promises
to: provide oral hearings on any motions that any party wishes to be
heard by the 80th District Court, to make rulings as promptly as
possible and to streamline the weekly oral hearing docket. Before he was
elected, hearings in the 80th were mostly scheduled on Fridays at 9:00
a.m. This was commonly referred to by local attorneys as a "cattle
call." Judge Weiman changed this by staggering the docket so that the quick,
shorter hearings go first and the longer hearings are scheduled
throughout the day. This saves the attorneys' time and their client's
money. Judge Weiman also accommodates attorneys and the public by also
scheduling 8:30 a.m. hearings on weekdays before resuming the jury
trials set for that day.
Judge Weiman has also kept his promise
to assist the overloaded Family Law Courts, when possible. In addition
to volunteering his service on the uncontested divorce Night Court
program, he has tried several contested divorce/child support cases.
Judge Weiman regularly offers to try cases for the Family Law Courts
when he has openings in his civil trial docket, as periodically occurs
since he calls so many cases to trial, which encourages many of them to
settle.
Judge Weiman believes that the civil district court
judges can help speed up the dockets of the Family Law Courts for
citizens who need to get hearings and trials sooner then the current
backlog allows.
There is presently a much higher case load in
the 9 Family Law Courts than that of the 25 civil district courts. If at
least 18 of the 24 civil district court judges would also agree to
partner with each of the 9 Family Court judges and their associate
judges, then there would be at least two additional civil judges working
with each Family Law Court, so that one of them would likely be
available one day each week, plus be able to handle some of the trials,
when their dockets permit. There are many Family Law attorneys and
litigants who would like to have their routine motions and trials heard
more quickly by an assisting civil district court judge rather than
waiting a much longer period to appear before the presiding judge or
associate judge, as is the present situation.
Judge Larry Weiman is
taking the lead in advocating reform of judicial campaign financing
practices by refraining from soliciting or accepting cash contributions
from attorneys/litigants with active cases pending in his court,
although such practice is legal and common in Texas.
While
current judicial campaign finance laws do not make this practice
illegal, Judge Weiman believes that judges should avoid the appearance
of impropriety and/or injustice or even the possible perception that
"Justice is for Sale.” Nobody should perceive an advantage or
disadvantage based upon whether or not they give money to a presiding
judge while they have a case before that judge. Judge Weiman is seeking
to change that by example, in the 80th District Court. Even when he ran
as the challenger candidate for judge he took this position by
requesting that attorneys or parties who had cases pending before the
80th District Court not make cash contributions to his campaign while
they were an attorney of record or party in this court, a position he
maintains as the incumbent.
Judge Weiman has successfully transitioned the document filings of the 80th from virtually all paper to digital filing through FreeFax filing or e-filing. This has saved the taxpayers of Harris County a tremendous amount of money in reducing work hours needed to manually image and/or store tens or hundreds of thousands of paper documents. Judge Weiman mandated that this be done only when the FreeFax filing became available so that attorneys and litigants without attorneys were not forced to incur an extra charge for the conversion to paperless filing. Judge Weiman also allows those who do not have the capability or the equipment to file through FreeFax or e-filing, to be excused from this requirement upon motion and ruling by the Court, pertaining to such circumstances.
Judge Weiman works hard to ensure justice for all who appear in the 80th
District Court and to honor the service and sacrifices of all the brave
and courageous men and women currently in the United States Armed
Forces as well as our veterans, law enforcement officers and fire-fighters.
Among
our veterans, he honors the service to our country in WWII of his
father and two uncles. His father, 1st Lt. Karl Weiman, served in the
U.S. Army Air Corps, 8th Air Force, 401st Bomb Group. He flew 30
missions, including D-Day in a B-17 as a bombardier/navigator and
chin-turret gunner. Judge Weiman's uncles served in the U.S. Navy in the
Pacific; one on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, the other in
the Sea Bees.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
Judge Weiman has been a licensed
Texas attorney for over 20 years and is also admitted to practice in The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He represented plaintiffs and defendants
including individuals and companies, in trial courts and appellate
courts all over Texas, prior to his election by the people of Harris
County. He graduated from South Texas College of Law in 1991 earning Dean's List honors and the American Jurisprudence Award in Criminal Trial Advocacy. He also graduated from the Boston University School of Management with a
Bachelor of Science degree, (Dean's List honors) and also attended the University of Texas.
Also, he is a trained mediator and received his Mediation Certificate
from the A.A. White Dispute Resolution Center at the University of
Houston. Judge Weiman is a member of The College of The State Bar of Texas. He is a member of The Houston Bar Association and The Pasadena Bar Association.
Judge Weiman's broad legal experience includes cases
involving: Personal Injury, Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law,
Medical/Professional Malpractice, Employment Law, Breach of Contract,
DTPA, Toxic Torts, Construction, Real Estate Litigation, Products
Liability, Premises Liability, Dram Shop, Divorce Suits, and Family Law.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Judge Larry Weiman has lived in the Houston area for 35 years. He is the
proud father of two grown children and has a three year-old granddaughter and a new grandson. Judge Weiman
has coached youth sports for many years in the Houston area including:
Little League Baseball, soccer and girl's softball and supports many
charitable causes and activities.
When he's not in the Courtroom, Judge Weiman enjoys: family activities, sports, concerts, shows, travel, charitable and
political events and and mentoring young attorneys.
ENDORSEMENTS
Ideally, judicial elections should be non-partisan. Judge Larry Weiman proudly serves all of the people of Harris County and the State of Texas. Although currently serving judges cannot endorse others under Texas law, he is honored to be endorsed for re-election in 2012 by both Democratic and Republican former state district judges such as the Honorable Dion Ramos, Democrat, who served as Judge of the 55th District Court, Harris County and the Honorable Scott Link, Republican, a former Judge of the 80th District Court (Civil).
Judge Weiman is the winner of both the Houston Bar Association Qualification and Preference Polls and has been endorsed for re-election in 2012 by:
The Houston Chronicle
The Jewish Herald-Voice
Pasadena Bar Association
Association of Women Attorneys-Houston
Mexican-American Bar Association of Houston
Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 341
GLBT-Caucus
AFL-CIO
Baptist Ministers Association of Houston and Vicinity
The Houston Sun
Houston Black-American Democrats
Harris County Tejano Democrats
Democracy For Houston
Brains and Eggs Blog
Dos Centavos Blog
Christians For Better Government
Harris County Counsel of Organizations
In 2008, Judge Weiman was "endorsed" by over a half million Harris County voters who elected him Judge of the 80th District Court!
Pol. ad paid for by the Re-Elect Judge Larry
Weiman Campaign, Eric Bogdan, treasurer, in voluntary compliance with
the Judicial Fairness Act.
