SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Parents need to talk to each other, if only to stay ahead of their children.

How do you respond when a child asks permission to do something and you say no, but later discover that he or she has subsequently asked the other parent the same thing and gotten permission?

Or, what if the child gets permission from you after being turned down by your spouse?

Either way, the kid has pulled a fast one and pitted the two of you against each other, when you should have maintained a united front against the slick offspring.

“If one of us says no, that's the end of it,” you may explain, as if the kid didn't know that already. “You don't get to try again with your mother (or father).”

And what about the double dipper, the kid who asks both parents, separately, for money for a specific purpose: lunch money, bus fare, clothing, school fees, etc.? It's a legitimate request and neither parent knows that the other has been, or will be, hit up for the same expense. Voila! The kid secures twice what’s needed and can spend the excess without permission or parental knowledge.

If a kid doing such things isn't caught and corrected, there's no telling what that sort of person may grow up to be.

Last year, in an issue of the American Journal of Trial Advocacy, retired Delaware Judge Peggy Ableman recalled a case in which a Florida firm recommended by Brent “Double Dip” Coon represented clients seeking damages from an asbestos company, even though Coon had already made claims for them against several bankruptcy trusts. She called the case “a quintessential example of the abusive practices” too common in asbestos litigation.

By requiring asbestos claimants to acknowledge trust claims,Texas House Bill 1492 would go a long way toward correcting those abusive practices. Encourage your representatives to vote for this bill and put an end to this type of double-dipping.