Appreciation

Legendary Houston attorney Joe Jamail is remembered for his generosity and salty wit

Bill Hobby, from left, Joe Jamail, Herb Kelleher and Rodney Ellis at the Bill Hobby Roast January 2015

Joe Jamail, second from left, cracked up the audience at a roast for former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, left, in January. Southwest Airlines Herb Kelleher and State Sen. Rodey Ellis also took part.

Photo by © Kim Coffman

Legendary Houston attorney Joe Jamail, whose courtroom prowess made him a billionaire and whose generosity helped transform his beloved alma mater the University of Texas at Austin, died Wednesday morning from complications of pneumonia, according to news reports.

He was 90 years old.

Known as the "King of Torts," Jamail was best known for representing Pennzoil in a bitter lawsuit against Texaco. He won a colossal $10.5 billion judgment in 1985 when a jury found that Texaco had interfered with Pennzoil's plans to acquire Getty Oil. Jamail's contingency fee was a reported $335 million.

The Houston native was a graduate of St. Thomas High School and received his BA at The University of Texas at Austin in 1950 and his JD from the University of Texas School of Law in 1953.

He was regularly on the Forbes list of richest Americans, ranking No. 368 on last year's list with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.

Jamail's generosity was renown. With his late wife Lee, he established the Lee and Joseph D. Jamail Foundation in 1986, through which he gave more than $250 million to education, medical research and the performing arts. In 2013, Baylor College of Medicine named its outpatient clinic the Lee and Joe Jamail Specialty Care Center in honor of the couple. In 2008, the $2.7 million Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark opened near downtown Houston.

He gave millions to UT Austin. The football field at Darrell K. Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium is named Joe Jamail Field in his honor, and so is the Joseph D. Jamail, Jr. Pavilion at The University of Texas School of Law. The Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center is named for him and his wife and two statues were erected on the campus in his honor.

"I don't think The University of Texas has ever had a better friend than Joe Jamail," former University of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds told BurntOrangeNation.com. "When something needed to get done on campus, you could count on him to help. Joe wasn't a guy wanting to give advice or get his way; he just wanted to know what he could do to be part of the solution. "

In a January article, Texas Monthly called Jamail "The Greatest Lawyer Who Ever Lived," and prefaced the story with this legal disclaimer: " 'Salty language' doesn’t begin to describe the words Jamail uses in this piece. If you read on, which we recommend, and find yourself offended, you will have no appeal."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

deaths

Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates swipe nearly $2B in packages from Texas homes this year

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

The Grinch isn't the only one stealing Christmas these days.

’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

holidays porch pirates crime