Richard Alderman (left), director of UH's Center for Consumer Law, accepts a check from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Photo by Tom Shea

The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) has been awarded more than $360,000 from the state of Texas to support the school’s consumer law programs - and Attorney General Greg Abbott came to campus recently to deliver the check personally.

“This money comes from a lawsuit I filed against a San Antonio company that was selling a bogus weight loss formula. The company filed for bankruptcy and as part of the settlement, my office advocated for giving some of the money to fund consumer clinics,” Abbott explained during a press conference at the UH Law Center. “It is appropriate that we are helping Texas consumers with money we won in court from a company that defrauded Texas consumers.”

This is the first time the Texas Attorney General’s Office has dedicated funds for this purpose.

The money will be used to support the continuing activities of the UHLC’s Center for Consumer Law and the Consumer Law Clinic as well as help establish the Texas Consumer Complaint Center (TCCC).

UHLC’s Center for Consumer Law is a community outreach program directed by Richard Alderman, UH law professor and the Dwight Olds Chair in Law. Among CCL’s projects is “The People’s Law School,” which is a free program that answers the public’s legal questions. Accepting the check from Abbott, Alderman praised the Attorney General’s office for providing the money and promised it would be put to good use.

The new TCCC plans to provide assistance to consumers in the metropolitan area who experience problems with defective goods or services, debt collectors and identity theft, landlord-tenant problems or bankruptcy. The center will establish an informational Web site for consumers and a telephone help line, as well as provide trained law student mediators to help consumers with disputes.

“I’m so pleased to be here at UH and join forces with this great university in an effort to further protect Texas consumers,” said Abbott. The Attorney General also praised a number of UH officials who were in attendance, including President Jay Gogue, Board of Regents member Lynden B. Rose, UH General Counsel Dona Hamilton and Grover Campbell, vice president for governmental relations.

“Obviously, this is wonderful news for our program and our law students will benefit tremendously,” said Nancy Rapoport, dean of the UH Law Center. "But it’s also of great benefit to the public.”

Southern Methodist University also will receive an award to supplement its consumer law program under this initiative.