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Volunteer to End Distracted Driving |
| The American Association for Justice and the non-profit group End Distracted Driving (EndDD) have teamed up to engage plaintiff’s lawyers in helping to spread the message about the dangers of distracted driving, and to get attorneys involved in the movement to end this dangerous practice. As April has been designated National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, TTLA is encouraging our membership to get involved and become advocates for safer driving in our Texas communities. Please see the message below, and click on the links to find out how you can volunteer to help end distracted driving in Texas. Click on the headline to learn more. |
Laws/Cases |
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BP Oil Spill Settlement Includes Health Monitoring and Claims Process |
| A settlement that BP is hammering out with victims of the massive Gulf oil spill finally provides a system for monitoring health concerns and compensating people whose illnesses are found to have a link to the disaster. Government and university doctors studying locals’ health haven’t found significant evidence of spill-related illnesses, but problems years from now remain a question mark. Under the settlement announced Friday, BP said it expects to pay out $7.8 billion to settle a wide range of claims that also include property damage, lost wages and loss to businesses. While a previously created fund had already been paying such economic loss claims, it hadn’t paid claims over illnesses related to exposure. Associated Press, The Washington Post 03/05/2012 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
BP Deal Opens a New Phase, But Case is Far From Closed |
| The late-night announcement on Friday of a proposed $7.8 billion deal in the BP civil trial is not the end of the case, but the beginning of a new phase with many unanswered questions. The next steps in the process will take time, and the terms of the settlement itself will have to be approved by Judge Carl J. Barbier. Plaintiffs will be able to opt out of the settlement. It is far from over. JOHN SCHWARTZ, The New York Times 03/05/2012 | Read Article: The New York Times |
Court Upholds Landmark Katrina Flood Ruling |
| A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a judge’s landmark ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers is liable for property owners’ claims, agreeing the shoddy work on a shipping channel caused billions of dollars in damage from Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the federal government’s argument that it is entitled to immunity from lawsuits blaming Katrina’s flood damage on the corps’ operation and maintenance of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a New Orleans navigation channel. Associated Press, The Washington Post 03/05/2012 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
5 Yrs Later, Parents of 2 Slain Virginia Tech Students Take State to Court |
| The hours leading to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and the actions of Virginia Tech administrators will be replayed in a Christiansburg courtroom when the parents of two students slain in the April 2007 massacre press their legal effort to hold school officials accountable.The lawsuits originally sought $10 million for the wrongful deaths of Julia K. Pryde and Erin N. Peterson, but the damages are now capped at $100,000 for each of their parents. The state is the lone defendant in the case, which has been scaled back from the lawsuit originally filed two years after the deadly shootings on Tech’s Blacksburg campus. Associated Press, The Washington Post 03/05/2012 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
Warehouse Workers Say Abuses Are Systemic |
| As a warehouse worker in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the nation’s biggest distribution hub for consumer goods, Jorge Soto handles shipments for retail giant Walmart every day. A suit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on behalf of Soto and dozens of other warehouse workers charges three companies that handle Walmart goods with fraudulent pay practices. The case, along with recent investigations by California labor officials that have led to proposed fines of close to $1.4 million, depict what critics say is the underside of the vast warehouse business. Lilly Fowler, FairWarning, MSNBC NEWS 03/05/2012 | Read Article: MSNBC NEWS |
Court Denies Eminent Domain Rehearing on Pipeline |
| The Texas Supreme Court's refusal on Friday to rehear a pipeline case gives landowners the ability to challenge a pipeline company's right to eminent domain, but has created uncertainty in the state's booming oil and gas industry. The Beaumont-area case had drawn the attention of private property advocates and the energy industry, which says the opinion could make it difficult to move product from the remote oil fields to coastal refineries. Jennifer Hiller, Houston Chronicle 03/05/2012 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
Issues |
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Hospitals Refer Injured Patients to Attorneys |
| MedStar Health, one of the largest health care systems in Maryland, prides itself on being proactive when faced with accusations of medical negligence. MedStar says it discusses with patients what happened during treatment, works toward a resolution and, when appropriate, proposes a settlement. But if patients decline to settle, the health system takes an unlikely next step: It offers them the name and number of a lawyer. Alicia Gallegos, American Medical News 03/05/2012 | Read Article: American Medical News |
Malpractice |
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Hospital to Pay $1.45 Million Over Patient's Death |
| A Kentucky jury has awarded $1.45 million in a lawsuit filed against St. Joseph Hospital over the 1999 death of a 39-year-old male patient. The lawsuit, filed by the man's estate, claims the man died of a ruptured peptic ulcer several hours after being discharged from the hospital for the second time in as many days. He was given pain medication and an enema before being sent home, despite vomiting blood and complaining of severe abdominal pain, the suit states. Jennifer Hewlett, Lexington Herald-Leader 03/01/2012 | Read Article: Lexington Herald-Leader |
Female Amputee Awarded $17.9 Million from Hospital |
| A Brooklyn woman has been awarded $17.9 million in a lawsuit she filed against the city and the Brooklyn Hospital Center for a failed diagnosis that forced the amputation of both her feet and hands. In 2008, she was diagnosed with kidney stones after a short stint in the ER and sent home. The next day, the suit claims, she was hit with "agonizing pain and numbness," but fire department medics would not take her back to the hospital. By the time her fiancé rushed her to another emergency room, an infection had spread throughout her body, and her extremities had to be amputated. John Marzulli, New York Daily News 03/05/2012 | Read Article: New York Daily News |
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