Announcements | 
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TTLA Annual Conference has moved to June 1-3 in Austin |
| We’ll be hosting all the events you’ve come to expect from our December conference. Between the 2-day CLE, parties, meetings, legislative update & special events, you’ll leave the live music capital of the world feeling energized, connected, and bad to the bone! Check out the CLE program agendas for Wednesday and Thursday, which include a live video presentation with David Ball plus family friendly events to make this a true vacation opportunity. Click on the headline to register! |
Share with your FB friends: 'Loser pays' is false advertising by Rick Casey |
| Rick Casey: 'Loser pays' is false advertising, Houston Chronicle 5-11-11. I was once the target of a frivolous lawsuit. I had written an article about a well-oiled chop shop. These slimeballs would buy vehicles that had been totaled in accidents. Then they would hire kids to go out and steal vehicles of the same year and model as the ones they had purchased. Click on the headline to read more. |
Laws/Cases |
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Veteran's Colonoscopy Suit Runs Into Trouble in Court |
| Veterans suing the federal government after receiving colonoscopies with potentially contaminated equipment have been dealt a setback in federal court. The chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Nashville, dismissed one of the veterans’ cases saying the lawsuit failed to meet the requirements for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in TN. Mistakes with rigging or cleaning endoscopic equipment at a VA in Murfreesboro, Miami and Augusta, Ga., between 2003 and 2008 created the possibility that waste and bodily fluids from patients were transferred to subsequent patients receiving colonoscopies. Thousands of potentially exposed patients were informed of the mistakes in 2009.After administrative claims for compensation were denied, more than half a dozen of the Middle Tennessee patients sued in federal court. Brandon Gee, Tennessean 05/12/2011 | Read Article: Tennessean |
Historic VA Court Ruling |
| Veterans face long, and sometimes interminable, delays in getting health care and disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. But this week, a federal appeals court took the extraordinary step of ruling that the VA is violating the constitutional rights of veterans when it forces them to wait weeks for critical mental health care and years for disability benefits.The court’s decision is a scathing indictment of VA shortcomings almost a decade into the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and details the difficulty many veterans have in getting mental health attention. “For some veterans, most notably those suffering from combat-derived mental illnesses such as PTSD, these delays may make the difference between life and death,” wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt. Jeremy Schwartz , Austin American Statesman 05/12/2011 | Read Article: Austin American Statesman |
Yankee Stadium Waiters File Lawsuit |
| A group of current and former waiters at Yankee Stadium have filed a lawsuit against their employer, claiming tips were illegally withheld from them in premium seat areas. Orders placed from the high-end seats include an automatic 20 percent service charge, the lawsuit states, but the waiters never saw any of that money. The lawsuit is seeking class-action status and claims to involve more than 150 employees. Erin Geiger Smith, Reuters 05/10/2011 | Read Article: Reuters |
TEXAS LAWYER CASE SUMMARIES |
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Dallas Court of Appeals: Health Law - expert |
| Appellant appeals from an order denying his motion to dismiss health care liability claims brought against him by appellee. When a trial court concludes for purposes of Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 74 that an expert is qualified to opine about the standard of care for a certain operation or procedure, it is also reasonable for a trial court to conclude that the expert is qualified to opine on the causal relationship between that operation or procedure and the complications that can arise from it. The trial court's order is affirmed. Whisenant v. Arnett, Dallas Court of Appeals, No. 05-10-00625-CV, 05-05-2011. , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 05/12/2011 | Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) |
Dallas Court of Appeals: Health Care - expert reports |
| Appellant appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss health care liability claims and the trial court's rejection of his objections to expert reports. Three expert reports were authored by non-physicians who are not licenced to practice medicine. Therefore, they did not qualify as experts under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §74.351. A fourth expert report is conclusory by failing to state facts as to the statutory requirements concerning the appellant. Because the final report did not mention the appellant by name anywhere in his report, that report does not provide a fair summary of the standard of care applicable to the appellant and inform him of his conduct being called into question. The trial court's order is reversed and remanded. Badhiwala v. Favors, Dallas Court of Appeals, No. 05-10-00211-CV, 05-04-2011. , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 05/12/2011 | Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) |
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