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Announcements
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TTLA Annual Conference has moved to
June 1-3 in Austin
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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!
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Share with your FB friends: 'Loser
pays' is false advertising by Rick Casey
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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.
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Products
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J&J HIV Drug Contaminated with
Fungicide
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Johnson & Johnson has announced it has found trace
amounts of fungicide in its HIV drug Prezista. The discovery occurred
after the company received complaints of a musty, moldy odor coming
from the bottles. The company said a very limited number of patients
have suffered gastrointestinal symptoms after taking the medication,
but nothing serious. The company said the medication is still safe to
take, and anyone that finds a bottle with a strange smell should return
it to their pharmacist. Staff Report, Reuters 05/11/2011
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Read Article: Reuters
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Laws/Cases
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Teen Electrocuted by Power Line
Awarded $4.4 Million
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A Greenville County, S.C., jury awarded $4.4 million to a
local teen in a lawsuit filed against Duke Power Co. over a downed
power line that electrocuted the boy. The boy was riding in an SUV that
struck a utility pole during a rain storm in 2006. Two of the power
lines shut down, the lawsuit stated, but a third did not. The boy
suffered burns on four percent of his body and had to have several toes
amputated. Fred Horlbeck , South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
03/25/2011
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Read Article: South Carolina Lawyers
Weekly
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File-Sharing Company Settles $105
Million Lawsuit
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Former file-sharing site LimeWire and its former CEO have
agreed to a $105 million settlement over accusations that the site
"encouraged users to illegally share copyrighted songs
online." A U.S. District judge ruled last year that LimeWire, which
had been downloaded around 200 million times, forced users to violate
copyrights. The settlement is among the largest paid by a file-sharing
company. Alex Pham, LA Times 05/12/2011
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Read Article: LA Times
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Pfizer Sets Aside $772 Million,
Settles One-Third of Prempro Drug Cases
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Pfizer Inc which has settled a third of the pending cases
over its Prempro menopause drug, said it set aside $772 million to
resolve claims the medicine causes breast cancer. Pfizer said in a
filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that
the reserve provides “the minimum expected costs to resolve all of the
other outstanding” lawsuits over its hormone-replacement drugs. The
company didn’t say how many cases would be settled. Jef
Feeley, Bloomberg 05/13/2011
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Read Article: Bloomberg
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Owning Up to a Boy's Death
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David Lionetti's swimming pool company failed to install a
required safety device in a Connecticut family's backyard pool. That
triggered the drowning of a six-year-old boy, state prosecutors argued,
and led to an unusual homicide case against Mr. Lionetti, the company's
president. The prosecution spotlighted a rare but gruesome accident
called entrapment, in which powerful suction from a pool's drain traps
a swimmer underwater. The case also could pave the way for similar
prosecutions. The prosecutors claimed that the company had failed to
install a device that would have shut off the pump when an object got
in the way. Mr. Lionetti last month pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor,
criminally negligent homicide, in what many safety advocates hope is a
turning point in decades of efforts to force pool makers to address
entrapment more aggressively. The plea, which averted a possible
10-year prison sentence, imposes a three-year term of probation. ASHBY
JONES, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 05/13/2011
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Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($)
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TEXAS LAWYER CASE SUMMARIES
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5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:
Torts - excessive exposure to radiation
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Plaintiffs, workers who were employed in cleaning up
radioactive materials, alleged that they were harmed by excessive
exposure to radiation at a Texas work site. The district court granted
the defendants' motion for summary judgment as to the plaintiffs' claims
that were predicated on bodily injuries and illnesses, holding that the
plaintiffs had failed to show a genuine issue of material fact as to
whether their physical harms had been caused by overexposure to
radiation. The district court denied the defendants' motion for summary
judgment with respect to the plaintiffs' claims for damages based on
"offensive contact" battery by radiation. The district court
erred in treating the plaintiffs' "offensive contact"claims
as if they arose solely under Texas law. Although all of the
plaintiffs' claims are derived from Texas law, they are deemed to arise
under federal law by the Price-Anderson Act, because they are part of a
"suit asserting public liability" as defined by the PAA. The
panel unanimously affirms the district court's summary judgment
dismissing the plaintiffs' bodily injury and illness claims with
prejudice, and vacates the district court's disposition of the
plaintiffs' "offensive contact" claims; and a majority of the
panel remands the plaintiffs' "offensive contact" battery
claims with instructions to dismiss them with prejudice. Cotroneo v.
Shaw Environment & Infrastructure Inc., 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, No. 07-20939, 04-14-2011 , Texas Lawyer Opinions
(TTLA Members Only) 05/13/2011
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Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA
Members Only)
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Dallas Court of Appeals: Torts -
Tort Claims Act
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Lisa Teague sued the city of Dallas and Dallas county
under the Texas Tort Claims Act. The trial court granted the
defendants' pleas to the jurisdiction. In addition to
"operation" or "use," the tort claims act requires
a plaintiff to establish a causal connection between the governmental
employee's actions and the plaintiff's injuries. The pleadings do not
allege and the evidence does not demonstrate a nexus between the
operation of the city and county vehicles and the injuries Teague
sustained. The evidence showed that the person being pursued in the
high-speed chase lost control of his vehicle, causing the injuries. The
trial court's orders are affirmed. Teague v. City of Dallas, Dallas
Court of Appeals, No. 05-10-01163-CV, 05-04-2011. , Texas
Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 05/13/2011
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Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA
Members Only)
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Houston's 1st Court of Appeals:
Workers' Compensation - judicial review of the decision of the TDI
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Continental Casualty Company brought suit for judicial
review of the decision of the Texas Department of Insurance, Division
of Workers' Compensation in favor of appellee, James E. Baker. The jury
found that Baker's compensable injury extended to a left knee meniscus
tear identified on an MRI over five years after his work-related
accident. The trial court entered judgment in favor of Baker and
awarded $134,694.80 in trial-level attorney's fees and expenses and
$33,500 in conditional appellate attorney's fees. The instruction on
producing cause included in the charge was erroneous and probably
caused the rendition of an improper judgment. The trial court's
judgment is reversed and remanded. Continental Casualty Co. v. Baker,
Houston's 1st Court of Appeals, No. 01-09-00881-CV, 05-05-2011. ,
Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 05/13/2011
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Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA
Members Only)
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