2015 Midyear Conference and CLE Seminar | Be Inspired'Litigation with Compassion, Competence, and Confidence, June 3-5, The Omni Austin Hotel Downtown 700 San Jacinto at 8th Street, Austin, TX. Earn up to 12.25 hours MCLE credit. Click on the headline to register. | Texas Tribune Daily Brief | | Secrecy Shrouds Decade-Old Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico | | Taylor Energy Company exists for only one reason: to fight an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that has gone largely unnoticed, despite creating miles-long slicks for more than a decade. The New Orleans-based company has downplayed the leak's environmental impact, likening it to scores of minor spills and natural seeps that the Gulf routinely absorbs. But an Associated Press investigation has revealed evidence that the spill is far worse than what Taylor ' or the government ' has publicly reported. Presented with AP's findings, the Coast Guard provided a new leak estimate that is about 20 times greater than one recently touted by the company. Outside experts say the spill could be even worse ' possibly one of the largest ever in the Gulf, albeit still dwarfed by BP's massive 2010 gusher. MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and JEFF DONN , The Washington Post 04/16/2015 | Read Article: The Washington Post | Target Settles Data Breach Lawsuit with MasterCard | | Target has agreed to settle a lawsuit with MasterCard over a 2013 data breach which involved releasing the personal information of 40 million individuals. Target has agreed to pay MasterCard-issuing banks up to $19 million, covering the cost of reissuing credit and debit cards after the breach, as well as fraudulent charges on those cards. According to a recent financial filing, Target has incurred $252 million in expenses related to the data breach. Elizabeth Weise, USA Today 04/15/2015 | Read Article: USA Today | Ruling Shields G.M. From Ignition Suits | | Judge Robert E. Gerber of the United State Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan ruled that the liability shield included in the 2009 agreement that lifted G.M. from bankruptcy should be allowed to remain in place, even though the company has acknowledged that many employees knew about the defective switch at the time but failed to alert owners of the cars that they might have a potential claim against the company. The ruling shuts down not only lawsuits stemming from accidents that took place before July 10, 2009, but also most of the suits seeking economic damages for the loss in value of the defective cars. HILARY STOUT and DANIELLE IVORY, The New York Times 04/16/2015 | Read Article: The New York Times | Claiming Abuse of Disabled Man at O. D. Heck | | The mother of a developmentally disabled 22-year-old man who died soon after arriving at a state-run home near Schenectady, N.Y., will receive $2.25 million to settle a lawsuit charging that workers had beaten and humiliated him. The lawsuit, which was settled Wednesday, did not directly accuse the state of causing the 2011 death of the man, identified only as K. C., and who suffered from malnutrition and pneumonia. But the suit charged six workers at the state's Oswald D. Heck Developmental Center with torturing and starving K. C. by beating him with a stick, gagging him and denying him food and water if he moved off a small gym mat where he was kept alone all day long. ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS, The New York Times 04/16/2015 | Read Article: The New York Times | Beech-Nut Baby Food Recalled Over Fear of Glass Contamination | | Federal food inspectors have announced the recall of 1,920 pounds of sweet potato and chicken baby food made by Beech-Nut Nutrition, saying it may be contaminated with small pieces of glass.The 4-oz. glass jars containing 'Stage 2 Beech-Nut CLASSICS sweet potato & chicken' were produced on December 12, 2014. They bear the establishment number 'P-68A' inside the USDA mark of inspection, show an expiration date of 'DEC 2016' and include product numbers '12395750815' through '12395750821.' Reuters, The New York Times 04/16/2015 | Read Article: The New York Times | | |