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Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| NC Federal Jury Awards $5.2M Over Nursing Home Deaths |  | A North Carolina federal jury on Thursday determined that a nursing home committed medical negligence that caused the deaths of three patients, with reckless disregard to their rights, and awarded their families $5.2 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Y. Peter Kang , Law360 ($) 02/21/2017    | | Read Article: Law360 ($) |
| Texas Court Says Birth Injury Suit Neednâ??t Clear Higher Bar | | A Texas appeals court held Thursday that medical malpractice claims arising from emergency treatment are only subject to a heightened legal standard when the patient is first treated in a hospitalâ??s emergency department, giving the parents of a baby who was injured during birth a better chance to pursue their claims.
Y. Peter Kang, Law360 ($) 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: Law360 ($) |
| Christopher Duntsch Gets Life in Prison | | A Dallas jury sentenced a neurosurgeon to life in prison after they heard from patient after patient who testified Dallas doctor who performed questionable surgeries gets life in prison seriously maimed them while they were under his knife. Duntsch, who practiced medicine at various hospitals in Dallas and Collin counties, was accused of crippling four patients and causing the deaths of two others between July 2012 and June 2013.
Claire Ballor, The Dallas Morning News 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News |
| Jehovahâ??s Witnesses Settle Suit Alleging Cover-Up of Child Sex Abuse | | The Jehovahâ??s Witnesses settled a lawsuit this week brought by a Pennsylvania woman who says the religionâ??s leaders covered up sexual abuse she suffered as a teenager. The settlement came five days into a trial in which Stephanie Fessler, a former Jehovahâ??s Witness, claimed the religionâ??s parent corporation violated Pennsylvaniaâ??s child abuse reporting laws by instructing local leaders â?? known as elders â?? not to report her allegations to police.
Trey Bundy, The Center for Investigative Reporting 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: The Center for Investigative Reporting |
| Smoker's Actions Justify Limited Punitives, Engle Jury Finds | | A Florida jury awarded only $400,000 in punitive damages on Friday against Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds after finding they concealed facts important to the health decisions of a smoker who died of lung cancer in 1995. The second-phase trial for punitive damages began on Thursday after Joyce Brown's husband, daughter and son were each awarded $1.8 million in compensatory damages on Wednesday.
Cara Salvatore, Law360 ($) 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: Law360 ($) |
| Texas High Court To Hear $42M Atty-Client Fee Dispute | | The Texas Supreme Court on Friday granted a request from the owner of a water supply company, who argued a lower court ignored a jury's findings and wrongly granted a new trial to his two former lawyers in a contingency fee dispute lawsuit involving their right to a stake in his company.
Michelle Casady, Law360 ($) 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: Law360 ($) |
| Texas Justices Won't Disturb Exxon's $4M Blast Coverage Win | | The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined a request from AIG subsidiary Commerce and Industry Insurance Co. asking the high court to review a lower court ruling holding it liable for more than $4 million in personal injury claims paid by Exxon Mobil Corp. in the wake of a Texas chemical plant explosion.
Michelle Casady, Law360.com 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: Law360.com |
| Settlements Reached in West Fertilizer Plant Explosion | | Partial settlements were approved by a judge Friday for 11 children and their families who filed lawsuits after a fertilizer plant explosion in West in 2013, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. Sandra Ortiz, whose husband, Mariano C. Saldivar, was killed in an apartment complex near the blast, and her 11-year-old son were plaintiffs included in the settlements, which were confidential. El Dorado Chemical Co. and International Chemical Co. were the defendants involved in Fridayâ??s settlements. Ongoing lawsuits related to the explosion â?? which killed 15 people and injured hundreds â?? are also pending against CF Industries and Adair Grain Co., the Tribune-Herald reported.
RYAN OSBORNE, Star Telegram 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: Star Telegram |
| ESSURE Devices Subject of Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Dozens | | A lawsuit has accused the makers of the drug ESSURE of failing to warn women about the complications of using the sterilization device. The lawsuit was filed in Nov. 2016 in the Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of dozens of women who have used the device. Users of ESSURE have reported suffering auto immune disease, pain, irregular bleeding, unintended pregnancies, miscarriage, abscesses and tumors, alleges the lawsuit. The complaint also names as defendant the current owners of ESSURE, Bayer, and says that the company failed to report issues with the ESSURE devices to the FDA.
Cristina Mendonsa, KING 5 Television 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: KING 5 Television |
| Smartphone Addicts Behind the Wheel Drive Car Insurance Rates Higher | | Distracted by their smartphones, Americaâ??s drivers are becoming more dangerous by the day. That is pushing auto-insurance rates even higher as insurers struggle to keep up. Costs associated with crashes are outpacing premium increases for some companies, and insurers say the use of smartphones to talk, text and access the internet while on the road is a new and important factor behind the wrecks.
LESLIE SCISM and NICOLE FRIEDMAN, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 02/21/2017 | | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) |
| Lawsuit Over Death of Elderly Woman in Crash Goes to Trial | | A wrongful death lawsuit over the death of an elderly Texas woman is going to trial. The lawsuit was filed by the family of the 96-year-old woman who died in a car crash in 2014. The elderly woman died after she was thrown from her wheelchair in a van driven by a nursing home employee. The lawsuit names as defendants Visiting Angels and Visiting Angels employee Aimi Ariel Salazar, who was driving the van. The lawsuit alleges that Salazar failed to properly strap the woman into the van prior to the crash.
Tommy Witherspoon, Waco Tribune Herald 02/20/2017 | | Read Article: Waco Tribune Herald |
| Texas to Face Civil Trial Over Deaths of Inmates by Excessive Heat | | A federal judge has ruled that the state of Texas must face a civil trial over the heat death of an inmate in one of its prisons. The lawsuit was filed by the family of a 58-year-old inmate who died in 2011 due to excessive heat. The case has brought to light the deaths of more than 20 other inmates in prison units that lack air-conditioning. U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison cited in an 83-page order the stateâ??s own records documenting a heat index of about 150 degrees inside the Hutchins State Jail, where the 58-year-old Texas man died.
Gabrielle Banks, San Antonio Express News 02/14/2017 | | Read Article: San Antonio Express News |
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