These Annual Meeting Events are Not to be Missed! | Join TTLA December 8-9, 2016 at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas for the 2016 Annual Meeting and CLE Seminar. See this year's Keynote Speaker, Matthew Dowd, and other great speakers while earning up to 7.50 hours MCLE credit. Click on the headline to learn more. | Texas Tribune Daily Brief | | DuPont Faces Another Lawsuit Over Cancer-Causing Chemicals | | DuPont is facing another lawsuit by a man who says his cancer was caused by the company's dumping of chemicals into the Ohio River. DuPont, which manufactures teflon, non-stick coating used in pots and pans, has been named in a number of lawsuits accusing the DuPont produced chemicals of causing illnesses. Many plaintiffs have alleged in legal complaints that their illnesses came about because DuPont dumped C8-contaminated water into the Ohio River and spewed C8 from its smokestacks. The most recent lawsuit, filed by a 56-year-old truck driver from Washington County, Ohio, has begun trial in federal court. Earl Rinehart, Columbus Dispatch 11/15/2016 | Read Article: Columbus Dispatch | Passengers Sue After American Airlines Flight Catches Fire | | A lawsuit has been filed against American Airlines, General Electric, and Boeing by eighteen passengers of a plane that caught fire as it was taking off from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. On October 28, the plane suffered engine failure as it was taking off on a flight to Miami. According to the lawsuit, twenty people were injured when the right side of the plane caught fire. Defendants are accused of using defective materials to construct the plane's engine and the flight attendants have been accused of failing to properly evacuate the plane. Megan Crepeau, Chicago Tribune 11/15/2016 | Read Article: Chicago Tribune | Ex-NFL Players Seek Workers' Comp for Brain Injuries | | A group of former NFL athletes have filed a lawsuit asking the league to recognize brain injury disease as an occupational hazard covered by workers' compensation. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on behalf of more than 140 retired players. According to the lawsuit, the former players may suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, due to head injuries suffered while playing football. The lawsuit could apply to most of the 19,000 retired NFL players in the U.S., says the lead attorney for the plaintiffs. Paula McMahon, South Florida Sun-Sentinel 11/22/2016 | Read Article: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | Zero Tolerance for Deadly Hospital-Acquired Infections | | About 650,000 people developed infections after being admitted to U.S. hospitals in 2011, and 75,000 died, based on the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That would make hospital-acquired infections the nationâ??s eighth leading cause of death, just behind diabetes and just ahead of flu and pneumonia. Central-line infections account for roughly 5 percent of all hospital-acquired infections, striking more than 27,000 people in 2015, research shows. And theyâ??re a particularly important subset, says Arjun Srinivasan, M.D., associate director for Healthcare Associated Infection Prevention Programs at the CDC. Hallie Levine, ConsumerReports.org 11/22/2016 | Read Article: ConsumerReports.org | Lawsuit Blames Fracking in Oklahoma for Over 50 Earthquakes | | A class action lawsuit has been filed by the town of Pawnee, Oklahoma, alleging that energy companies have been responsible for about 50 earthquakes. The plaintiffs allege that the companiesâ?? practice of injecting wastewater from fracking into the ground caused a major earthquake in September and over 50 smaller tremors. "Dangerous tremors have become a constant threat to the residents of Pawnee, but the energy companies behind them donâ??t seem to care," stated one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit. Previously, the state claimed that a link to fracking and earthquakes was not clear, however, in April the position was reversed, allowing homeowners to sue oil and gas companies for earthquake damages in state trial courts. Ellen Powell, Christian Science Monitor 11/19/2016 | Read Article: Christian Science Monitor | Obama Admin Seeks Curbs on Mandatory Arbitration for Insurance | | The Obama administration is pressing U.S. states to curb insurers' use of fine print in contracts that bars unsatisfied customers from suing, taking the latest step against "mandatory arbitration clauses" in an insurance report released by the Treasury Department on Monday. The federal government does not regulate insurance companies or products. Each state has its own oversight process. But in recent years, the U.S. government has dipped its toe into regulating the industry, most notably by identifying some insurers as "too big to fail," a label triggering additional capital requirements. Lisa Lambert, Reuters 11/22/2016 | Read Article: Reuters | US Allows GM to Delay Recall to Prove Safety of Air Bags | | U.S. auto safety regulators are allowing General Motors to delay a large recall of potentially defective air bags, giving the company time to prove that the devices are safe and to possibly avoid a huge financial hit. The unusual move by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration buys time for GM to do long-term tests of Takata air bag inflators in older trucks and SUVs including its top-selling vehicle, the Chevrolet Silverado pickup. TOM KRISHER, AP AUTO WRITER, Houston Chronicle 11/22/2016 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | No Evidence of Aloe Vera Found in the Aloe Vera at Wal-Mart, CVS, Target | | The aloe vera gel many Americans buy to soothe damaged skin contains no evidence of aloe vera at all. Samples of store-brand aloe gel purchased at national retailers Wal-Mart, Target and CVS showed no indication of the plant in various lab tests. The products all listed aloe barbadensis leaf juice - another name for aloe vera - as either the No. 1 ingredient or No. 2 after water. Lydia Mulvany, Zeke Faux, Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle 11/22/2016 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | Boyfriend of Bobbi Kristina Brown to Pay $36M in Death Lawsuit | | Nick Gordon, the former boyfriend of Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, has been ordered to pay $36 million to his ex-girlfriend's estate. Brown was found unresponsive in her bathtub in January 2015 and died six months later in July. Gordon was accused in the lawsuit of causing Brown's death by giving her a "toxic cocktail." Back in September, Gordon was deemed "legally responsible" for Brown's death after he failed to appear in court. The lawsuit accused him of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and transferring money from Brownâ??s account into his own without authorization. Ryan Dennis, USA Today 11/18/2016 | Read Article: USA Today | | |