| | Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE December 5-6, Four Seasons, Austin | | Don't miss this chance to attend the best Advanced PI CLE in Texas! TTLA's year-end event has been streamlined and we're now offering a one-day Advanced PI CLE, along with the Annual Membership & Board Meeting, President's Luncheon featuring guest speaker Evan Smith (Editor-in-Chief and CEO of the Texas Tribune), and a spectacular Holiday Party with dinner and dancing to the truly Texan sound of Joe Ely. Click on the headline to learn more & register. |
| Muslim Prisoners Win Right to Islamic Practices After Suit | | 
| | Muslim prisoners in Michigan will now be allowed to participate in traditional Islamic practices, such as halal meals and celebrating Islamic holidays, as a result of a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU in 2009. The settlement will also allow Muslim inmates to gather for religious meals on the two annual Eid holidays. Over 8% of all prisoners in Michigan are Muslim - nearly 4,000 out of 43,000. A U.S. district judge ruled in August that the state was violating the rights of inmates by not allowing them to participate in their religious practices.
Niraj Warikoo , Detroit Free Press 11/21/2013    | | Read Article: Detroit Free Press |
| Judge Rules ASU Must Pay Additional $1.1M in Lawsuit | |
| | Alabama State University has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.1 million in attorneys' fees and court costs to end a lawsuit against them. This payment comes in addition to a $1 million judgment "handed down by a jury last year in favor of three former employees who claimed two top administrators had made numerous inappropriate comments and created a hostile work environment." According to the university, who continues to deny the allegations, the order to pay attorneys' fees was expected, and most of the cost of the case will be covered by their insurance.
Wire Report, Houston Chronicle 11/22/2013 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Lawsuit Filed Against Hertz over Racist Facebook Posts | |
| | A man from Maui has filed a lawsuit alleging that Hertz employees made racist comments about him on Facebook, mentioning him by name. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on Friday afternoon and calls the act a hate crime. The posts described the plaintiff "as a pretentious black man who rented high-end vehicles, such as BMWs, despite chides on Facebook that his credit card gets declined frequently." The lawsuit names Facebook and Hertz as defendants.
Nick Grube, The Huffington Post 11/24/2013 | | Read Article: The Huffington Post |
| Lawsuit over Asbestos Death Moves to Brazil | |
| | A lawsuit which alleges Alcoa products caused a Brazilian worker to contract mesothelioma has been moved from Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania to a court in Brazil. A judge recently "ruled in favored of Alcoa's motion to have the court venue in Brazil, both for expense and expeditiousness reasons." The lawsuit concerns the estate of the factory worker, who worked there from 1970 to 1987 and came in direct and indirect contact with asbestos on a regular basis. The worker died from mesothelioma in 2010.
Max Mitchell, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| Six Flags Hit with $35 Million Verdict Over Assault | |
| | A Cobb County jury has reached a $35 million verdict against Six Flags Over Georgia for the 2007 gang beating and traumatic brain injury of a visitor outside the entrance to the amusement park. The jury apportioned 92 percent of the fault, worth $32.2 million, to Six Flags. Four other defendants were each found to be responsible for 2 percent of the fault, or $700,000 each.
Katheryn Hayes Tucker , The National Law Journal - $$ Subscription Required 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: The National Law Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) |
| Waste Land: One Town's Atomic Legacy: A $500 Million Cleanup | |
| | Patty Ameno has spent the last 25 years fighting to clean up nuclear waste in and around Apollo, her hometown in western Pennsylvania. In her quest, she has helped organize litigation that resulted in more than $80 million in payments to her and scores of neighbors claiming health damage from radioactive contamination. When federal regulators said the waste could safely stay buried in the field—which for years had been used as an informal recreation area by residents—Ms. Ameno hounded government officials until Congress passed a law requiring a cleanup.
John R. Emshwiller, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 11/22/2013 | | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) |
| Court Restricts Guardians' Use of Child's Settlement Funds | |
| | The guardians of a disabled child's $8 million medical malpractice estate cannot use the girl's money for a bat mitzvah party or to bring the entire family on vacation, a Nassau County judge has held in a case of first impression. District Court Judge Gary Knobel (See Profile) said neither Mental Hygiene Law Article 81 nor case law addresses the issues raised in Matter of the Application of Geoffrey M. and Jordana M., 28328-I-06. In denying the parents' request to use any of the money for the party, and approving only part of the vacation request, Knobel cautioned the parents of Sigal M. that the settlement funds must last a lifetime.
John Caher, The New York Law Journal, The National Law Journal - $$ Subscription Required 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: The National Law Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) |
| FDA Tells 23andMe to Halt Sales of Genetic Test | |
| | The Food and Drug Administration is ordering genetic test maker 23andMe to halt sales of its personalized DNA test kits, saying the company has failed to show that the technology is backed by science. In a warning letter posted online, FDA regulators say the Silicon Valley company is violating federal law because its products claim to identify health risks for more than 250 diseases and health conditions.
Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| PG&E Consultant Regrets E-Mail Over Pipeline Safety | |
| | The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. engineering consultant who wrote a now-infamous e-mail asking whether a company natural gas pipeline in San Carlos posed the risk of "another San Bruno situation" says the uproar it caused was overblown. "I regret writing the e-mail," David Harrison testified before a California Public Utilities Commission judge who will recommend whether PG&E should be allowed to return the pipe to full service. Harrison wrote his e-mail after learning that PG&E had discovered 1920s-era welds on the line that its records showed weren't there. The company had a similar problem in San Bruno, where a weld that didn't show up in company documents ruptured, causing the explosion.
Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: San Francisco Chronicle |
| Who Does Your Physician Work For? | |
| | Physicians in the United States are in the midst of a historic shift toward hospital employment. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of physicians who went to work for hospitals increased by one-third, and the rate appears to be increasing in the years since. Today, fewer than half of U.S. physicians are self-employed, down from over three quarters in 1983, and in 2014 it is estimated that three in four of all physicians hired will go to work for a hospital. What is driving this trend toward hospital employment, and is it good or bad news for patients?
Richard Gunderman, The Atlantic 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: The Atlantic |
| Husband Awarded $15M in Childbirth Death Suit | |
| | An Illinois man, whose wife died while giving birth, has been awarded $15 million by a jury. The man filed a wrongful death lawsuit against two doctors and hospitals who failed to diagnose and treat the woman for a high-risk complication called placenta accreta. The woman died of excessive bleeding during her cesarean section in 2008.
Wire Report, Claims Journal 11/25/2013 | | Read Article: Claims Journal |
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