TTLA Annual Meeting: REGISTER ONLINE BY DEC 3 & SAVE $279 | Formerly the TTLA Annual Conference, our December event is now the Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE! We've streamlined this event and we're now offering a one-day Advanced PI CLE, along with the Annual Membership & Board Meeting, President's Luncheon, and a spectacular Holiday Party with dinner and dancing with the famous Lee Roy Parnell. Click on the headline to learn more! |
Supreme Court Blocks Anti-Eavesdropping Law | 
| The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited Illinois law enforcement officials from enforcing a new law that punishes people who record police officers on the job. The ruling upholds a lower court's ruling that found the state law in violation of free-speech rights. Opponents of the Illinois anti-eavesdropping law say the right to record police "is vital to guard against abuses."
Staff Report, Chicago Tribune 11/26/2012    | Read Article: Chicago Tribune |
City Settles Suit over Police Rape Allegations |
| The city of Santa Maria, Calif., has agreed to pay $185,000 to settle a lawsuit with a local teenager who claimed she was raped by a city police officer. The girl, 17 at the time of the incident, said the officer threatened to "kill her boyfriend" if she did not have sex with him. The officer was killed by a colleague during an arrest attempt in which the defendant opened fire on fellow officers.
Steve Chawkins, LA Times 11/27/2012 | Read Article: LA Times |
Lubbock Jury Finds West Star Transportation Negligent |
| A jury in 72nd District Court returned a verdict awarding $5.5 million to former Lubbock resident Charles Robison and his wife. The award includes $5.1 million for Robison and $400,000 for his wife, Cherie. The jury in Charles Robison, et al. v. West Star Transportation Inc. found the defendant was negligent in connection with the accident that injured Robison in 2007. Robison and his wife alleged Robison was injured when he was “required” to place a tarp over a piece of gin equipment loaded on a trailer, and he fell off the trailer from 15 to 20 feet high and struck his head on concrete.
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Texas Lawyer 11/27/2012 | Read Article: Texas Lawyer |
Suits Over Movie Theater Shooting Consolidated |
| A Colorado federal judge has consolidated seven lawsuits brought against the Cinemark theater chain over the shooting that occurred during a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises." The judge also set May 5, 2014 as the earliest day any of the claims could go to trial. Twelve people were killed and 58 were wounded during the mass shooting earlier this year.
Staff Report, Chicago Tribune 11/26/2012 | Read Article: Chicago Tribune |
A&M-S.A. Top Cop Files Whistle-Blower Lawsuit |
| The police chief at Texas A&M University-San Antonio has filed an employment whistle-blower lawsuit against the university and the A&M University System claiming he was penalized for reporting sexual harassment and retaliation against co-workers. The case, brought by John Eric Coleman last week in state district court in Travis County, alleges that three supervisors in the university's Division of Finance and Administration were “engaging in and condoning” the harassment and retaliation against fellow employees and that Coleman was demoted for reporting it.
Jennifer R. Lloyd, San Antonio Express News 11/27/2012 | Read Article: San Antonio Express News |
Suit Over Doctor’s Note is a “Health Care Liability Claim,” 5th Court of Appeals Rules |
| The list of disputes that qualify as a “heath care liability claim” under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Chapter 74 just got a little longer. Chapter 74 requires a plaintiff litigating such a claim to file an expert report early in the proceedings. This time, the dispute at issue involves a doctor’s note, according to a Nov. 21 decision by Dallas’ 5th Court of Appeals.
John Council , Texas Lawyer 11/27/2012 | Read Article: Texas Lawyer |
Hospitals Face Pressure to Avert Readmissions |
| After years of gently prodding hospitals to make sure discharged patients do not need to return, the federal government is now using its financial muscle to discourage readmissions. Medicare last month began levying financial penalties against 2,217 hospitals it says have had too many readmissions. Of those hospitals, 307 will receive the maximum punishment, a 1 percent reduction in Medicare’s regular payments for every patient over the next year, federal records show.
JORDAN RAU, The New York Times 11/27/2012 | Read Article: The New York Times |
NM State Police Named in Wrongful Death Lawsuit |
| A New Mexico man has filed a lawsuit against state police over the fatal shooting of his son in October 2011. Police were approaching the victim's house during an investigation of road-rage allegations against the victim's brother when they heard shots fired. The suit says officers saw the victim standing in the window holding a pistol and shot him; officers are also accused of attempting to intimidate the victim and failing to identify themselves as police.
Wire Report, Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/27/2012 | Read Article: Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
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