TTLA Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Seminar | October 22-23 | Royal Sonesta, Houston | Get ready for 2015 PMD Night Out! Click the headline for more information on TTLA's Party of the Year! Held exclusively during TTLA's Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Seminar, this is the party you will be talking about all year. You also won't want to miss the sell-out seminar with an unprecedented lineup of in-demand topics, storied speakers and unparalleled insight. This year, experience something REAL. Real Torts. Real Talk. Real Time. | TTLA Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE Seminar December 2-4 | Mark your calendar and register today! TTLA Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE Seminar, December 2-4, Four Seasons Hotel, Houston. CLE speakers are confirmed and the program agenda is set. Registration is now open. Hotel room rate of $195 per night expires November 10. Reserve your room today using promo code CI1215LA or call 800-734-4114 and mention the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Click on the headline to learn more. | San Antonio Car Wrecks CLE Seminar, November 5, 2015 | Earn up to 7.25 hours MCLE credit including 1.0 hr ethics credit. TTLA's Car Wrecks CLE Seminar features practical, in-depth tips and strategies to help you WIN YOUR CASES. Come away with the tools you need to compete in the courtroom! Click on the headline to learn more and register. | Texas Tribune Daily Brief | | Texas Doctors, Insurers Taking 'Balance Billing' Fight Public | | Balance billing has been a nationwide problem for years but has gained a higher profile in recent months. In Texas this year lawmakers passed a limited set of protections despite consternation from the medical community. The public fighting began with a study by America's Health Insurance Plans that found that Texas ER doctors were charging out-of-network patients more than six times the rate that Medicare pays. The Texas Association of Health Plans announced the study in a news release, suggesting doctors were refusing to join networks so they could "inflate medical charges" to make more money. The Texas Medical Association responded by releasing a statement calling the study "a desperate smoke screen to divert attention from the real problem." Brian M. Rosenthal, Houston Chronicle 10/12/2015 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | Woman Misdiagnosed with Cancer Awarded $2.5M | | A New York woman has been awarded $2.5 million in a lawsuit over her cancer misdiagnosis. The woman filed suit against Richmond University Medical Center after she underwent chemotherapy treatments only to discover that she did not have cancer. According to the case, the woman's slides were switched with another patient, causing doctors to tell her she had cancer. The 46-year-old plaintiff alleges that she now "suffers from permanent fatigue and shortness of breath and has lost her sense of taste due to chemotherapy." Frank Donnelly, Staten Island Advance 10/08/2015 | Read Article: Staten Island Advance | Partial Settlement Reached in 2013 Texas Explosion | | A settlement was reached with families of some victims of a massive West, Texas fertilizer explosion that killed 15 people and leveled part of the town two years ago, according to a post on the website of McLennan County, where a trial over their claims was set to begin. Associated Press, The New York Times 10/12/2015 | Read Article: The New York Times | Wisconsin Trial Against Gun Shop to Weigh Obligations of Dealers | | At 18, Julius Burton could not legally buy a gun. So he paid a 21-year-old acquaintance $40 to accompany him to Badger Guns and to be the official buyer of a weapon. A month later Burton shot two police officers with the gun. The wounded officers and the city of Milwaukee brought a civil lawsuit in state court against the gun store, charging that the clerk knew or should have known that the transaction was illegal. Closing arguments are expected on Monday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, in what has been a rarity in the last decade ' a jury trial on the obligations of gun dealers who make questionable sales. ERIK ECKHOLM, The New York Times 10/12/2015 | Read Article: The New York Times | Despite Recall, IKEA Children's Dressers Still A Concern | | Concerns are being raised about the continued dangers of children's furniture recalled by IKEA that already caused the death of two toddlers. A longtime furniture-industry executive wrote a letter to federal regulators expressing his concerns about the dressers which were recalled by IKEA. According to the executive, IKEA has been "blatantly negligent" and ignored safety standards. The toddlers were both killed when the furniture tipped-over on top of them. At least seven million of the dressers have been sold in the United States. Tricia L. Nadolny, Philly.Com 10/11/2015 | Read Article: Philly.Com | Widow Reaches $18M Settlement in Lawsuit Against Gas Companies | | A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of a man who died in a flash fire at a natural gas station in Tyler County, West Virginia has been settled for $18 million. The woman filed the lawsuit in Ohio County Circuit Court after her husband's April 2013 death at the Eureka Hunter Pipeline facility in the town of Wick. Two other workers were involved in the fire and were severely burned. According to reports, the fire occurred when a vapor cloud formed at the natural gas station and caught fire. Staff Report, Insurance Journal 10/12/2015 | Read Article: Insurance Journal | | |