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TTLA BRIEFCASE: Court Transcript - Judge Dietz Discusses Internet Use with Jurors |
| TTLA Past President Tommy Jacks shared an excerpt of a trial transcript from a recent case before State District Judge John Dietz in Austin. The excerpt is Judge Dietz’ remarks to the jury regarding the issues that can arise from jurors’ use of the internet to find information related to the case they’re hearing. Click on the headline to access the TTLA Briefcase. |
Products |
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Goodyear Recalls 41K Wrangler Silent Armor Tires |
| Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co said Saturday it would recall about 41,000 of its Wrangler Silent Armor tires produced in 2009 over concerns that a small number could tear, leading to crashes. Two people died in one 2011 rollover crash in Texas involving a vehicle equipped with the tires, Goodyear spokesman Scott Baughman said. Baughman said about 27,000 of the tires were still believed to be in service. The tires are used on pickup trucks, vans and sport-utility vehicles, often at construction sites or for off-road applications, he said. Reuters, Yahoo News 02/27/2012 | Read Article: Yahoo News |
Laws/Cases |
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Supreme Court to Weigh Torture Lawsuits Against Corporations |
| Two years ago, the Supreme Court said corporations were like people and had the same free-speech rights to spend unlimited sums on campaigns ads. Now, in a major test of human rights law, the justices will decide whether corporations are like people when they are sued for aiding foreign regimes that kill or torture their own people. At issue is an obscure 18th century law unearthed by human rights lawyers in the 1980s and increasingly used against U.S. corporations whose work overseas has entangled them with brutal regimes. David G. Savage, LA Times 02/27/2012 | Read Article: LA Times |
Start of Trial on Gulf Oil Spill Is Delayed |
| The civil trial over America’s biggest oil spill has been delayed for a week as efforts to settle the multibillion-dollar litigation intensify. Proceedings were scheduled to begin Monday, but on Sunday afternoon, Judge Carl J. Barbier of Federal District Court, who is overseeing the sprawling litigation, issued a brief order pushing the opening day back to March 5 “for reasons of judicial efficiency and to allow the parties to make further progress in their settlement discussions.” In an unusual move, the judge said the court was issuing the order “on its own motion,” as opposed to a request from any party in the case. JOHN SCHWARTZ, The New York Times 02/27/2012 | Read Article: The New York Times |
Texas to Get $6.5M in Oil Spill Damages |
| An investor in the Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, has agreed to pay Texas $6.5 million for damages caused to the coast, the Texas Attorney General said in a statement Friday. Texas' cut comes out of a $90 million settlement that the investor, MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, reached with the federal government and Gulf states over the 2010 spill. The money will be used to restore the Gulf Coast ecosystem, an area key to the U.S. economy that has been deteriorating for decades. Ramit Plushnick-Masti, AP, Austin American Statesman 02/27/2012 | Read Article: Austin American Statesman |
Monsanto Settles Lawsuits |
| Monsanto Co. has agreed to spend up to $93 million on medical testing and the cleanup of as many as 4,500 homes in a West Virginia city where a legacy company once produced Agent Orange and other chemicals. The legal settlement would resolve a series of lawsuits brought by residents of Nitro, W.Va., over health problems blamed on the now-closed plant. The settlement, which still must be reviewed by a county circuit court judge, doesn't include any finding of wrongdoing by Monsanto or its legacy companies. MARK PETERS AND KRIS MAHER, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 02/27/2012 | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) |
Insurer Sues Montana Over Asbestos Settlement |
| A Nebraska insurance company has filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana to recover $16 million that was used primarily to cover a sweeping financial settlement of asbestos-related claims from residents of the Superfund town of Libby. The lawsuit from the Omaha-based National Indemnity Co. asks a Montana judge to order the return of any payments in the settlement that fell outside the state's insurance policy. Associated Press, Billings Gazette 02/27/2012 | Read Article: Billings Gazette |
TX Supreme Court Rules For Landowners in Water Case |
| In a case with potentially vast implications for groundwater rules in Texas, the Texas Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favor of two farmers in the San Antonio area who challenged the local aquifer authority's sharp restrictions on their use of a water well on their land. The case involved a challenge to the Edwards Aquifer Authority by two farmers, Burrell Day (who has since passed away) and Joel McDaniel, who had sought a permit to pump from the Edwards Aquifer in 1996 to grow crops on their 350-acre ranch in Van Ormy, just south of San Antonio. They figured they had rights to the water because their ranch sits right on top of it, within the boundaries of the aquifer. Kate Galbraith, Texas Tribune 02/27/2012 | Read Article: Texas Tribune |
Judge Denies Toyota Arbitration in Class-Action Suit |
| A California U.S. District Judge has tentatively ruled that Toyota Motor Corp. cannot force "named plaintiffs" in the unintended acceleration class-action lawsuit into arbitration. The judge said Toyota waived its right to compel arbitration for most of the 20 plaintiffs, and that for the remainder, "the carmaker wasn’t a party to the arbitration agreements between the plaintiffs and the Toyota dealers." Toyota is claiming that customers who bought or leased their vehicles signed an agreement waiving their right to participate in a class-action suit. Edvard Pettersson and Bill Callahan, Bloomberg 02/24/2012 | Read Article: Bloomberg |
Issues |
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Settlements Without Admissions Get Scrutiny |
| The entrenched practice of allowing companies and individuals to settle federal regulatory charges without admitting that they actually did anything wrong is coming under growing scrutiny by the courts. Two federal judges have questioned such settlements proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and this week a third judge held up a settlement offered by the Federal Trade Commission. EDWARD WYATT, The New York Times 02/27/2012 | Read Article: The New York Times |
Labor/Employment |
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School District to Pay Ex-Teacher $1.1 Million |
| A former teacher in Charlotte, N.C., has been awarded more than $1.1 million from a local jury in a lawsuit filed against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools over what the plaintiff calls a "forced resignation." The man claimed he was "misled and intimidated" into signing a resignation form after several students complained that he "improperly touched him" - charges of which he was acquitted. The lawsuit states the plaintiff was told if he resigned, no investigation would take place, but if he did not, he would likely be fired. Ann Doss Helms, Charlotte Observer 02/25/2012 | Read Article: Charlotte Observer |
Personal Injury |
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Jury Awards $7.3 Million for 4Runner Accident |
| The parents of a boy who was paralyzed in a rollover accident in a Toyota 4Runner were awarded $7.3 million in a lawsuit filed against Toyota. The lawsuit claimed the vehicle had a propensity to roll over in certain situations due to its "high center of gravity," to which the jury agreed. The jury computed compensation at more than $12 million, but found the boy 40 percent responsible for the accident, which reduced the damages. Jesse Bass , The Jackson Clarion-Ledger 02/24/2012 | Read Article: The Jackson Clarion-Ledger |
Business Litigation |
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Bank Settles Fraudulent Underwriting Lawsuit |
| Michigan-based Flagstar Bank has agreed to a $133-million settlement with the federal government in a lawsuit accusing the bank of "fraudulent mortgage lending practices." According to the lawsuit, Flagstar allowed unqualified employees to approve loans backed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that did not comply with federal underwriting requirements. As part of the settlement, the bank has agreed to provide additional training to its employees and terminate the senior managers who oversaw the bank's underwriting. Katherine Yung, Detroit Free Press 02/25/2012 | Read Article: Detroit Free Press |
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