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| | TTLA Annual Conference has moved to June 1-3 in Austin | |
| | We’ll be hosting all the events you’ve come to expect from our December conference. Between the 2-day CLE, parties, meetings, legislative update & special events. Check out the CLE program agendas for Wednesday and Thursday, which include a live video presentation with David Ball plus family friendly events to make this a true vacation opportunity. Register now! | | Products | |
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| | Tainted Alcohol Wipes Saga Continues | |
| | Alcohol wipes, typically used to sanitize skin before an injection, turned out to have been contaminated with potentially deadly bacteria. H&P Industries and the Triad group (both run by the same people), manufacture the wipes, along with a host of other medical supplies. The FDA apparently had been aware that the companies’ manufacturing practices were faulty since 2009. Serious infections have been blamed on the wipes. The CDC concluded that the wipes used in the hospitals contained bacillus cereus and other bacteria. Jennifer LaRue Huget, The Washington Post 04/11/2011 | | Read Article: The Washington Post | | Laws/Cases | |
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| | Transgender Fired for 'Not Being a Man,' Suit Says | |
| | A New Jersey man has filed a lawsuit against a local drug treatment center at which he was formerly employed. The suit claims the plaintiff was fired after it was discovered he was transgender. The plaintiff claims in his suit he was fired because "only a man" could do his job - watching other men urinate in a cup for a drug test. The suit claims discrimination, saying that after a sex-change surgery, he was issued a new birth certificate, Social Security card and a new driver's license that identify him as a male. Richard Perez-Pena, The New York Times 04/10/2011 | | Read Article: The New York Times | | Suit to be Dismissed Against San Francisco Officers | |
| | A federal judge is set to dismiss a lawsuit filed against two San Francisco police officers over the shooting of a mentally ill woman in 2008. Officers shot the woman after failed attempts to subdue her with pepper spray. She was holding a knife and repeatedly lunged at them before being shot. The lawsuit argued the officers "unlawfully entered her room" and used excessive force. Katie Worth, San Francisco Examiner 04/10/2011 | | Read Article: San Francisco Examiner | | Man Files $5 Million Suit Over Police Chase, Murder | |
| | An Arizona man has filed a federal lawsuit against various law enforcement agencies in the state over his role in a police chase and the murder of a Gilbert police officer. The plaintiff led police on a high-speed chase in January that started when the passenger shot an officer during a traffic stop. The plaintiff claims he was an innocent bystander throughout the events, forced to run from the police out of fear for his safety, not because he was in cahoots with the passenger. The suit is seeking $5 million and dismissal of the 107-year sentence against him for his involvement. Nathan Gonzalez , Arizona Republic 04/08/2011 | | Read Article: Arizona Republic | | State Farm, TDI Back in Court | |
| | State Farm and the Texas Department of Insurance resume their long-running legal battle in state district court in Austin Monday over alleged overcharges by the state's largest home insurer dating back to 2003. The insurance department will try to persuade a judge that the company owes its policyholders at least $310 million plus interest for several years of excessive premiums. The state's public insurance counsel argued in the past that the figure is closer to $1 billion. State Farm insists it owes nothing and has always charged fair and competitive rates to its 1.2 million customers in Texas. State Farm has claimed that payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds will wipe out a third of the capital of its homeowners insurance subsidiary in Texas and also make it impossible for the company to pay back a $1 billion loan incurred because of big losses in the early 2000s. Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News 04/11/2011 | | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News | | NY Couple Awarded $5.5 Million in Malpractice Suit | |
| | A New York couple has been awarded $5.5 million by a state court in a lawsuit filed against Lenox Hill Hospital over injuries the woman suffered during childbirth. The couple claimed in their lawsuit that the woman complained of pains during her pregnancy and requested a Cesarean section during labor, but the doctors ignored her. As a result of the natural birth, the woman suffered serious pelvic injuries. Staff Report, Business Wire 04/08/2011 | | Read Article: Business Wire | | Healthcare | |
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| | New List Ranks Hospitals on Patient Safety | |
| | Over strong objections from the hospital industry, the government has published data about things that can go wrong in hospitals. The information is the first hospital-specific patient safety data to be released nationally by Medicare. Published last week, it comes from a review of hospital bills submitted for elderly and disabled patients between October 2008 and June 2010. Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune 04/11/2011 | | Read Article: Chicago Tribune | | TEXAS LAWYER CASE SUMMARIES | |
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| | 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: Constitutional Law - deadly force | |
| | Plaintiff Susan Carnaby, individually and as a representative of the estate of her husband Roland Carnaby, appeals a summary judgment for defendant city of Houston and police officers Charles Foster and Andrew Washington. She alleges that the use of deadly force violated her husband's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure. The officers were trying to prevent serious injury or death, so their use of force was reasonable. She also argues that that Washington is liable for failure to supervise the other officers on the scene. Under §1983, a government official can be held liable only for his own misconduct. Beyond his own conduct, the extent of his liability as a supervisor is similar to that of a municipality that implements an unconstitutional policy. There is no evidence that Washington established any sort of policy during this one incident, so summary judgment on this claim was proper. Lastly, she contends that the city failed to train the officers properly. Mrs. Carnaby did not produce sufficient evidence to meet all the requirements for municipal liability. Thus, even if the city could be liable for failure to train in the absence of a constitutional violation, Mrs. Carnaby has not produced sufficient evidence to defeat summary judgment. The judgment is affirmed. Carnaby, v. City of Houston, et al., 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 09-20825, 03-22-2011 , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 04/11/2011 | | Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) | | Austin Court of Appeals: Motor Vehicle - "coming and going" rule | |
| | After her husband Troy McVey was killed in a motor vehicle accident while driving to Houston for a job-related training conference, appellee Chantal McVey, as Troy's beneficiary, sought workers' compensation survivor benefits from Troy's employer's insurance carrier, appellant Zurich American Insurance Co. Zurich denied coverage, asserting that Troy's death was not compensable because he had not been acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of his fatal accident. The undisputed facts establish that the "coming and going" rule did not apply to the travel in which Troy McVey was engaged at the time of his fatal accident, that this travel furthered the business of his employer and that it originated in the business of his employer. Troy was acting in the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident, and his death was compensable. Accordingly, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of McVey and in denying Zurich's motion. Zurich American Insurance Co. v. McVey, Austin Court of Appeals, No. 03-09-00666-CV, 03-30-2011 , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 04/11/2011 | | Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) | |
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