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| | Announcements | |
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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, you’ll leave the live music capital of the world feeling energized, connected, and bad to the bone! 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. Click on the headline to register! | | Share with your FB friends: Editorial - Tort deform, Houston Chronicle 5-15-11 | |
| | House Bill 274 further stacks the legal deck in favor of big-money defendants. The campaign by so-called tort reformers in Texas has long since moved beyond its avowed goal of preventing frivolous lawsuits and massive damage judgments. With the passage of HB 274 by the Texas House last weekend, it has graduated to an all-out assault on the ability of consumers and small business owners to seek legal redress in civil courts against powerful business interests. You might call the latest iteration "stealth tort reform." The primary damage isn't in what the bill adds to current law. The injustice is in what it eliminates. Click on the headline to read more. | | Laws/Cases | |
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| | Lawsuit Over Party at Former Texas Justice's House is Settled | |
| | An alcohol-related lawsuit filed against former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and his wife over a girl’s death has been settled. The suit accused the couple of allowing minors to drink alcohol at their home before a 2009 traffic accident that killed 17-year-old passenger Audrey King. The teen had been at a party, allegedly hosted by the Phillips’ then-20-year-old son, at the ex-judge’s residence in Bastrop. Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 05/17/2011 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | Halliburton Engineer Declines to Testify in Oil Spill Suit | |
| | A Halliburton Co. engineer who said he warned BP Plc of the risk of a natural-gas surge before the Macondo well blew up has declined to testify in litigation over the incident, Transocean said. Jesse Gagliano, a technical adviser who was Halliburton’s cementing engineer on the well offshore of Louisiana, “refused to testify last week” in a deposition and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, Transocean said in a court filing. Transocean asked the magistrate overseeing depositions to give the company more time to question personnel from Houston-based Halliburton. Margaret Cronin Fisk & Laurel Brubaker Calkins, Bloomberg 05/17/2011 | | Read Article: Bloomberg | | Dilliard's Settles Age Discrimination Lawsuit | |
| | Department store giant Dillard's has settled a $50,000 lawsuit in which a former employee accused the company of age discrimination. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was fired at the age of 61 from her area sales manager job in 2008 and replaced with a 24-year-old employee who only had four months of experience. The woman had been at her job for four years and had received positive reviews during her previous evaluations, the suit said. Sue Stock, News & Observer 05/17/2011 | | Read Article: News & Observer | | Student Wrongfully Forced Out of College, Suit Says | |
| | A former student at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming she was forced to withdraw from the radiology program because of a conversation that was mentioned on Facebook. According to the lawsuit, details of a private conversation between the plaintiff and her sister regarding a radiologist technician at a local hospital whom she was shadowing were discussed on Facebook by third parties. Department officials at the school saw the postings and declared the plaintiff had violated school policies, forcing her to withdraw or receive an “F” grade. The suit cites violation of due process and breach of contract and is seeking unspecified damages. Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/16/2011 | | Read Article: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | | $7 Million Malpractice Settlement Approved | |
| | A $7 million settlement in a malpractice suit between four medical professionals at a Worcester, Mass., hospital and the mother of a disabled child has been approved. The suit alleged doctors and officials at the hospital failed to tell the mother of tests that could have been done to test her child for genetic disorders before she was born. The tests could have prompted the plaintiff to have an abortion "rather than carry her now-disabled child to term," her lawyer told the Boston Globe. Travis Andersen, Boston Globe 05/06/2011 | | Read Article: Boston Globe | | Issues | |
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| | FDA to Discuss Dosage Labels on Fever-Reducers | |
| | Two advisory committees for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet today to discuss potentially fine-tuning the dosing instructions on the labels of medicines containing acetaminophen to protect young children. Medications containing acetaminophen, including fever-reducers, can be toxic to a young child's liver if taken in high doses. In 2010, there were 270,000 reported overdoses of acetaminophen, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Currently the label on these medications only says "ask a doctor" in the recommended dosage area. Jenifer Goodwin, US News and World Report 05/17/2011 | | Read Article: US News and World Report | | Healthcare | |
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| | Some Ob-Gyns in South Florida Turn Away Overweight Women | |
| | A few ob-gyn doctors in South Florida now refuse to see otherwise healthy women solely because they are overweight. Fifteen obstetrics-gynecology practices out of 105 polled by the Sun Sentinel said they have set weight cut-offs for new patients starting at 200 pounds or based on measures of obesity — and turn down women who are heavier. Some of the doctors said the main reason was their exam tables or other equipment can't handle people over a certain weight. But at least six said they were trying to avoid obese patients because they have a higher risk of complications. Bob LaMendola,, Chicago Tribune 05/17/2011 | | Read Article: Chicago Tribune | | Insurance | |
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| | While Home Prices May Be Falling, Insurance Premiums Are on the Rise | |
| | Already plagued by stubbornly low home prices, homeowners soon may be facing another blow: rising insurance premiums. After five years of relatively stable premiums, some of the country's biggest insurers have raised rates—or say they plan to. Premiums vary by state, but last year, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. says it increased homeowners rates 7.3% on average and, this year, has raised them in 18 states, including a few by more than 7%. By contrast, it cut rates in just two states. CHAD TERHUNE & ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 05/17/2011 | | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) | |
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