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Texas Trial Lawyers Association


This service sponsored exclusively by Trialsmith

  February 12, 2014

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Upcoming Online CLE

13
Feb

The Ethics of Medicare Secondary Payer: How Present Practices Pose Practical Problems for Plaintiff Practitioners

18
Feb

Dealing with Protective Orders – Another View

19
Feb

New Strategies for Hospital Acquired Infections

20
Feb

From First Consult to Complaint: Basic Tips for Representing a Client With a Sexual Harassment Claim

26
Feb

Social Media: Identifying the Ethical Pitfalls of the Communications Revolution

Announcements


 

UPDATED AGENDA! TTLA Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Seminar | April 3-4 | Royal Sonesta, Houston

In April 2014, we prove EVERYTHING is BIGGER in Texas (even our seminars). Click the headline to see the unprecedented lineup of speakers coming to the 2nd Annual TTLA Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Seminar. You won’t want to miss this sell-out seminar with our lineup of in-demand topics, storied speakers and unparalleled insight. Think BIG. Think TTLA PMD. Follow us on Twitter @ttla_ #ttla2014pharma  

 

Laws/Cases


 

Innocent Former Police Captain Spends 15 Years in Prison

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A former Ohio police captain has filed a lawsuit against his former colleagues after being declared innocent of his ex-wife's murder after spending 15 years in prison. The plaintiff was convicted of the 1997 murder of his ex-wife and spent 15 years in prison until DNA evidence proved him innocent. He is now filing a lawsuit alleging his former colleagues framed him. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
Wire Report, KRQE News 13 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: KRQE News 13    

 

Camp for Troubled Teens Faces Abuse Allegations

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A lawsuit was filed in Santa Fe, N.M., on Monday by the parents of an 18-year-old boy who was killed in a car accident at a camp for troubled teens. The lawsuit alleges that the boy was "abused and that his death was the result of carelessness." According to the lawsuit, several forms of "punishment" were used at the camp, including the beating, handcuffing and shackling of the teens. The boy was killed when the truck he was riding in the back of flipped. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary compensation as well as some type of state oversight for the camp.
Chris McKee, KRQE News 13 02/11/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

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Lawsuit Alleges Tenn. Cemetery Stacks Remains

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The owners of a Tennessee cemetery and funeral homes that used the cemetery are facing a lawsuit alleging that they moved remains without permission and stacked multiple caskets in one plot. According to the lawsuit, filed by the relatives of two people buried in the cemetery, Galilee Memorial Gardens "operated without a valid license, misplaced or lost track of buried remains and stacked multiple caskets in single burial plots." The lawsuit is seeking class-action status for relatives of individuals buried at the cemetery since their license expired in December 2010.
Wire Report, The Washington Post 02/10/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: The Washington Post    

 

Student Claims University Mishandled Sex Abuse Complaint

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A student from Northwestern University in Illinois has filed a lawsuit alleging that her school did not appropriately handle her report of being sexually assaulted by a professor. The student and her professor rode together to attend an art show in Chicago, where the professor allegedly insisted the plaintiff consume alcohol to the point that she fell in and out of consciousness. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was sexually assaulted after the show and woke up in the professor's bed. The plaintiff claims that the university did not take care of her complaint and that the professor continues to teach, causing her panic attacks and worsening her mental state. The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation for medical bills, tuition and lawyer fees, and emotional distress.
Naheed Rajwani and Todd Lighty, Chicago Tribune 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Chicago Tribune    

 

Man Killed in Trash Compactor, Wife Files Suit

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The wife of a man who was killed by a trash compactor in July has filed a lawsuit against the building manager and homeowner’s association. The man was given access to the trash compactor by the homeowner's association and fell into the compactor while searching for his cell phone. The fall triggered the compactor’s sensor, starting the compaction cycle and killing the man. The lawsuit alleges "the homeowner’s association is made up of resident volunteers with no special training regarding professional property management, and the association should have known not to give residents access to the dumpster room."
Meredith Rodriguez, Chicago Tribune 02/11/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Chicago Tribune    

 

Products


 

Graco Recalls Car Seats Over Faulty Buckle

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Graco Children’s Products is recalling almost 3.8 million car seats because faulty buckles can make it hard to free the child in an emergency, the company said on Tuesday. But federal safety regulators said the recall, the largest in five years, did not go far enough, and have asked for an additional 1.8 million seats to be included because they use the same buckles.
CHRISTOPHER JENSEN, The New York Times 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: The New York Times    

 

Issues


 

Use of Acid in Drilling Stirs Concerns

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Injecting acid to help drill for oil isn't a new practice, but Texas' oil and gas regulator doesn't track where or how much acid is used by drillers in the state, and that has some people concerned.
Dave Fehling, KUHF News/StateImpact Texas, Texas Tribune 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

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Officials: Coal Slurry Spill Blackens 6 Miles of W VA Creek

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Inspectors are looking into the cause of a coal slurry spill in West Virginia's eastern Kanawha County after it blackened six miles of a creek, officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday. More than 100,000 gallons of the coal slurry is believed to have flowed into Fields Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River, officials said. Inspectors are testing the water to determine exactly how much leaked into the creek, the officials said.
Kevin Conlon, CNN 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

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Texas Medical Board Cases Against Doctors Rise 76% in 10 Years

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The number of Texas Medical Board enforcement cases against physicians and other health care professionals in the state increased 76 percent between 2004 and 2013, as more patients turned to the board instead of the courts in the aftermath of tort reform. The rise shows the impact of the tort reform legislation that passed in 2001, a Dallas attorney who often defends health care providers in medical board hearings, told the Dallas Business Journal in an interview. “Tort reform primarily — not exclusively, but primarily — benefited health care professionals,” he said.
Bill Hethcock, Dallas Business Journal 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Dallas Business Journal    

 

Wrongful Death


 

Mother of Soldier Settles Wrongful Death Suit

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The mother of a National Guardsman who was shot to death by an NYPD detective during a traffic stop has accepted a $2.5 million settlement of her wrongful death lawsuit. The NYPD detective shot the unarmed man during the traffic stop because he believed the man was reaching under the seat for a gun. The detective was cleared by a grand jury of any criminal wrongdoing in the incident. The city recently agreed to pay the plaintiff $2.5 million to settle the lawsuit.
John Marzulli, New York Daily News 02/12/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: New York Daily News    

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