AAJ: Delay in Provision Targeting Medicaid Clients | Message from Linda Lipsen, AAJ CEO "We have achieved a two-year delay on a provision included in the recently enacted Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) that was harmful to Medicaid plaintiffs. The provision would enable a state to claim all of a Medicaid client’s settlement or judgment." Click on the headline to learn more. |
Lowe's Will Pay Out $18M in Hazardous Materials Lawsuit | 
| Lowe's has been ordered to pay $18 million for a lawsuit filed against them for illegally disposing hazardous waste, including pesticides, batteries, fluorescent bulbs and other toxic materials. The decision came after a civil enforcement action was filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court in California. The lawsuit alleged that the company's stores routinely sent hazardous materials, including batteries to local landfills.
Karina Ioffee, San Jose Mercury News 04/02/2014    | Read Article: San Jose Mercury News |
Surgical Assistants Win Case; Can Keep Working in New Venture |
| Two surgical assistants who were sued by their former employer for launching their own business have been cleared by a Harris County jury. Jurors found the two surgical assistants not liable for breaching their fiduciary duties as employees by leaving their old jobs and joining together to start a new company. They also found the new venture not liable. American Surgical Professionals was seeking damages of $1.5 million, said Gregg Rosenberg, the employment lawyer who is representing the trio along with the company they formed, Prestige Surgical Assistants.
L.M. Sixel, Houston Chronicle 04/03/2014 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
Food Server Sues Houston Rockets for Harassment |
| A gay food server has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was harassed by members of the Houston Rockets basketball team while working at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn last year. The lawsuit alleges that the players shouted homophobic insults at the plaintiff while he was setting up food trays in the players' locker room. As a result of the incident, the plaintiff claims he was barred from working in dressing rooms, locker rooms and private VIP areas, losing wages including overtime pay.
John Marzulli, New York Daily News 04/01/2014 | Read Article: New York Daily News |
Family's Lawsuit Over Woman Prematurely Declared Dead Continues |
| A appellate court has ruled that the family of a woman who was prematurely declared dead and later froze to death in the morgue can file suit. The 80-year-old woman suffered a heart attack in July and was placed in the hospital's freezer. During litigation, an expert testified that cuts and bruises on the woman's body were there because she woke up and struggled before ultimately dying. The lawsuit filed by the family was previously thrown out by a judge, it will now return to Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Victoria Kim, LA Times 04/02/2014 | Read Article: LA Times |
G.M. Secrecy on Crashes Adds to Families’ Pain |
| Upsetting to many relatives of people killed in accidents involving recalled G.M. cars is the uncertainty and secrecy surrounding the crashes — the fact that G.M. won’t tell them what they most want to know. G.M. has twice adjusted the number of deaths it says are linked to an ignition switch defect and it has also refused to disclose publicly the list of the confirmed victims, now said to be 13.
RACHEL ABRAMS and DANIELLE IVORY, The New York Times 04/03/2014 | Read Article: The New York Times |
In a More Rigorous Test, Consumer Reports Looks at Infant Seats |
| Ratings of 34 child safety seats in frontal-impact crash tests, announced on Thursday by Consumer Reports, awarded the top ranking of Best to just 13 of the seats. A new testing procedure, said by the magazine to represent an investment of more than a half-million dollars and over two years of work, was developed to evaluate the crash protection provided by child seats. The results are intended to equip parents with the information needed to compare the safety level of seats, in this case those designed for infants.
CHERYL JENSEN, The New York Times 04/03/2014 | Read Article: The New York Times |
TxDOT: One in Five Accidents Caused by Distracted Driving |
| A bulletin the Texas Department of Transportation released Wednesday, April 2, shows 459 people died in Texas last year in crashes caused by distracted drivers and the total number of collisions caused by inattentive motorists increased by 4 percent compared to the previous year. “The statistics are sobering,” TxDOT deputy executive director John Barton said in a statement. “One in five traffic crashes in Texas is caused by a distracted driver.
Enrique Rangel, Lubbock Avalanche Journal 04/03/2014 | Read Article: Lubbock Avalanche Journal |
Texas Home Insurers' Profits Rise, As Do Their Premiums |
| Texas home insurance companies saw big gains in their profits in 2013, new financial figures compiled by the state show, even as regulators consider whether to challenge hefty rate increases of Texas’ biggest insurers for this year. Premium and loss numbers for 2013, released Wednesday, showed that State Farm, Allstate and Farmers significantly improved their bottom lines over 2012. That was also considered a profitable year. The state consumer advocate argues that premium increases imposed by the three insurers this year are unreasonable.
TERRENCE STUTZ, The Dallas Morning News 04/03/2014 | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News |
Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Fatal Drunk Driving Accident |
| The widow and family of a man who was last week in a car accident in Orange Beach, Ala. have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver of the other vehicle. The lawsuit alleges that the driver was "impaired by alcohol to the degree that he could not safely operate a motor vehicle." The victim was vacationing at the beach when he was killed in the accident last Saturday night.
Thyrie Bland, AL.com 04/02/2014 | Read Article: AL.com |
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