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  July 30, 2014 Like TTLA on Facebook Follow TTLA on Twitter

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Upcoming Online CLE
30
Jul
Becoming an Evidence Master
5
Aug
Litigating Testosterone Therapy Cases: An Overview
7
Aug
New Horizons: Lifetime Damages - New Factors for Future Damages for Mild, Moderate & Severe Disabilities
13
Aug
Jail and Jailer Liability
14
Aug
The Emerging Consensus on TBI and How You Can Use It To Achieve an Adequate Award
20
Aug
Arbitrating Class Actions
21
Aug
Don't Miss the Boat: Basics of Maritime Personal Injury Law
27
Aug
How to Handle a Class Action Case
28
Aug
Technology: Taking Your Paperless File from the First Interview to Trial
Announcements

 
Operation PAC 100
Operation PAC 100: Inspired by Past President Mike Gallagher's $100,000 matching challenge, the TTLA Advocates formed Operation PAC 100 to amplify our members' collective political voice through the TTLA PAC. Be one of the PAC 100, by contributing $1000 or any amount you can. Help give our legislative team the tools needed to protect the civil justice system in the 2015 legislative session and beyond.Click on the headline to learn more.  

Truck Accidents Surge - Killing Nearly 4,000 People Each Year
Fatal truck accidents are all too common-happening nearly 11 times every single day in this country on average, and killing nearly 4,000 people each year, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. On top of that, more than 100,000 people are injured every year in truck crashes and the numbers have been getting worse: Truck-crash fatalities have increased since 2009. Click on the headline to learn more.  

Texas Tribune Daily Brief

 
The Brief for July 30
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Compilation of Texas news by John Reynolds at the Texas Tribune.
John Reynolds, Texas Tribune 07/30/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
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Issues

 
Researchers Fret as Social Media Lift Veil on Drug Trials
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For decades, the clinical trials vital to developing new drugs have followed a central principle: Researchers and patients must both be "blinded" as to who is getting the experimental drug and who a placebo or standard therapy. On Facebook groups, online forums and blogs, some patients are effectively jeopardizing the blind. Researchers are increasingly concerned that online chatter could unravel the carefully built construct of the clinical trial, and perhaps put patients in danger.
Amy Dockser Marcus , Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 07/30/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($)    


Laws/Cases

 
Mexican Mother Files Suit Over Son's Border Death
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The Mexican mother of a teenager who was shot to death in 2012 at the Arizona and Mexico border has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Border Control. The lawsuit contends that the 16-year-old boy was shot and killed when he was climbing over a fence into Mexico with another individual. According to Border Control, they were pursuing two men who were climbing the fence when they began having rocks thrown at them by the two men. The agents took fire at them, hitting the plaintiff's son at least ten times. With the filing of the lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union alleges that "Border Patrol is using excessive and unnecessary force against people on both sides of the border."
EJ Montini, Arizona Republic 07/29/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
Read Article: Arizona Republic    

Lawsuit Filed Over Surgeon Posting Surgery Photos Online
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An Illinois woman has filed a lawsuit after the doctor who performed her facial reconstruction surgery posted before and after pictures of her nose on his website, labeling them "cocaine nose." The lawsuit contends that the photos were taken in 2004, with the plaintiff believing that the images would be kept in her confidential file. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County circuit court accuses the surgeon of breach of fiduciary duty of confidentiality and violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages for the plaintiff.
Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune 07/29/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
Read Article: Chicago Tribune    

Enterprise Products Ordered to Pay $535M in Partnership Case
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State District Judge Emily Tobolowsky of Dallas ordered Enterprise Products to pay Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners $319.4 million in damages and $150 million in disgorged profits, as well as $66.4 million in pre-judgment interest accrued since late 2011. Further interest will bring the total amount to $620.2 million by July 2017, the judge wrote. The Dallas company alleged that after it and Enterprise signed a non-binding letter of intent to build a pipeline both companies told other parties that they would consummate their partnership and move forward on the project. Enterprise Products later backed out of the deal, and the issue before the jury was whether its actions after it signed the letter of intent made the agreement legally binding. A Dallas jury in March sided with Energy Transfer, referencing a 2009 Texas Supreme Court case that had found the state business code doesn't require direct proof of an intent to form a partnership. Among the little-known statutory factors that can define a partnership in Texas is the expression of intention to be partners.
Collin Eaton, Houston Chronicle 07/30/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
Read Article: Houston Chronicle    

Houston Officials with Emails over BP lawsuit
 
Weeks after Harris County joined the city of Houston in a lawsuit against several companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP is waging what local government officials describe as a strange mass email campaign aimed at getting them to drop the suit. The inboxes of officials flooded with thousands of emails, mostly boiler-plate messages from "bp.com" and personal email addresses of local employees. Many of the messages, with subject lines including "Drop the lawsuit against BP" and "Thoughts from a Constituent," included physical home addresses below the signature line. Some included workers' job titles. At the request of the County Attorney's Office, the county IT department traced the emails back to a lone computer server in the United Arab Emirates, where BP has offices, inciting speculation they were not sent by real individuals.
Kiah Collier and Mike Morris, Houston Chronicle  07/30/2014  Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn icon
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Estelline 'Speed Trap' Settles Missing Cash Suit
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The city of Estelline, TX is reviewing its police procedures after Hall County authorities reached a $77,500 legal settlement with an Azle woman who alleged officers illegally seized more than $29,000 from her pickup and kept $1,400 of her cash. The federal suit, filed last year by Laura Dutton, 64, alleged that the cities of Estelline and Memphis, former Officer Jayson Fry and Memphis Police Chief Chris Jolly violated her Fourth Amendment rights against illegal search and seizure when she was arrested Nov. 28, 2012, in Estelline on a felony money laundering charge. The cities and the officers denied Dutton's claims, but the case was settled in an agreed order approved July 17 by U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson.
Jim McBride, Amarillo Globe-News 07/30/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
Read Article: Amarillo Globe-News    

Jesse Ventura Awarded $1.8M in Defamation Suit
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The passage from the best-selling memoir "American Sniper" that sparked former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's defamation lawsuit against author Chris Kyle will be removed, publisher HarperCollins said. A federal jury in St. Paul awarded Ventura over $1.8 million in damages on Tuesday, finding that a section of the book defamed Ventura.
STEVE KARNOWSKI, AP, Yahoo News 07/30/2014   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon
Read Article: Yahoo News    



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