| Car Wrecks CLE in Dallas, October 9, 2014 (8 hours MCLE with 1.5 hours ethics) | | TTLA's CLE Committee has revamped our exceptional Car Wrecks program to bring you innovative, relevant topics and some exciting new speakers. From new issues like E-Filing, to fresh looks at opening & closing, voir dire and defense strategies, you'll come away with tips, insights & valuable information to give you the edge in your car wreck cases. Additionally, the TTLA Advocates Board of Directors is pleased to host a post-CLE Happy Hour. Click on the headline to learn more. |
| Save the Date | | TTLA Members: please mark your calendars to attend the TTLA Annual Membership Meeting & Board of Directors Meeting December 4th & 5th at the Sheraton in Austin. Details and registration information coming soon. |
| Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| For Oil and Gas Companies, Rigging Seems to Involve Wages, Too | | 
| | A ProPublica review of U.S. Department of Labor investigations shows that oil and gas workers – men and women often performing high-risk jobs – are routinely being underpaid, and the companies hiring them often are using accounting techniques to deny workers benefits such as medical leave or unemployment insurance. The DOL investigations have centered on what is known as worker "misclassification," an accounting gambit whereby companies treat full time employees as independent contractors paid hourly wages, and then fail to make good on their obligations. The technique, investigators and experts say, has become ever more common as small companies seek to gain contracts in an intensely competitive market by holding labor costs down.
Naveena Sadasivam, ProPublica 09/26/2014    | | Read Article: ProPublica |
| Two Wisconsin Families Settle With GM Over Crash | |
| | The families of two Wisconsin teenagers killed in an Oct. 24, 2006, crash of a Chevrolet Cobalt accepted cash offers from Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer hired by GM to settle with victims on its behalf, according to the families' attorney. They recently dropped a lawsuit GM in favor of seeking a settlement. The crash that killed Natasha Weigel, who was 18, and Amy Rademaker, who was 15, was among the first blamed on the faulty switches. Despite evidence from that crash and others that the switches could cause the engine to stall and the air bags to be disabled, GM and federal regulators failed to make that connection for years.
Associated Press, ABC News 09/26/2014 | | Read Article: ABC News |
| Brothers Behind Lap-Band Ads Sued by Insurer | |
| | The nation's largest health insurance company has accused the brothers behind the 1-800-GET-THIN advertising campaign of defrauding the insurer of more than $40 million by operating a complex weight-loss surgery billing scheme. UnitedHealth Group Inc. contended in a lawsuit that Michael and Julian Omidi operated a network of companies that tricked the insurer into paying claims for medical procedures that were unnecessary, ineligible for coverage or never even performed.
Stuart Pfeifer, LA Times 09/26/2014 | | Read Article: LA Times |
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