| | Is your birthday in December? Need CLE? We got it! | | Register for the innovative and interactive Advanced PI CLE (Dec 4th) and our Annual Board & Membership Meeting (Dec 5th) at the Sheraton Hotel in Austin. Other events include the Advocates Annual Meeting, Awards Reception, and PAC event. Call TTLA at 512-476-3852 to register. Watch for updates on Twitter @ttla_ #ttlaannual. |
| Advanced PI Seminar Agenda Released! This course has been approved by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization for 6.75 hrs. | | Check out the agenda for our innovative new Advanced PI CLE seminar. This year's program includes new topics, new speakers, and interactive break-out sessions. This course has been approved by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization for 6.75 hrs certification and recertification continuing legal education requirements for attorneys and legal assistants in the following specialty fields: civil appellate law, civil trial law and personal injury trial law.December 4 in Austin. Click on the headline to access the agenda. |
| Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| DuPont Plant in NJ Cited by OSHA Over Toxic Leak | | 
| | Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials announced Monday that they have cited E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. for 11 alleged violations and proposed $120,300 in fines related to problems found after toxic chemicals leaked from a tanker truck in May and exposed workers to health risks at a Deepwater, N.J., plant that is one of DuPont's largest facilities in the United States. OSHA continues to investigate another chemical leak that killed four workers at DuPont's facility in La Porte. No citations have been issued in that Nov. 15 accident.
Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle 12/03/2014    | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| DuPont Leak Reminds Man of His Own Accident There | | | | Bobby Roye started working at DuPont in 1974. For 30 yrs, Roye was a DuPont operator, the "eyes and ears" of a control room. For 26 years, he doubled as a commander of the emergency response team. When the Koch-owned company Invista purchased a unit on DuPont's La Porte site 10 years ago, they took on the DuPont workers who manned it, including Roye. In 2009 Roye was plunged into a pool of extremely hot water and suffered burns on 55% of his body, about a quarter of those third-degree. A work order to fix the steam trap had been placed at DuPont more than a year before the accident, but was never completed. Later, Roye learned that D.B. Western, the company that designed the pipelines according to DuPont specifications, had called for a preventative measure known as a French drain to be installed at each of the steam traps. French drains allow the heat to dissipate and keep the ground from eroding. Overriding the plan, DuPont decided to use French drains at only two of the six steam traps on that pipeline. The steam trap Roye fell into did not have one.
Karen Chen, Houston Chronicle 12/03/2014 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| AstraZeneca Fights Billions in Possible Nexium Damages | |
| | AstraZeneca, in a first trial since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled drugmakers can be sued over so-called pay-to-delay deals, is fighting to avoid what might be billions of dollars in damages over claims it illegally paid to block generic versions of the heartburn tablet Nexium. The case against AstraZeneca and Indian generic-drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories challenges a 2008 settlement of a patent lawsuit that stalled sales of a cheaper version of top-selling Nexium in the U.S. until AstraZeneca’s patents expired last May.
Erik Larson and Janelle Lawrence, Bloomberg 12/03/2014 | | Read Article: Bloomberg |
| Lawsuit Accuses Rabbi Of Recording Women in Ritual Baths | |
| | A recently filed lawsuit accuses a synagogue in Washington, D.C., of covering up the practice of an influental rabbi which involved him secretly recording women in a ritual bath. The lawsuit was filed by a student at Georgetown University Law School and alleges that the 62-year-old rabbi lured her into the ritual bath as part of her studies. The lawsuit contends that the Kesher Israel synagogue knew of past complaints about the rabbi but sent them to the Rabbinical Council of America. The rabbi was arrested in October and charged with six counts of voyeurism after officials discovered a hidden camera pointed at the bath. He is scheduled for a hearing in D.C. Superior Court on January 16.
Peter Hermann, The Washington Post 12/02/2014 | | Read Article: The Washington Post |
| Fires Involving Lithium Batteries on Planes | |
| | Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in consumer goods from laptops to cellphones. They can overheat if damaged, are defective or are packaged improperly, leading to fires and explosions and making them a worry for shipment aboard aircraft.
Associated Press, The Washington Post 12/03/2014 | | Read Article: The Washington Post |
| NHTSA Urges GM Owners to Get Ignition Switch Repairs | |
| | The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday urged owners of nearly 1 million General Motors vehicles recalled for ignition switch problems to get them fixed immediately. The auto safety agency said in a consumer advisory that GM says there are enough parts available to fix all the faulty ignition switches “NHTSA urges owners of unrepaired GM vehicles to immediately contact their local dealer to arrange a service appointment. GM reports that many dealers will help owners get their vehicles remedied after work and on the weekends,” NHTSA said. To date, GM has repaired nearly 60 percent of the affected vehicle population covered under the recall, but many others remain.
David Shepardson and Melissa Burden,, Detroit News 12/03/2014 | | Read Article: Detroit News |
| Target Data Breach Lawsuit Upheld by Judge | |
| | Target's request for the dismissal of a lawsuit over their 2013 data breach has been rejected by a federal judge. The lawsuit was filed by banks seeking to recover the money they spent covering fraudulent charges and reissuing debit and credit cards during last year's breach. According to the U.S. Distict judge's ruling, the retailer played a "key role" in allowing hackers to infiltrate their system. The lawsuit which accuses Target of negligence seeks class action status and millions of dollars in damages.
Jonathan Stemple, Reuters 12/03/2014 | | Read Article: Reuters |
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