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Texas Trial Lawyers Association


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  December 11, 2013

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Upcoming Online CLE

12
Dec

ERISA Subrogation

17
Dec

CMS Jumps Into the Liability Arena: Addressing Medicare Secondary Payer Compliance in Liability Settlements

18
Dec

Broker Busting "B.A.S.I.C.'s"

19
Dec

Hot Tips on Maximizing Settlements

Announcements


IMPORTANT: AAJ Action Items

John Eddie Williams, Jr., AAJ Governor, requested that we share a list of AAJ Action Items with the TTLA membership. Items include: 1. Proposed Changes to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; 2. Forced Arbitration & the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; 3. The Toxic Substances Control Act; 4. "Loser Paysâ€; and 5. Generic Drug Regulation. Click on the headline to access more information (requires login.)  

 

Laws/Cases


Judge Awards $80M in Sand Suffocation Death

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A judge has awarded nearly $80 million to the family of a woman who died in 2002 when a tractor-trailer struck her car and buried it in sand, suffocating the woman as teachers and students at a nearby school frantically tried to dig her out.According to the lawsuit, the semi involved in the crash had an expired registration, three brakes out of adjustment, and a driver with two "driving while intoxicated" charges before he was hired by Albuquerque Redi-Mix. New Mexico District Judge Shannon Bacon entered the judgment Monday for Laura Miera's estate and her husband, Jose, and now-grown daughter, Cassandra. It includes $60 million in punitive damages.
Associated Press, USA Today 12/11/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: USA Today    

Losing Your Membership in the Frequent Flier Club

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On Dec. 3, the Supreme Court considered the case of Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg, who contends that in 2008 Northwest Airlines unfairly revoked his Platinum Elite membership in an effort to dump accounts before its merger with Delta Air Lines. Northwest claims that Rabbi Ginsberg was abusing the airline’s rules and regulations and that it had the right to terminate his account according to the terms of his frequent flier contract. The justices will determine if the case falls under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which limits the kinds of lawsuits that can be filed by travelers. A decision is expected next year.
RACHEL LEE HARRIS, The New York Times 12/11/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: The New York Times    

Lawsuit Filed over Dance Instructor's Inappropriate Relationship with Student

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A former Texas high school student and her mother have filed a lawsuit against the girl's former dance instructor who maintained an inappropriate sexual relationship with the student. The lawsuit claims that the dance instructor showed an "unusual and bizarre admiration" of the student and "abused her position" in order to have sex with her. The dance instructor convinced the girl's mother to let the girl move into the spare bedroom of her home and would have sex with the girl while her husband was away. The lawsuit also names the school district and its administrators as defendants, claiming they "knew about the illicit affair and did nothing to stop it."
Andres Jauregui , The Huffington Post 12/10/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: The Huffington Post    

Lawsuit: Mentally-Disturbed Man Mistakenly Shot by NYPD

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NYPD police officers who shot and killed a man after one officer thought he was being stabbed, are now facing a lawsuit filed by the family of the victim. The officers were responding to a call by the victim's mother who said he was depressed. When the officers were inside the home, one of the officers was mistakenly hit by the other officer's Taser gun and thought he was being stabbed by the victim. He yelled out to shoot the man, and the victim was shot to death by one of the officers. The lawsuit seeks $70 million in damages and for the NYPD to change the way it responds to 911 calls that involve mentally-disturbed people.
Daniel Beekman, New York Daily News 12/09/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: New York Daily News    

Hearings Begin In Lawsuit Over 140-Car Pileup in Southeast Texas

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A complex lawsuit over a 140-car pileup in Southeast Texas on Thanksgiving Day 2012 has seen its first pre-trial hearings. Two people were killed and 100 were injured in the accident that took place on I-10. The accident was caused by heavy fog that left the drivers' visibility reduced to about one-eighth of a mile. Cars and trucks continued to pileup as drivers crashed into the already-wrecked cars. The family of the two people killed in the accident filed the lawsuit which seeks damages from the driver of the tractor trailer that hit the victims' car and from the company that owns it.
Heather Alexander, Houston Chronicle 12/10/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Houston Chronicle    

 

Products


Recall Issued on Personal Emergency Systems

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Linear has issued a recall on their personal emergency reporting system transmitters due to a battery signal failure. According to the recall, "the battery clips in the transmitters can corrode causing the transmitters to operate intermittently or not at all, without generating a warning." The company has received one report of the system failing to transmit a signal. The recall affects 48,000 personal emergency reporting system transmitters.
Staff Report, PR Newswire 12/09/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: PR Newswire    

 

Insurance


Lawyer: Offensive Emails Show ‘Culture of Racism’ in TWIA

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A Houston-based lawyer stumbled upon several emails to and from employees of Texas Windstorm Insurance Association that disparaged Hispanics, Arabs and African-Americans, often using racist language. The lawyer who is representing the Brownsville Independent School District in a case over unpaid claims, found the offensive emails among nearly a million other documents from the often-maligned Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, or TWIA, that he obtained through the discovery process in the case.
Tim Eaton, Austin American Statesman 12/11/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Austin American Statesman    


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