Texas Tribune Daily Brief | |
Victims of G.M. Deadly Defect Fall Through Legal Cracks | | Today, at least 42 people are known to have died in crashes linked to the defective ignition switch, and both G.M. and federal safety regulators have come under fire for allowing the danger to linger for more than a decade. But the experience of some accident victims and their families shows that other opportunities to raise public alarm bells — through the legal system — were also lost. Companies, lawyers and judges have long faced criticism for suppressing information contained in lawsuits about product dangers. However, legal experts said that factors such as tort reform and rising lawsuit costs might be further dimming the legal system’s role in bringing such risks to light. BARRY MEIER and HILARY STOUT, The New York Times 12/30/2014 | Read Article: The New York Times |
EA Will Face Lawsuit Over Players' Videogame Likenesses | | Video game maker Electronic Arts Inc will face a lawsuit by former NFL players who allege that their likenesses were used for videogames without their permission or proper compensation. According to a federal appeals court decision on Tuesday, the company will face the lawsuit. EA had requested that the lawsuit be dismissed and claimed that their use of the players' likenesses was "incidental" and protected under the First Amendment. Four former players are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Jonathan Stempel, Reuters 01/06/2015 | Read Article: Reuters |
8 Years After Fatal crash, Toyota Lawsuit Heads to Trial | | A Minnesota driver who went to prison for a crash that killed three people grabbed national attention when he was freed amid reports of Toyota Camrys that would mysteriously accelerate. Eight years after that accident, his lawsuit against the Japanese automaker goes to trial Wednesday. Koua Fong Lee and other survivors of the crash are seeking damages from Toyota. Lee's Camry rear-ended another family's Oldsmobile at high speed in 2006. He always insisted the car was at fault, but spent 2½ years in prison before attorneys could use the national surge in reports of sudden acceleration accidents to reopen his case. Toyota insists Lee's car was not defective and that he caused the crash by hitting the gas instead of the brake. Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 01/07/2015 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
Shell, Villagers Agree to $83.5 Million for Huge Oil Spill | | Shell has agreed to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds (about $83.5 million) for the worst oil spill in Nigeria. Wednesday's agreement ends a three-year legal battle in Britain over two spills in 2008 that destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of mangroves and the fish and shellfish that sustained villagers of the Bodo community in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta. Associated Press, The New York Times 01/07/2015 | Read Article: The New York Times |
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