| | Best Kept Trial Secrets: What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas | | February 20-21 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Don't gamble with your cases. 48 hours in Vegas can change your practice forever! Join some of TTLA's battle-tested veterans and emerging superstars in Las Vegas for a CLE experience that'll change your luck in the courtroom. Click on the headline to learn more. | | Texas Apartment Complex Settles Discrimination Lawsuit | |  | | The company that owns a north Texas apartment complex is paying $317,000 to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit which alleged tenants were segregated based on their races. According to the lawsuit, tenants of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent were confined to a specific part of the complex "to isolate any smells allegedly associated with ethnic cuisine that the manager disliked." Allegedly, when the two designated buildings were filled, the apartment manager told Middle Eastern or South Asian applicants that there were no vacancies. As a part of the settlement, the complex must also adopt a nondiscrimination policy and take other corrective measures. The settlement also requested that the manager in question be removed as a company employee, but she has since resigned her position.
Terry Evans, Star Telegram 01/15/2014    | | Read Article: Star Telegram | | LAPD Settles Woman's Sexual Coercion Lawsuit | | | | A woman who accused two Los Angeles, Calif. police officers of sexual coercion will receive a $575,000 settlement. According to the lawsuit, the police officers threatened the plaintiff with jail time if she would not have sex with them. The plaintiff is just one of four women to accuse the officers of abusing their authority through sexual coercion. On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the settlement.
Joel Rubin, LA Times 01/15/2014 | | Read Article: LA Times | | Yale Fraternity and 86 Members Sued Over Fatal Tailgating Crash in Connecticut | | | | A Yale University fraternity and its members were sued by two victims of a deadly 2011 accident at a tailgate party during the annual football game with Harvard University. The estate of Nancy Barry, a 30-year-old woman who was killed in the incident, and Sarah Short, a Yale student who was injured, sued the school’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon in Connecticut Superior Court in New Haven Dec. 30, according to court records. The crash occurred when a U-Haul truck loaded with kegs of beer lost control and struck a crowd of tailgaters in the parking lot outside the Yale Bowl in New Haven. Following the accident, the school banned kegs at athletic events and placed restrictions on tailgate parties.
Bloomberg, Bloomberg 01/16/2014 | | Read Article: Bloomberg | | In N.F.L. Suit, Judge Flags Provision Protecting N.C.A.A. | | | | The federal judge who rejected the N.F.L.’s concussion lawsuit settlement Tuesday raised a fundamental concern about the deal: whether the $765 million set aside for payouts and medical testing would be enough over the suit’s 65-year life. But the judge, Anita B. Brody, also took exception with a clause that would preclude players who receive a cash payout in the settlement from suing the N.C.A.A. “or any other collegiate, amateur or youth football organization.†Players who approve the settlement would be prevented from suing the N.F.L. in the future.
STEVE EDER and KEN BELSON, The New York Times 01/16/2014 | | Read Article: The New York Times | | Company in W.Va. Chemical Spill Cited at 2nd Site | | | | The company responsible for the chemical spill in West Virginia moved its chemicals to a nearby plant that has already been cited for safety violations, including a backup containment wall with holes in it. Inspectors on Monday found five safety violations at Freedom Industries' storage facility in Nitro, about 10 miles from the spill site in Charleston. The spill contaminated the drinking water for 300,000 people, and about half of them were still waiting for officials to lift the ban on tap water.
JONATHAN MATTISE, Associated Press, Yahoo News 01/16/2014 | | Read Article: Yahoo News | | Call Before You Dig: Does Texas Put Pipelines at Risk? | | | | The U.S. Department of Transportation gave grants totaling $1.5 million last year to states for safety programs aimed at reducing damage to pipelines. Twenty states qualified. But not Texas. Texas has by far the most miles of natural gas pipelines and is the state with the most accidents. But according to federal pipeline regulators, Texas also grants the most exemptions (along with Florida) regarding who must notify a pipeline or utility company before digging. Federal data show that in the past decade, 11 percent of serious pipeline accidents in Texas were caused by work crews doing excavations.
Dave Fehling, StateImpact Texas, Texas Tribune 01/16/2014 | | Read Article: Texas Tribune | | |
