Announcements | | | IRS Issues Regulations on Damages Received from Physical Injury or Sickness | | The IRS has released final regulations relating to the exclusion from gross income for amounts received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness. The final regulations in TD 9573 reflect amendments under the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 and affect taxpayers who have received damages on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness and taxpayers paying these damages. The regulations take effect on Jan. 23, 2012. They delete an earlier requirement that to qualify for exclusion from gross income, damages received from a legal suit, action, or settlement agreement must be based upon “tort or tort type rights.” The regulations provide, instead, that the Section 104(a)(2) exclusion may apply to damages recovered for a personal physical injury or physical sickness under a statute that does not provide for a broad range of remedies, and that the injury need not be defined as a tort. Source: Accounting Today. Click on headline to learn more. | Best Kept Trial Secrets: What Happens in Vegas Stays in 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. February 23-25, 2012, Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, 8 hrs. MCLE w/ 1 hr. Ethics | Laws/Cases | | | Suit Filed Against Oregon Facilities for Disabled | | A group of disabled Oregon residents has filed a lawsuit against the state over "sheltered workshops" that are allegedly in violation of federal law. The suit claims the plaintiffs were stuck in "dead-end jobs" in the shelters and paid less than minimum wage by state programs that are supposed to help them get into the main stream workforce. Critics of the workshops say they segregate the disabled and exploit them. The class-action suit is seeking unspecified damages. Teresa Carson, Reuters 01/25/2012 | Read Article: Reuters | Jury Awards $22 Million to Man Left in Jail for Two Years | | A New Mexico jury has awarded $22 million to a local man who was arrested for DUI and stuck in a solitary confinement jail cell for two years without trial. According to the lawsuit, Stephen Slevin was placed in solitary at a local jail for two full years, given zero medical attention and ignored by jail officers. Officials for Dona Ana County have refused to comment on the status of any of jail officers. Elizabeth Chuck, MSNBC NEWS 01/25/2012 | Read Article: MSNBC NEWS | Bay Area Man's Shooting Sparks Lawsuit | | The fatal shooting of a San Francisco man by Bay Area police officers has prompted a lawsuit from the man's family who claim the man posed no threat when he was killed. Officers say the man threw a knife at them, causing them to open fire. The suit, however, says the knife missed the officer that fired "by a large margin," and yet the officer opened fire even though the threat had subsided. The suit is seeking unspecified damages. Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle 01/26/2012 | Read Article: San Francisco Chronicle | Jury Awards Garth Brooks $1 Million in Contract Suit | | An Oklahoma jury has awarded $1 million to country singer Garth Brooks in a lawsuit he filed against a local hospital over an alleged broken agreement. Brooks claimed in his suit that he donated $500,000 to the Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital to have a building named after his late mother, but that the hospital reneged on the deal. Before filing suit, Brooks had requested the hospital give the money back or donate it to another charity, but hospital officials refused. Debra Cassens Weiss, American Bar Association Journal 01/25/2012 | Read Article: American Bar Association Journal | Woman Sues Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Over Sexual Assault | | A 71-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted in her hospital room by a nurse is suing Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center for gross negligence. In the petition, filed in district court on Jan. 25, Alfaro's lawyer charged the hospital employee with violating all standards of care and holds the hospital liable for all actions its employees commit on the job under civil law. The case further charges that the employee risked severly injuring Alfaro, yet he proceeded with conscious indifference to her rights, safety, and welfare. Staff, Cypress Creek Mirror 01/26/2012 | Read Article: Cypress Creek Mirror | Insect Allegation Leads to Elder-Care Lawsuit | | Two brothers were visiting their sick father at a west Houston hospital last year when they noticed ants and gnats crawling through a trachea tube and into his larynx, according to a civil lawsuit filed in Harris County District Court. The pair was visiting Willie Lee Simmons, 69, who was being treated at Select Specialty Hospital-Houston West for severe respiratory problems before he died last year, said Derek Deyon, an attorney representing the man's estate. The family alleges that workers at the hospital were negligent when they allowed insects to crawl into the tube, among other instances of negligence, he said. The lawsuit was filed Jan. 12. Zain Shauk, Houston Chronicle 01/26/2012 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | | | |