Announcements | | | Escabedo Rapid Response Webcast July 29, 2011, 10:00am—Noon | | In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in Haygood v. Garza de Escabedo, TTLA assembled a rapid response team to help you contend with the issues raised by the opinion. The CLE Committee, in conjunction with the Amicus Committee and other TTLA leaders, has put together a program on the subject. In addition to the live program, speakers have prepared possible forms for the future including 18.001 affadavits and depositions on written questions which have been modified in response to Escabedo. These will be available for download to all attendees. We'll be streaming live via the internet, so you can attend from your office. This program will be available via our CLE On-Demand tools at www.ttla.com on Monday, August 8. | Laws/Cases | | | Phone Company Settles Age Discrimination Suit | | Cavalier Telephone Co. has agreed to a $1 million settlement in a lawsuit that accused the company of age discrimination. The lawsuit claimed the company refused to hire anyone over 40 for sales account executive positions. The settlement money will go to two former Cavalier employees and a group of people over 40 who were denied employment. Matthew Daneman, Democrat and Chronicle 07/19/2011 | Read Article: Democrat and Chronicle | Georgia Grapples with Dads Malpractice Suit vs. Sons Psychiatrist | | After a mentally ill Georgia man was charged with stabbing his mother to death amid a psychotic rage, his father took a step that has so far divided Georgia courts: He filed a medical malpractice lawsuit seeking damages from his sons psychiatrist. The question of whether a suspected criminals family can profit from wrongdoing was at the center of this case, which landed this week before the Georgia Supreme Court. Judges have been grappling with this prickly issue for years, but lawyers involved said few other cases cut to the heart of the debate like this one. Greg Bluestein , Insurance Journal 07/21/2011 | Read Article: Insurance Journal | Wells Fargo to Pay $85M Over Risky Mortgages | | Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $85 million to settle civil charges that it falsified loan documents and pushed borrowers toward subprime mortgages with higher interest rates during the housing boom. The fine is the largest ever imposed by the Federal Reserve in a consumer-enforcement case, the central bank said Wednesday. Wells Fargo neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The bank agreed to compensate borrowers who were steered into higher-priced loans or whose income was exaggerated. Associated Press, The Washington Post 07/21/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post | Government Anthrax Flip-Flop Could Boost Victims Lawsuit | | Waffling by US Justice Department lawyers in a wrongful death lawsuit arising from the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks could boost prospects that the government will be liable for millions in damages for failing to prevent the killing of a Florida man. Department lawyers created a stir in recent days, first by filing court papers that appeared to undercut [3] the FBI's finding that the late Army scientist Bruce Ivins was the killer. The filings said Ivins had no access in a secure lab to the sophisticated equipment to produce the anthrax powder. Greg Gordon, McClatchy, Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica, & Mike Wiser, Frontline, ProPublica 07/21/2011 | Read Article: ProPublica | Judge Weighing Sanctions in Massey Pollution Case | | A judge is considering whether Massey Energy acted in bad faith by taking nearly seven years to produce maps in a lawsuit that accuses it of poisoning hundreds of West Virginia wells with coal slurry. A three-judge panel led by Ohio County Circuit Judge James Mazzone will hear motions in the case against Massey and subsidiary Rawl Sales & Processing on Thursday and Friday in Wheeling. Associated Press, NA 07/21/2011 | Read Article: NA | Taser Family to Pay $10 Million for Teen's Death | | A North Carolina family has been awarded $10 million in a lawsuit filed against Taser International Inc. over the death of a 17-year-old in 2008. The boy was Tased by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer at a local grocery story, causing him to fall to the floor and pass away shortly thereafter. The lawsuit claimed the company knew that if Taser was applied near the heart it could cause heart problems, but failed to warn users of the risks. Doug Miller, Charlotte Observer 07/20/2011 | Read Article: Charlotte Observer | Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Cab Driver | | A Chicago family has filed a lawsuit against a cab driver and the company that owns his car after the cab driver hit and killed one of their family members last month. The Chicago Tribune reports the cab swerved across a few lanes of traffic and struck the 57-year-old man, who was walking down the sidewalk. The suit claims the cab driver and the taxi company were negligent and failed to exercise care and caution that "a reasonable person under similar circumstances would have exercised." The suit is seeking unspecified damages. Carlos Sadovi, Chicago Tribune 07/19/2011 | Read Article: Chicago Tribune | Issues | | | Family Seeks Justice for Alleged Medical Malpractice | | A San Antonio family is seeking justice for their little girl, Lizzy. She nearly died after they say an Army doctor over-prescribed her five times the medication her little body could handle. Her mom says while the military family was stationed in Germany, an Army doctor over-prescribed Lizzy massive amounts of seizure medication that burned her from the inside out. The frightening condition put her in the hospital for more than two months. Since then, life has never been the same. Melissa Garcia, WOAI News 07/21/2011 | Read Article: WOAI News | | | | |