| Building on the Best: Buy One Track, Get One Track FREE | Join TTLA May 17-19, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis Houston for the 2018 Midyear Conference and CLE Seminar. network with fellow TTLA members, hear from a fantastic line-up of speakers, and earn MCLE credit! Click on the headline to learn more and register.
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Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| The Brief for May 3 |  | In today’s Brief: Lupe Valdez has agreed to debate Andrew White in Austin, former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold thinks a special election to replace him is "not warranted," and state alcohol laws are stalling a famous barbecue joint from making wine.
Cassi Pollock , Texas Tribune 05/03/2018    | | Read Article: Texas Tribune |
Editorials/Columns/Letters
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| Alva O. Ferdinand: It's Never Been Easier to Drive Safely. Why are There so Many Crashes? | | Why are there so many crashes when cars and roadways are much improved? Part of the answer lies in a ballooning technological phenomenon: distracted driving. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are three primary types of driver distraction: taking one’s hands off the wheel, taking one’s eyes off the road and taking one’s mind off driving. When a driver interacts with a cellphone =E2=80=93 texting, video streaming, emailing =E2=80=93 it takes his eyes off the road for several seconds at a time. Research shows that cellphone use while driving can result in longer reaction times, impaired following distance and crashes.
Alva O. Ferdinand (Assistant professor of health policy and management at Texas A&M University), Houston Chronicle 05/03/2018 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Silent Spills Part 3: Texas Officials Ignore Spread of Dioxin in Key Houston Waterways | | More than 30 hotspots =E2=80=94small sites where dioxin has settled =E2=80=94 have been found in sediments along the river, the Houston Ship Channel and into Galveston Bay, the state’s most popular recreational fishing area, according to University of Houston research conducted from 2001 to 2011 and pieced together by the news organizations. The affected areas are in waters alongside parks and residential neighborhoods with thousands of homes in communities such as Pasadena, Deer Park, Channelview, Baytown and Highlands. But none of those people’s wells or yards have been tested by state health officials.
Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle 05/03/2018 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| New Front on Opioid Litigation: Suits Over Rising Premiums | | The opioid epidemic has unfairly increased health insurance costs across the board, not just for those suffering from addiction, plaintiffs allege in five proposed class-action lawsuits filed Wednesday. The suits, brought on behalf of people and businesses who have paid for health insurance in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York since 1996, represent a new front in litigation seeking to hold corporations accountable for the opioid crisis.
Sara Randazzo, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 05/03/2018 | | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) |
| Experts: Texas Ruling on $11,000 ER Bill May Have Long-Lasting Effects | | The health care industry is closely watching a recent decision by the Texas Supreme Court. The court sided with an uninsured woman who was billed $11,037 after an emergency room visit. The justices said that in order to prove her bill was reasonable compared with what an insured patient would be billed, the medical center would need to share in court details about the discounted rates it had with health insurers, data that’s generally seen as proprietary and confidential. The case outlines the complexities of health care billing that consumers often see as arbitrary, confusing and not transparent, whether they have insurance or not.
Sabriya Rice, The Dallas Morning News 05/03/2018 | | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News |
| Pharma Industry Seeks Texas MDL For Opioid Cases | | Pharmaceutical distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. have asked the Texas Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate a series of cases alleging they and drug manufacturers are liable to Texas counties for problematic marketing and sales of opioid medications.
Jess Krochtengel , Law360 ($) 05/03/2018 | | Read Article: Law360 ($) |
| Dow Chemical Sued Over Deadly Cyanide Leak In Texas | | The parents of a 19-year-old man who died after cyanide exposure while on the job at a Dow Chemical Co. plant in Deer Park, Texas, have filed a state court suit alleging that the company's negligence in making their son continue working even as alarms sounded caused his death. Michael and Brenda Haley, the mother and father of Christopher Haley, are bringing claims for negligence, gross negligence and products liability.
Michelle Casady , Law360 ($) 05/03/2018 | | Read Article: Law360 ($) |
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