| Announcements | | 
| | 
| | TTLA Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE December 1-2, Hotel ZaZa Houston | |
| | Formerly the TTLA Annual Conference, our December event is now the Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE! We've streamlined this event and we're now offering a one-day Advanced PI CLE, along with the Annual Membership & Board Meeting, President's Luncheon, and a spectacular Holiday Party at the home of Steve and Amber Mostyn. Topics include: Trucking, Immigration, Insurance Bad Faith, Discovery, Cross Examination And More! | | Products | |
| |
| | Parents Warned not to Place Children in Baby Seats | |
| | The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning to parents to avoid placing Bumbo International Baby Seats on any raised surface due to a high risk of injury. The agency said infants can fall from the seats and suffer skull fractures and other serious injuries. The company has received 45 reports of infants falling from the chairs placed on elevated surfaces. Staff Report, The Sacramento Bee 11/22/2011 | | Read Article: The Sacramento Bee | | Feds Investigates Battery Fires in Chevy Volt | |
| | The government is investigating new fires involving the lithium-ion batteries in General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt to assess the fire risk in the electric car after a serious crash. One Volt battery pack that was being closely monitored following a government crash test caught fire Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Friday. Another recently crash-tested battery emitted smoke and sparks, the statement said. Associated Press, The Washington Post 11/28/2011 | | Read Article: The Washington Post | | Laws/Cases | |
| |
| | Proposed Pipeline Threatens Nature Preserve | |
| | The Clear Creek nature preserve, about 20 miles south of Houston, rests in the path of a proposed pipeline that would deliver natural gas liquids to processing plants in Chambers County. ETC NGL Transport LLC, a Texas company, is threatening to condemn a piece of the preserve for the project, asserting the right of eminent domain as a "common carrier," or an open access transporter, under state law. Owners of the preserve disagree with the pipeline developer's claim and are fighting it in court. The skirmish raises the question of whether a company has an absolute right to enter and build on private property already reserved for public use - in this case, environmental conservation. MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, Houston Chronicle 11/28/2011 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | US Supreme Court to Decide Whether Lawsuits Require Harm | |
| | In a dispute pitting big business against consumer groups, the Supreme Court hears arguments Monday on whether a person has to suffer legal harm to sue a company over an alleged kickback it got. Cleveland home buyer Denise Edwards sued her title insurance company under a 1974 federal real estate settlement law that bars kickbacks and certain referral fee arrangements. At issue is whether Edwards has the legal right to sue, even though she does not claim the alleged kickback affected the price, quality or any other aspects of her real estate settlement service. James Vicini, Reuters 11/28/2011 | | Read Article: Reuters | | Merck to Pay $950 Million Vioxx Settlement | |
| | Merck & Co. agreed to pay $950 million and plead guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge to resolve government allegations that the company illegally promoted its former painkiller Vioxx and deceived the government about the drug's safety. The settlement of a seven-year U.S. government investigation brings Merck closer to resolving the mountain of litigation that followed the company's 2004 withdrawal of the big-selling drug from the market after a study showed it increased the risk for heart attacks and strokes. PETER LOFTUS And BRENT KENDALL, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 11/28/2011 | | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) | | Exonerated Man Files $15-Million Suit Against Police | |
| | A Maryland man has filed a $15 million lawsuit against Baltimore police after being exonerated in 2008 of a 1987 rape and murder. The lawsuit claims police "pressured a key witness into changing stories mid-trial" and also giving a jailhouse informant special privileges in exchange for his testimony. The man was imprisoned for 20 years before DNA evidence showed that the blood and semen found at the crime scene was not his. Tricia Bishop, Baltimore Sun 11/27/2011 | | Read Article: Baltimore Sun | | $1 Million Awarded in Brain-On-Display Lawsuit | |
| | A New York jury awarded $1 million to a Staten Island family who discovered their deceased son's brain was on display at a local morgue with his name on the jar. The 17-year-old boy was killed in a car wreck in 2005, and two months later his sister spotted the brain on display during a field trip to the mortuary. The family said they were traumatized by the news, and that their daughter dropped out of school shortly thereafter. Melissa Grace , New York Daily News 11/25/2011 | | Read Article: New York Daily News | | Woman Who Had Miscarriage in Prison Files Suit | |
| | A Tennessee woman has filed a lawsuit against prison officials of the Nashville Metro prison system, claiming she was denied care and help before and after having a miscarriage in prison. According to the suit, the woman was denied requests for a pregnancy test, was assigned “a strenuous work schedule and then [staff] destroyed her fetus after she suffered a miscarriage." The woman says she has no idea what happened to the fetus, and that afterward, prison guards joked with her, saying she "deserved it." Brandon Gee, Tennessean 11/26/2011 | | Read Article: Tennessean | | Issues | |
| |
| | Drug Company Payments to Texas Doctors Raise Questions | |
| | Thousands of Texas doctors, researchers and medical experts — including more than 100 who are employed by the state and are paid with taxpayer dollars — routinely supplement their salaries with income from pharmaceutical companies. Drug companies pay medical professionals for a wide range of activities, from speaking engagements to consulting. While legal, the practice raises questions about potential conflicts, and whether the interests of patients may be compromised. Between 2009 and early 2011, at least 25,000 Texas physicians and researchers received a combined $57 million — and probably far more — in cash payments, research money, free meals, travel and other perks, according to data culled from 12 drug companies and provided by the nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica. Emily Ramshaw and Ryan Murphy, Texas Tribune 11/28/2011 | | Read Article: Texas Tribune | | Critics Say Budget Cuts for Courts Risk Rights | |
| | For years, state courts across the nation have been scraping by on the support they get from state and local government budgets. Since the financial crisis of 2008, those budgets have been tightened in new ways that are being felt in courthouses and communities across the country. “The justice system’s funding has been decreasing in constant dollars for at least two decades,” said David Boies, co-chairman of a commission formed by the American Bar Association to study court budget issues. JOHN SCHWARTZ, The New York Times 11/28/2011 | | Read Article: The New York Times | |
| | |