| Car Wrecks CLE in Dallas, October 9, 2014 (8 hours MCLE with 1.5 hours ethics) | TTLA's CLE Committee has revamped our exceptional Car Wrecks program to bring you innovative, relevant topics and some exciting new speakers. From new issues like E-Filing, to fresh looks at opening & closing, voir dire and defense strategies, you'll come away with tips, insights & valuable information to give you the edge in your car wreck cases. Additionally, the TTLA Advocates Board of Directors is pleased to host a post-CLE Happy Hour. Click on the headline to learn more.
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| Save the Date | TTLA Members: please mark your calendars to attend the TTLA Annual Membership Meeting & Board of Directors Meeting December 4th & 5th at the Sheraton in Austin. Details and registration information coming soon.
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Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| Data Shows Drug Companies Paid Billions to Doctors |  | Drug and medical device companies paid Texas doctors and teaching hospitals more than $243 million during the final five months of 2013, according to a new, comprehensive accounting of financial ties often criticized as possible conflicts of interest. The payments, which range from funding research to compensating doctors for speaking and consulting, were disclosed Tuesday as part of a federal transparency initiative included in the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Todd Ackerman and Matt Dempsey, Houston Chronicle 10/01/2014    | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Exxon Fracking Report Responds to Shareholders | | Exxon Mobil issued a report that acknowledges the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing but also defends the practice as being better for the environment than other types of energy production and generation. The report acknowledges that drilling wells and producing oil and gas from shale formations and other so-called unconventional sources do carry risks, including the possibility of water contamination and leaks of natural gas into the atmosphere that contribute to climate change. But the report also reads like a defense of unconventional oil and gas production and fracking. It cites studies that have failed to show direct links between cracking rock to allow oil and gas to escape and water contamination, and it goes into detail about the benefits of unconventional oil and gas production and how it compares favorably to many other types of energy production and generation.
Associated Press, Houston Chronicle 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Mass. High Court Dismisses Suit Against Doctor | | The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Boston Children's Hospital cannot be held liable for the actions of a doctor after he no longer worked at the hospital. The plaintiffs who filed suit against the doctor alleged that he abused them between 1987 and 2006. They alleged that Boston Children's Hospital should have disclosed allegations of abuse by the doctor while he worked in Boston. The high court judge upheld a lower court's dismissal of the case in his ruling on Wednesday. The doctor named in the lawsuit committed suicide in 2011.
Martin Finucane, Boston Globe 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Boston Globe |
| Ohio Couple Files Suit Over Sperm Donor Mixup | | An Ohio woman has filed suit against a sperm bank after the vial of sperm used to produce her and her partner's child was mixed up with another vial. The white lesbian couple alleges that the mix-up, which resulted in the use of an African-American man's sperm, has made it difficult to raise their daughter in an all-white community. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, contends that the sperm bank, which keeps handwritten instead of digital records, mixed up the numbers on the vials and gave the plaintiff the wrong donor's sperm. The plaintiff filed suit against the sperm bank for wrongful birth and breach of warranty, citing the emotional and economic losses she has suffered.
Meredith Rodriguez, Chicago Tribune 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Chicago Tribune |
| Jury Awards $4.5M to Widow in Defective Roof Crash | | A widow from Las Vegas, Nevada was awarded $4.5 million this week in a product liability lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. over the death of her husband in 2009. The woman filed the lawsuit after her husband was killed in a car accident in which the couple's 2000 Ford Excursion rolled over while they were driving in New Mexico in December 2009. The lawsuit alleged that after the car rolled, the roof collapsed, causing the plaintiff's husband to die of asphyxiation. Ford claimed that the man died instantly in the crash. A jury on Tuesday ruled that the roof of the Ford vehicle was defectively designed.
Carri Geer Thevenot, Las Vegas Review Journal 09/26/2014 | | Read Article: Las Vegas Review Journal |
| Anadarko Pushes to Avoid Spill-Related Fines | | Anadarko Petroleum Corp. says it shouldn't pay pollution fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill because crude gushed from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and not from the Macondo subsea well in which it had a 25 percent stake. Andarko said in a court filing that the entire 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should give it another chance to argue against potential liabilities linked to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill after a district judge's recent findings contradicted an appellate panel's "erroneous" assumptions about where the spill began.
Collin Eaton, Houston Chronicle 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Endo Said to Pay $400 Million Plus in Vaginal-Mesh Accord | | Endo International Plc agreed to pay more than $400 million to resolve lawsuits alleging its vaginal-mesh implants eroded in some women and left them in pain, people familiar with the settlement said. Endo said it settled â??substantially allâ?? the remaining U.S. suits against its American Medical Systems Holdings unit over the Perigee, Apogee and Elevate mesh implants. The deal resolves more than 10,000 suits for an average of about $48,000 apiece, according to two people familiar with the settlement who didnâ??t want to be identified because they werenâ??t authorized to speak publicly about the accord.
Jef Feeley, Bloomberg 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Bloomberg |
| Dow Chemical Fails to Overturn $1.06 Billion Price-Fixing Award | | A federal appeals court rejected Dow Chemical Co's bid to throw out a $1.06 billion verdict imposed after customers accused it of conspiring to artificially inflate polyurethane prices, saying enough evidence supported the class action award. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Monday said new U.S. Supreme Court limits on class actions did not require Dow customers to sue individually, even if some could have avoided price hikes by negotiating or using rival products.
Jonathan Stempel, Reuters 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Reuters |
| Gravely Injured Giants Fan Sues Dodgers Again | | An attorney for Bryan Stow, the gravely injured Giants fan who won a multimillion-dollar damage suit against the Dodgers, has sued the team again, claiming it is trying to recoup $3.4 million in insurance payments from Stow for his medical care after a beating. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles says the Dodgers and its insurer want the money returned from the $18 million awarded to Stow this summer by a jury.vStow suffered a traumatic brain injury after being beaten by two Dodger fans in a parking lot of Dodger Stadium on March 31, 2011. Doctors have testified he will require treatment for the rest of his life.
Associated Press, The Washington Post 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: The Washington Post |
| Wal-Mart Seeks to Settle Morgan Lawsuit Over Limo Crash | | Wal-Mart said it wants to settle a negligence lawsuit by actor-comedian Tracy Morgan, a day after blaming the celebrity for injuries he sustained when his limousine bus was struck by a speeding company truck. Morgan, 45, and two other people who were with him during the June 7 fatal collision on the New Jersey Turnpike are responsible â??in whole or in partâ?? for their injuries because they werenâ??t wearing seat belts, Wal-Mart said in a court filing two days ago. The company made the claim as part of a mandatory legal response to Morganâ??s suit and prefers to settle out-of-court, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said yesterday. â??Weâ??ve taken steps to try to resolve this issue,â?? Buchanan said in a phone call. The seat belt claim was â??part of the response required by law. In terms of the content, I have to let it stand for itself.â??
Erik Larson , Bloomberg 10/01/2014 | | Read Article: Bloomberg |
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