2013 Making a Difference Award | TTLA is now accepting nominations for the Making a Difference Award which is periodically awarded at the discretion of the TTLA Executive Committee and recognizes a client (past or present) of a TTLA member whose actions demonstrates the critical role of the civil justice system in protecting the rights of Texas families. Nominees should demonstrate a desire to promote the public good through the civil justice system and best exemplify the attributes of a true advocate. Nomination deadline is November 1, 2013. Click on the headline to download the nomination form. |
2013 Legends CLE: "Tales From the Crypt" October 30 - 31 in Austin | Back by popular demand, our Second Annual Legends Seminar brings you "Tales From the Crypt," October 30 - 31, 2013 in Austin at the Four Seasons Hotel. This year's underwriters - Fibich, Hampton, Leebron, Briggs & Josephson; The Gallagher Law Firm; Payne Mitchell Law Group and Watts Guerra - dug deep to bring you the power of over 800 years of legal experience to add to your cauldron of trial strategies. Click on the headline to learn more and register. |
Court Wrestles with Protecting Gays from Jury Exclusion | | A federal appeals court grappled with whether a prohibition against excluding jurors because of race or gender should be extended to sexual orientation. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals peppered lawyers with questions about the removal of a gay man during jury selection for an antitrust trial two years ago. The dispute between Abbott Laboratories and SmithKline Beecham involved Abbott's price hike for an AIDS drug, which had infuriated the gay community. Maura Dolan, LA Times 09/19/2013 | Read Article: LA Times |
Con Ed Sued Over Woman's Death in Hurricane | | The mother of a 23-year-old woman who was electrocuted by a downed power line in Queens during Hurricane Sandy filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Wednesday against Consolidated Edison, accusing the power company of negligence in failing to shut down the electricity before the storm hit. Associated Press, The New York Times 09/19/2013 | Read Article: The New York Times |
Lawsuits Against Exxon Mobil Mount Over Big Oil Pipeline Spills | | Litigation is mounting against Exxon Mobil contending that it was negligent in maintaining its 8,000-mile U.S. pipeline network. At the center of the lawsuits is the question of whether Exxon officials heeded the government warnings and took the necessary steps to protect against accidents as seen in Arkansas and Montana. JAMES OSBORNE , The Dallas Morning News 09/19/2013 | Read Article: The Dallas Morning News |
Settlement Reached in Amputee Lawsuit | | A California man who was hit by a bus and had one of his legs amputated has been awarded $15 million in the lawsuit he filed against a transit company. The man was hit by the bus in August 2012 while walking in a crosswalk and his seven surgeries ended in his leg being amputated below the knee. The plaintiff agreed to the settlement right before the jury reached a verdict that would have awarded him $17 million. According to the plaintiff's lawyer, the $15 million settlement will stand. Staff Report, The Insurance Journal 09/18/2013 | Read Article: The Insurance Journal |
Background Check Lawsuit Results in $150K Settlement | | A class-action lawsuit filed in April against a screening company in Seattle that ran background checks for rental tenants has reached a $150,000 settlement. The background checks the company used to screen potential renters included drug convictions that were older than 7 years. Though the screening company does not admit any wrongdoing, they have agreed to pay $400 to each of the plaintiffs and $32,600 in attorney's fees and other costs. Wire Report, The Olympian 09/18/2013 | Read Article: The Olympian |
US Judge Accepts Guilty Plea from Halliburton | | A federal judge accepted a plea agreement Thursday that calls for Halliburton Energy Services to pay a $200,000 fine for destroying evidence after BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Halliburton pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge stemming from the deletion of data during a post-spill review of the cement job on BP's blown-out Macondo well. Associated Press, Yahoo News 09/19/2013 | Read Article: Yahoo News |
Honda Recalls Odyssey, Acura MDX for Airbag Defect | | Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it is recalling 318,000 Odyssey minivans in the U.S. and 63,400 Acura MDX sport-utility vehicles in several nations for an airbag defect. The automaker said there have been no crashes related to the problem. Honda is also recalling 23,300 Odyssey minivans in Canada. Associated Press, The Washington Post 09/19/2013 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
Obese Cancer Patients Often Shorted on Chemo Doses | | Obese people are less likely to survive cancer, and one reason may be a surprising inequality: The overweight are undertreated. Doctors often short them on chemotherapy by not basing the dose on size, as they should. They use ideal weight or cap the dose out of fear about how much treatment an obese patient can bear. Yet research shows that bigger people handle chemo better than smaller people do. Now, the largest organization of doctors who treat cancer, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, aims to change that. The group has adopted guidelines urging full, weight-based doses for the obese. MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP, Yahoo News 09/19/2013 | Read Article: Yahoo News |
How Many Die From Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals? | | A new study in the current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety says between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death, the study says. That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second. Marshall Allen, ProPublica 09/19/2013 | Read Article: ProPublica |
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