| | A New Jersey jury has awarded $30.3 million to the family of a man who died of asbestos-related cancer. According to an attorney for the family, Mark Buttitta developed mesothelioma after he and other family members brought home asbestos fibers in their clothes from working at GM warehouses. The defendants, Asbestos Corp. Ltd. of Canada and BorgWarner Inc. of Michigan, are expected to appeal. Jeffrey Gold, Newsday 02/27/2008 | |
| | The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in an appeal that hopes to dismiss most of $2.5 million in damage against Exxon Mobile Corp. for the crash of Valdez oil tanker. At times, the justices seemed to agree with Exxon that the amount of punitive damages was excessive but seemed unwilling to toss the award completely. The ambivalence of the court may give way to partial victories for both Exxon and 32,000 Alaskan plaintiffs. Tony Mauro, Law.com 02/28/2008 | |
| | The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to allow FedEx employees whose claims were mishandled by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to proceed with their lawsuit against the company. In a 7 to 2 decision, the justices found that mistakes by the EEOC should not prevent the case from going forward. Patricia Kennedy's lawsuit was originally dropped after the EEOC failed to notify the company, investigate the claim and seek conciliation between FedEx and Kennedy. Robert Barnes, The Washington Post 02/28/2008 | |
| | A proposed class action lawsuit has accused Countrywide Financial Corp. of overcharging borrowers already in the midst of foreclosure. According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in Delaware Chancery Court, the lender charged excessive and unreasonable fees to delinquent borrowers in order to compensate for losses in the subprime market. Other lawsuits have accused Countrywide of artificially inflating stock prices and home appraisals. Reuters, Reuters 02/28/2008 | |
| | A lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of a developmentally disabled United States citizen who was wrongly deported to Mexico. The lawsuit claims that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement and other defendants violated Pedro Guzman’s civil rights. Guzman, who was dropped off in Tijuana with $3 in his pocket, wandered in Mexico for nearly three months before being returned to his family. Paloma Esquivel, LA Times 02/28/2008 | |
| | Rising levels of toxic water trapped in an abandoned mine are threatening the safety of a Colorado town, local officials say. The aging tunnel, located in the town of Leadville, is filled with more than a billion gallons of cadmium, zinc and manganese-tainted water. Thus far, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Environmental Protection Agency have been unable to find a solution for what some experts fear could be a catastrophic release of water. Dan Frosch, The New York Times 02/28/2008 | |
| | Video: Investigative analysis of the Texas Supreme Court by WFAA News (Dallas) and the public interest group Texas Watch. The group just released its annual study of the Texas Supreme Court's backlog of cases. Byron Harris, WFAA.com 02/28/2008 | |
| | The makers of an artificial spinal disk and the Food and Drug Administration have been asked to explain a potential conflict of interest in the testing and approval of the device. Senate Finance Committee member Charles Grassley wrote Swiss manufacturer Synthes and the FDA requesting information about the approval process and financial relationships between the company and doctors who participated in testing. Since last year, Grassley and others have pressured medical device makers to disclose money given to doctors. Reed Abelson, The New York Times 02/28/2008 | |
| | Federal health regulators warned doctors Wednesday that a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease may cause liver damage. The Food and Drug Administration posted the warning on its website after Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. reported that the drug Tysabri could harm the liver within six days of the first dose. Tysabri was removed from the market in 2005 after two patients developed fatal brain conditions but was reintroduced as a multiple sclerosis treatment in 2006. Luke Timmerman and Catherine Larkin, Bloomberg 02/28/2008 | |
| | The recent outrage by doctors over a request by Blue Cross of California to help the insurer identify conditions that could help them cancel patients’ medical coverage should serve as a larger call to patient protection, according to an opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times. In the piece, Dr. SreyRam Kuy urges fellow physicians to put aside lobbying to limit litigation and focus instead on improving patient care. SreyRam Kuy, LA Times 02/28/2008 | |
TEXAS LAWYER CASE SUMMARIES | | |
| | The trial court did not err when it failed to require the jury to be unanimous regarding which of the three facts Bridwell failed to disclose in the case involving alleged fraudulent sale of securities. Bridwell v. State, Dallas Court of Appeals, Nos. 05-07-00258-CR and 05-07-00259-CR, 2-23-2008. , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 02/28/2008 | |
| | The trial court's award presumed that Linda Young's fall would prevent her from ever returning to work. There was no evidence that Young was permanently disabled. The absence of any evidence to support this assumption meant that the lost wages award lacked factually sufficient evidence. Ibrahim v. Young, Eastland Court of Appeals, No. 11-06-00149-CV, 2-22-2008. , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 02/28/2008 | |
| | he M/V CAJUN EXPRESS was not a "vessel in navigation," and Rocky Cain was not a Jones Act seaman. Cain was thus not entitled to relief under the Jones Act for his Sept. 10, 2000, injury. Cain v. Transocean Offshore USA Inc., 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 05-30963, 2-21-2008 , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 02/28/2008 | |
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