August 14th, 2008
Well, my previous prediction was right where it counted, wrong in the timing: today a Houston civil jury in the assault case filed by a flight attendant against Victoria Osteen returned a defense verdict (nailed that part) after several hours of deliberation (missed that one). Edit: MSNBC reporting that the jury reached its verdict after “brief deliberations.”
Some media are reporting that the jury found Osteen “not guilty.” Although that probably conveys an accurate description of the result in the minds of many, this wasn’t a criminal matter. Rather, the plaintiff sued the defendant for assault (and money damages) and the jury was likely asked a yes/no question on whether the assault occurred. Civil juries decide liability, criminal juries decide guilt/innocence. Law Dork will be quiet now.
Tags: jury trials, Osteen
Posted in Jury, Rule of Law, tort | Comments Off
August 12th, 2008
Good article in the Houston Chronicle today about how the recent bus wreck tragedies in Texas, Nevada and Mississippi have brought bus safety to the forefront of the politicians in D.C. and Austin. Among other things, there are bills being floated that will require buses to have seatbelts for passengers. That sounds reasonable and somewhat of a no-brainer. I would also suggest that bus carriers be required to carry vast amounts of liability insurance, something on the order of $25 million or thereabouts. Because when a tragedy occurs like the one we just saw in Sherman, dozens of lives are affected and I’ll bet there will be little - if any - insurance to help compensate victims.
One striking statistic in the Chronicle article is that in the past six years, 52 people have died in passenger bus accidents in Texas. That is appalling.
As an aside, Chronicle writer Clay Robison has had some great articles in the past exposing the plights of injured consumers. Tip of the hat to Clay.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, legislation
Posted in car wreck, consumer safety, personal injury, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
August 8th, 2008
What a terrible bus wreck early this morning in Sherman. 14 dead and at least 40 injured, according to recent reports, after the bus lost control and ran off a highway overpass. Many of the victims are described as Vietnamese Catholics from the Houston area on their way to a religious meeting in Missouri. It was reported on the radio today that the charter bus company may have been operating without a license, which it apparently lost several weeks ago. Over 20 ambulances and 18 helicopters were needed to transport victims to trauma hospitals in Dallas and elsewhere. What a tragedy.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, Sherman
Posted in Trucking Accidents, consumer safety, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
August 7th, 2008
…let me apologize for this.
As if we needed more bad publicity, now a flight attendant has sued Joel Osteen’s wife over an alleged assault which occurred when Mrs. Osteen got upset when something wasn’t quite right in First Class.
According to court documents, the plaintiff is suing Osteen for causing “anxiety and hemorrhoids” because of the assault, as well as a loss of faith. I can’t wait to see how the plaintiff attempts to prove causation. I read somewhere that the plaintiff is seeking punitive damages of 10% of Osteen’s net worth, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of a gazillion dollars. Good luck with that.
Prediction: Osteen’s lawyer Rusty Hardin will beat this plaintiff like a rented mule. IF it gets to the jury, they will deliberate for a few minutes just to be polite and then return a defense verdict. Meanwhile, the rest of us need to start thinking about how we handle this case in our next voir dires.
Tags: jury trials, Osteen
Posted in Jury, Uncategorized | Comments Off
July 24th, 2008
There’s been a fatal crane collapse in Oklahoma City today. Apparently a crane toppled over and crushed a car, killing one of the occupants and injuring the other. The victims are believed to be husband and wife. No word yet on the cause of the accident.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
July 22nd, 2008
Developing story from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: a worker at a Chesapeake gas well near Cresson fell some 40 feet down a well shaft, where he was stuck for several hours before being rescued by emergency crews from several local fire departments. Early reports are that the man was eventually pulled out and transported to JPS hospital in good condition.
I had no idea those shafts were large enough for a man to fit inside. Amazing. And 40 feet is a long way down. That must have been horrifying.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
July 22nd, 2008
Hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer and bus drivers in the United States carry commercial driver’s licenses despite also qualifying for full federal disability payments, and some of those drivers have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells, according to a new study.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the 30-page GAO study, obtained by the AP in advance of its release this week, said 563,000 commercial drivers were determined by the Veterans Affairs Department, Labor Department or Social Security Administration to be eligible for full disability benefits because of health problems.
Truckers’ health problems, such as diabetic seizures and sleep disorders, have been blamed in numerous fatal truck wrecks across the United States. Of Texas’ 819,300 people with commercial driver’s licenses, 22,600 receive full federal disability payments. 16,100 of those 22,600 got their commercial driver’s license after they were certified as totally disabled. Most disturbing is that Texas allows drivers to self-certify that they meet medical requirements for a commercial driver’s license.
Tags: 18 wheeler, truck accident, truck wreck
Posted in Trucking Accidents, wrecks | Comments Off
July 19th, 2008
There was a deadly crane accident in Houston on Friday when a 30-story crane failed and collapsed at a Lyondell Basell refinery, killing four workers and and injuring seven others. The crane is owned by Deep South Crane & Rigging of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Crane safety has been under scrutiny in recent months because of several crane-related deaths in Miami, Las Vegas, and two separate incidents in New York which left 9 people dead. Texas, which lets cranes operate with no state or local oversight, led the nation with 26 crane-related fatalities in 2005 and 2006.
Tags: crane accidents, cranes, workplace safety
Posted in crane accidents, workplace safety | Comments Off
July 17th, 2008
Exxon, the most profitable company in the history of the world (earning $40.61 billion last year), recently enjoyed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which slashed roughly $2 billion of punitive damages awarded against it in 1994 over the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The plaintiffs - over 32,000 Alaskans - have now asked the court to award $488 million in interest on top of the reduced damages, something that is routine in virtually every case and which recognizes the interest that money owed to the plaintiffs would have earned had the defendant paid the debt when it was due.
Now in a move that must make even the most hardcore, pro-business tort-reformer blush, Exxon has asked the court to deny the plaintiffs interest because “the substantial delay here was not in any sense Exxon’s fault.” Uh, weren’t they the losers at trial who appealed the judgment in the first place?
Exxon’s shameful audacity knows no bounds. And if the Supremes rule in their favor, the take-over of that court by Big Business appears complete.
Tags: Exxon Valdez, tort reform
Posted in Jury, Rule of Law | Comments Off
July 17th, 2008
Good article today on CNN with tips patients and their families can take to help reduce the chances of surgical errors. Remember the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Patients becoming their own advocates is especially important these days here in Texas, where “tort reform” has made it next to impossible to pursue legal claims against a doctor or hospital for medical malpractice. Lawmakers stripped away patients’ rights but forgot to do anything to help reduce malpractice in the first place. And with the for-profit hospitals cutting staff and jamming patients into OR’s and the doctors having to see more patients to make up for the discounted fees the insurance companies force on them, patients and their families need to be as proactive as possible to avoid errors.
Tags: medical malpractice, patient advocacy
Posted in medical malpractice | Comments Off
