According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners , companies selling medical malpractice insurance in Texas made $807,325,106 profit in the first three years following tort reform. In 2006, more than 50 cents of every dollar collected was profit.
Good article on Fox 4 exposing some of the myths that propelled the “tort reform” debacle of the 2003 Texas Legislature.
UT Law Professor Bernard Black’s conclusion after studying the matter? “It is entirely clear there was no crisis in medical malpractice lawsuits.”
The Texas Department of Insurance and Allstate entered into an agreement whereby the insurance giant will refund some money to policyholders and reduce their rates.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Allstate must pay $36.8 million in refunds for new and renewal policies written between Dec. 1, 2004 and April 23, 2006; give credits or refunds that amount to 3 percent of premiums for most policies written between Aug. 20, 2007 and June 1, 2008; cut homeowners rates by 3 percent on average statewide for most policies written between June 2, 2008 and at least June 1, 2009; and not increase rates between June 2, 2008 and June 1, 2009.
I’m skeptical of any agreements reached by Big Insurance and the lapdog TDI, particularly knowing how the insurance companies fight meaningful regulation tooth-and-nail. This could be good for consumers or it could just be window dressing (like when TMLT doubled medical malpractice insurance premiums prior to the “tort deform” debacle of 2003 and them hailed an 11% reduction a year later - yipee).
With all these “reductions,” consumers can go broke saving money.
Okay, this one is sorta funny. Probably very poor judgment by the airline crew but I don’t know if it’s worth two mil, especially since he was on a buddy pass in the first place.
Now in addition to McDonald’s hot coffee, we’ll have to voir dire the jury panel on this case.
Houston Chronicle reporting today that a federal judge has ruled that Jamie Leigh Jones, the former employee of Halliburton subsidiary KBR who alleges she was raped by co-workers while in Iraq, can take her claims to trial. Halliburton, you’ll recall, is seeking to have Jones’s claims heard in arbitration rather than in court.
Apparently the ruling by U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison is that Jones does not have to take the assault/rape claims through arbitration, but that she must first resolve other workplace-related claims through that process before going forward in court on the more serious charges.
Bravo. Sounds like a thoughtful ruling: Employment contract + workplace disputes = arbitration. Employment contract + assault, rape and imprisonment by co-workers = jury trial.
How much you wanna bet Halliburton appeals this ruling?
The New York Times reports that since 2001, employees’ average cost of an annual health care premiums for family coverage has nearly doubled — to $3,300, up from $1,800 — while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up. Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the average American household’s income that goes toward health care has risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household’s spending.
But I thought health care would become more affordable once we passed tort reform…wasn’t that one of the promises the insurance and medical lobbies made when they bought the Legislature and sold our rights?
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington ruled recently that Georgia’s $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice suits is unconstitutional, finding that it gives special protections to the medical profession.
“The statute effectively puts substantial limitations on the rights of the poor and middle class to recovery while leaving the right to virtually unlimited recoveries unimpeded for the wealthy,” Arrington said. “The disabled manager of a hedge fund, a corporate CEO, an entertainer or such other person whose income is in the tens of millions of dollars has a claim under Georgia law that would dwarf the amount awarded in any case for pain and suffering.”
The judge made this ruling in a medical negligence case which has yet to go to trial, so the impact of his decision is unclear at this point. The plaintiffs will have to be successful and the defendant will have to appeal (and lose) in order to create precedent; otherwise, it’s just a point to argue in other cases.
Apparently, Judge Arrington has made some controversial rulings in the past and has been reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court on some of them. Nonetheless, I applaud his courage for speaking out against the injustice he sees first-hand in his courtroom.
The cap on noneconomic damages in Texas, by the way, is $250,000. And don’t give me that crap about “stacking” two or three limits (for a $500,000 or $750,000 cap). Those scenarios were pitched by the insurance lobby when they rammed tort reform through the pliant Texas Legislature in 2003 but they have no basis in reality. You and your family are worth $250,000 if you get malpracticed on in Texas these days.
I learned from a colleague in <a href=”http://dallas.texlawyers.com”>Dallas</a> that Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, spoke today to the Dallas Bar Association, where he said:
“In my generation, our greatest injustice was racial prejudice, and I devoted much of my career to fighting it. Nowadays, our greatest injustice is corporate America, which has packed our courts and flooded our legislature with lobbyists — to deprive American’s of basic rights and to destroy our jury system. Why have we decided to lose our jury system? We must fight this injustice as passionately as we in the 1960s fought discrimination.”
Well said, Mr. Dees.
…and pretty soon you’re talking real money.
ExxonMobil reported a $10.9 billion First-Quarter profit, up 17 percent.
With all that cash laying around, it should be no problem to pay that little $2.5 billion punitive damages award involving the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska back in 1989.
Fortunately for poor ol’ Exxon, the Supreme Court will likely toss out those damages. Whew…you’d sure hate for Exxon to pass that along to the customer in the form of higher fuel prices.
A Miami-Dade jury awarded a doctor and his family almost $24.2 million after finding that his rare type of cancer was caused by exposure to brake pads made with asbestos. The defendant, Honeywell, previously bought the company, Bendix, that manufactured the brake pads.
What strikes me about this article is the arrogance of the Honeywell spokesman, who said the company is ”confident we will ultimately prevail on appeal,” and that “there is no supportable evidence that Mr. Guilder’s disease was caused by exposure to Bendix products.” Uh, clearly there was some evidence. But beyond that is the pure chutzpah of corporate interests these days. “Oh, we’ll win on appeal.” Most maddening is that they often do.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Uncategorized category.
Home | Practice Areas | Attorneys | Experience | News | Law Firm | Contact | Law Firm Location and Directions
Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorneys - Copyright © 2008, Laird & Cummings, P.C., All Rights Reserved.
Principal Office 1824 8th Avenue, Fort Worth, Texas 76110, (817) 531-3000 Phone, (817) 923-2228 Fax
Steven C. Laird Is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Law Office Is Located in Fort Worth, TX
Search Engine Optimization and Website Development by Get Page One
Call (817) 531-3000
or Contact Us
