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
July 16th, 2008
Allegations of corruption and shaky oversight are plaguing the construction industry following two fatal crane collapses in New York City earlier this year. Critics point to failures at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in explaining the deaths of at least 72 workers in crane-related accidents since 2006. For its part, the construction industry maintains that it has a strong safety record and is working closely with officials to prevent other accidents.
Here in the Metroplex, we’ve seen more crane activity due to new construction in Fort Worth and Arlington and due to Barnett Shale activity. This has caused an increase in injuries, unfortunately. Incidents we’re seeing are most often caused by operator error and poor maintenance rather than structural failure or weather-related problems. Stricter oversight, better training and more preventative maintenance would all go a long way towards alleviating some of these problems.
Tags: arlington, crane accidents, cranes, fort worth, workplace safety
Posted in crane accidents, workplace safety | Comments Off
July 15th, 2008
The American Association for Justice released a report last week listing the nation’s worst insurance companies for consumers. Allstate topped the list of insurers who refuse to pay just claims, employ hardball tactics against policyholders, reward executives with extravagant salaries, and raise premiums while hoarding excessive profits, followed by Unum and AIG. The report was compiled using information from court documents, SEC and FBI records, state insurance department investigations and complaints, nationwide news accounts, and testimony of former insurance agents and adjusters.
Tags: bad faith, bad insurance companies
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
July 15th, 2008
A jury in Austin today awarded truck driver Louis Martinez more than $267,000 in a suit arising out of his termination by a trucking company after he refused to drive with an unsafe load. Martinez was terminated by his employer, Safeshred, last year after refusing to haul a load of steel shelves from Austin to San Antonio. He testified that the load was imbalanced and that the securing straps were worn but he was told to leave the yard; after a few miles, he returned to the yard because the shifting load made it hard to control the truck and he told his supervisor he was afraid someone would get killed by a truck wreck from the unstable load. He was ordered to get back on the road and was fired when he refused. The company sent the load with another driver and during that trip, the load came loose and crashed through the cab of the truck.
Kudos to Mr. Martinez for his safe and sensible refusal to put himself and others in harm’s way. The maddening thing about the verdict is the arrogant attitude of the owner, Donald Wallace, who said the verdict was “exorbitant” and that he “fully expects” that it will be reversed on appeal. Unfortunately, as long as the appeals courts go out of their way to protect businesses and insurers over consumers, he could be right.
Martinez made I-35 safer for us that day. Wallace and his company “fully expect” that they’ll be allowed to continue with business as usual, even if that means putting unsafe loads on the road.
Tags: jury verdict, truck wreck, wrongful termination
Posted in Jury, Trucking Accidents, wrecks | Comments Off
July 14th, 2008
If you bought a tire or had a flat fixed at Discount Tire or America’s Tire in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, norther California, or Arizona between August 1, 2006 and July 31, 2007, you should take you car back to the store for an inspection of the tire stems. Those companies are participating in a recall of valve stems manufactured in China for Dill Air Controls and distributed by Tech International. The rubber in the stems may crack, creating a safety hazard due to sudden or gradual loss of air pressure, which can cause wrecks due to loss of control or catastrophic tire failure. For more information, see this Discount Tire website.
Tags: defect, recall, tire stem, valve stem, wreck
Posted in Product Liability, wrecks | Comments Off
July 11th, 2008
Reporter Bill Miller with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that one person has died and two others were injured early Friday afternoon in a fiery wreck involving a small car and two large rigs, including a tanker, on westbound NE Loop 820. Police, firefighters and ambulance crews responded to the wreck, which was reported at 12:44 p.m. near the loop’s intersection with Blue Mound Road, officials said. Initial police reports stated that a person in a small car was killed. Two people were being taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, a dispatcher for MedStar Ambulance Service said at 1:40 p.m. Lt. Paul Henderson, police spokesman, said he was told that a cement truck and the tanker were covered in flames.
Police said the cement truck might have lost control and slammed into stopped traffic, killing the driver of a small car. The cement truck’s exterior fuel tanks may have ruptured as the truck slid alongside a tanker truck that was in front of the car, police said.
Tags: truck
Posted in Trucking Accidents | Comments Off
July 11th, 2008
Another report of Heparin overdosing of premature babies, this time involving up to 14 babies at Christus Spohn hospital in Corpus Christi. Two of the overdosed babies, twin siblings, have died.
“Christus Spohn (Health System) confirms that an error occurred during the mixing process in our hospital pharmacy,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard Davis said in a prepared statement. “The error was unrelated to product labeling or packaging.”
The Texas Legislature in 2003 - pumped full of special-interest money and controlled by the insurance and business lobbies - passed laws limiting the damages that victims of medical malpractice can recover from negligent health care providers. Unfortunately, they took no steps to try to ensure less negligence or better healthcare.
Tags: malpractice, Medical negligence
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
