Many Texas residents living in oil-and-gas-rich areas of the state, including the Eagle Ford Shale, Permian Basin, Barnett Shale and others, have been content to play a waiting game in terms of contending with the influx of drilling rigs and heavy trucks that clogged many state roads for the past couple years. Their presumption is that, once the wells…

The wife of a long-time BNSF employee alleged that her stomach cancer was caused by years of cleaning chemicals off her husband’s work clothes. He and other workers used creosote in making railroad ties and they testified that they often went home caked in the chemical. The plaintiffs apparently presented evidence linking creosote to the wife’s cancer but it…

Excellent piece in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times describing how arbitration is supplanting jury trials. Here’s an excerpt: “Tort reform is a game of bait-and-switch in which ordinary citizens have been snookered by carefully orchestrated and relentless propaganda into seeing a phantom boogeyman in the much-reviled “trial lawyer” who brings “frivolous lawsuits” to “runaway juries” that render “out of control…

Some smart professors at Baylor Law School were skeptical of all the anecdotal “evidence” used by the business and insurance lobbies to push for more restrictions on the rights of injured plaintiffs, so they decided to poll Texas trial judges about “frivolous lawsuits” and “runaway juries.” Here is their conclusion, based on over 300 responses from judges across the…

Wonders never cease. CNN is reporting that a former Wal-Mart employee who suffered severe brain damage in a traffic accident won’t have to pay back the company for the cost of her medical care, Wal-Mart told the family Tuesday. Eight years ago, Debbie Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart’s health and benefits…

…they’d let civil lawsuits and juries take care of problems like KBR and Halliburton. A congressional committee is investigating what role defense contractor KBR played in the accidental electrocution of at least a dozen soldiers in Iraq during the past five years. The inquiry stems from whether KBR, which is contracted to maintain housing for troops, properly repaired electrical…

Good editorial in today’s Houston Chronicle from Alex Winslow of Texas Watch: Recent reports paint an ugly picture of irresponsible behavior by oil and chemical companies in Texas and across the country. In response to the BP Texas City tragedy, the federal agency responsible for policing workplace safety has started a review of the safety habits of U.S. refineries….