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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…
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…
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 is the arrogance of the Honeywell spokesman, who said the company…
James Lee Woodard, 55, of Dallas County, is free after serving 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Texas Wesleyan law student Alexis Hoff was instrumental in his release, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. How do you even begin to apologize to someone like Woodard? He’s spent half his life behind bars, his parents died…
NBC5i reported that a gas rig worker was injured Monday morning at a gas rig in Krum. It happened just before 11 a.m. at Barnett Oil Lease on Burns Ranch Road. The worker was injured after something malfunctioned on the rig, according to Tom Reedy, spokesman for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office. The worker was taken by helicopter to…
Judy Kostura, an Austin lawyer with a wealth of expertise in insurance subrogation matters, has a good op/ed in today’s Austin American-Statesman: Why you should always read the fine print Judy Kostura, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR, Thursday, April 17, 2008 Wal-Mart’s recent efforts to deprive an employee of her injury settlement highlight an unfair advantage insurance companies enjoy in the legal…
A study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association accuses pharaceutical giant Merck of deception in promoting Vioxx. According to the researchers, who had access to thousands of documents gathered in lawsuits involving Vioxx, Merck “waged a campaign of deception to promote its drug, moving slowly to warn of possible hazards while at the same time…
State Farm boosting home rates again, especially on coast, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports today. “State Farm blamed the increase along the coast on the increased cost of reinsurance, which insurance companies buy to guard against the huge losses associated with hurricanes. Galveston County residents who have both home and auto insurance through State Farm will see their rates go…
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…
