A Texas judge has overturned his previous $16.2 million judgment against the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which was sued by the parents of a pledge who died allegedly after a hazing event at the University of Texas. The judge has accepted the fraternity’s explanation that the failure to respond to…
A federal investigation has found that Texas is failing to protect disabled residents who are living in large state facilities, from possible lapses in health care. The U.S. Justice Department said in a report that deficiencies in staffing put residents in 13 facilities at risk of abuse and neglect .…
The family of a construction worker who fell to his death received a $440,000 settlement. In 2005, a Texas man aged 23, was part of a crew working on a building in Mesquite. He and another worker entered a wooden box, which was then lifted by a SkyTrak device to…
United States District Judge Rodney W. Sipple issued an order Wednesday designating lawyers in the recently formed NuvaRing birth control MDL to serve in leadership positions and to act on behalf of all plaintiffs during discovery and pretrial proceedings. On August 22, 2008, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized…
California – A bus driver with a history of motor vehicle offenses and substance abuse was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence earlier in the week, hours after his casino-bound charter bus ran into a ditch. Eight people were killed and 30 people were injured. Officials said the…
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has agreed to settle and pay $4.5M to the 27 year old lone survivor of a deadly collision of two helicopters over Torrance Municipal Airport in Cailifornia. The FAA agency decided to settle with Gavin Heyworth, a former Marine who sued the FAA after the…
The trial court jury award of $14.9 million to the family of a man killed in a fiery gas explosion was upheld this week by the New Mexico Court of Appeals. The arguments by Energen Resources Corp. that the jury’s award was excessive and therefore unconstitutional was rejected by the…
The family of a man who was killed in the October 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash settled its case against New York City for $8.75 million. This ferry crash killed 11 people and many ferry passengers were injured. New York City officials said the agreement is one of 127 claims…
Last week, the FDA said it had received reports of six new cases of pancreatitis – including two deaths – associated with the diabetes drug Byetta. Today, Amylin and Eli Lilly said that they had reported four additional deaths to the agency as well, which the FDA hasn’t yet made…
The FDA today said it plans to strengthen warnings about life-threatening pancreas problems linked to the type 2 diabetes drug Byetta after getting two reports of deaths and four other hospitalizations in Byetta users. Those patients had hemorrhagic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas with bleeding) or necrotizing pancreatitis (in which…