Workers’ compensation laws generally prohibit workers from suing their employers, but three pipeline workers tried to circumvent this and supplement their workers’ compensation payments by suing their employer’s owner, a holding company. A trial court judge allowed the suit to proceed, and a jury awarded $122 million in 2000; the Corpus Christi appeals court has now reversed. (“El Paso wins appeal in plant blast”, Houston Chronicle, Apr. 7; Coastal Corp. v. Torres, Mar. 25).
Posts Tagged ‘Houston’
“Tall passengers come up short in lawsuit”
“A California Court of Appeals panel rejected a lawsuit against several airlines, including American and Southwest, by the Tall Club of Silicon Valley which sought preferential seating in roomier exit rows for men at least 6 foot, 2 inches and women at least 5 foot, 10 inches.” (Reuters/Houston Chronicle, Mar. 3)(via Legal Humour)(& letter to the editor, Apr. 2).
Prisoners escaping jail? Sue the plumber
Cameron County’s revenues apparently depend heavily on its warehousing of federal prisoners in its jail. But the U.S. Marshals pulled federal prisoners after a series of escapes. So Cameron County is suing the builder of the jail, and all of the contractors and subcontractors–including the plumber, who noone blames. Jo Rae Wagner, the president of the plumbing company, speaks out; such “shotgun” listing of plainly innocent defendants is common. The newspaper gets counterbalance from two law professors who assure readers that such defendants don’t have to pay anything to be dismissed from the suit, but apparently haven’t actually tried to get such a defendant out of a suit without incurring legal expenses or tried to recover legal fees for the frivolous suit. (Allan Essex, “Company calls county lawsuit unjustifiable”, Valley Morning Star, Mar. 27).
To obtain sanctions for a frivolous lawsuit in Texas, a defendant has to prove, after an evidentiary hearing, that the lawsuit was not only groundless, but was brought in bad faith. To do this, one must overcome the presumption that papers are filed in good faith. Tex. R. Civ. Proc. 13; GTE Comm. Sys. Corp. v. Tanner, 856 S.W.2d 725, 731 (Tex. 1993). “A trial court may not base Rule 13 sanctions on the legal merit of a pleading or motion.” Aldine ISD v. Baty, 999 S.W.2d 113, 116-17 (Tex. App. Houston 1999). The lawyer of “empty head and pure heart” avoids sanctions–and the defendant ends up incurring additional fees and costs over the evidentiary hearing, no matter how groundless the initial suit. So when you hear that recovery is possible for frivolous lawsuits, remember that the judicial system has a different definition for “frivolous” than the layperson does. (Tex. Rules of Civ. Proc. 13).
Rail union head got FELA kickbacks
“The president of the United Transportation Union pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy on Thursday, admitting that he solicited bribes from lawyers trying to get access to lucrative legal work for rail workers.” In a scheme that dated back to 1995, Byron Boyd and three other officials of the Cleveland-based union “solicited cash from lawyers who wished to represent injured rail workers in personal injury lawsuits against rail employers. Those are potentially very lucrative suits since there is no limit to legal damages under federal law. … The men got at least $477,000 in cash”. (“Transportation Union Chief Admits to Racketeering”, Reuters, Mar. 12). “U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said a scheme like the one Boyd was involved in is not uncommon in labor unions and the federal government will continue to investigate such schemes. … The case was handled out of Texas because five of the lawyers that paid money as part of the scheme were from the Houston area and they cooperated with prosecutors, Shelby said.” (Juan Lozano, “Union president pleads guilty to labor racketeering”, AP/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mar. 11). Railway workers are covered by the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), which affords more lucrative recoveries than does workers’ compensation law; they have also been major filers of asbestos claims.
Trial lawyers flex muscle in Tex. races
The plaintiff’s bar had reason to crow after Tuesday’s Texas primaries: it knocked off several incumbent Democratic lawmakers who had backed tort reform or cooperated with GOP leadership on other issues. (“Tort reform, redistricting created challenges for incumbents”, AP/News 8 Austin, Mar. 10)(see Feb. 3). Tort lawyers poured more than $100,000 into the campaign of Alma Allen, who upset State Rep. Ron Wilson for the Democratic nomination in Houston’s District 131, and similar amounts into Abel Herrero’s successful challenge to incumbent state Rep. Jaime Capelo in Corpus Christi. (Lori Rodriguez, “Wilson challenge points up Democrats’ divisions”, Houston Chronicle, Mar. 6; Tim Eaton, “Politics draws doctors, lawyers”, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Mar. 3). Their most important vehicle was a PAC called “Texans for Insurance Reform”. Texas political observer David Guenthner writes to National Review Online (Mar. 10) that the trial lawyers have “consolidated their control” over the state Democratic party and “sent a message that minority Democrats who don?t toe their line can kiss their careers goodbye.”
Lawsuit: illegal to create “empty space”
Kelly McGinley, a Christian radio broadcaster in Mobile, Alabama, sued over the removal of a monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds that the empty space left behind acted as a monument to “nontheism,” thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It will be no surprise that the lawsuit was dismissed at the district court level and that the dismissal was affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit. (Stan Bailey, “Judges say monument lawsuit lacks merit”, Birmingham News, Mar. 6; McGinley v. Houston).
Lurid murder trial
According to Susan Wright’s attorney in her Houston murder trial, her husband Jeffrey pulled a knife on her, she wrestled it away from him, and killed him in self-defense. Unfortunately for this theory, the medical examiner testified that the autopsy shows that Mr. Wright was stabbed more than 200 times while his arms and legs were tied down to the bed; melted candle wax was also found on the body. (The defense admits that Ms. Wright tied her husband’s arms to the bed with neckties, but says this happened in the midst of the stabbing.) Ms. Wright’s attorney explains that the former topless dancer’s painting and bleaching the bedroom, dismantling of the bed, and burying the body underneath the backyard patio (before it was unearthed by the family dog), was a reflection of “post-traumatic stress syndrome”; it’s not clear if he also claims this for Ms. Wright’s application for money from the state crime victim’s compensation fund two days after the killing. (Andrew Tilghman, “Doctor: Man tied down in Wright attack”, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 27; KHOU, Feb. 27; Andrew Tilghman, “Wright jury hears 2 sides of `terror'”, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 26; Andrew Tilghman, “Jury selected for woman’s murder trial”, Feb. 25; KHOU, Feb. 24; video of courtroom reenactment) (via Daily Legal Newswire).
March 5 Update: Guilty. (Andrew Tilghman, “Wright gets 25 years in prison for murder,” Houston Chronicle, Mar. 4).
Stuart Taylor, Jr. on Sen. Edwards
He reviews Edwards’s autobiography, Four Trials, which “provides a window into the faux-populist pretenses and other flaws of the system that made this millworker’s son into a multimillionaire.” Aside from Edwards’s cerebral palsy wins, much discussed in this space, there was the punitive damages award he obtained after a truck crash, against the trucking company for having paid its drivers by the mile: the justice of this $4 million award is open to much question as a matter of blame-fixing, aside from which it “ultimately came out of the pockets of the same ordinary, hardworking Americans whose champion he purports to be — and a big chunk of it went into the pockets of John Edwards. … Edwards’s business-bashing, anti-free-trade, us-against-them campaign rhetoric, unlike John Kerry’s, seems sincere. Edwards sounds as if he believes in his bones that behind every misfortune there must be a wealthy villain.” (Stuart Taylor, Jr., “John Edwards: The Lawsuit Industry Puts Its Best Face Forward”, National Journal/The Atlantic, Feb. 25).
Steve Bainbridge, noting Edwards’s jobs-jobs-jobs economic rhetoric, wonders whether the Senator pauses to worry about certain jobs destroyed by some of his main backers (Feb. 25). Edwards’s latest fund-raiser in Houston was hosted by John O’Quinn, who as the impresario of the breast implant litigation that bankrupted Dow Corning knows a thing or two about destroying jobs (Rachel Graves, “Fund-raisers bring Edwards to town”, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 24; Ken Herman, “The 2004 Election”, Cox/Palm Beach Post, Feb. 25). And on the Edwards-and-cerebral-palsy controversy that we and several other webloggers were pursuing earlier this month, Franco Castalone (The LitiGator) has added a pair of posts clarifying and extending his earlier comments, the first of which (Feb. 15) relays a wealth of information about no-fault birth injury compensation programs and the litigation they would replace, and the second of which (Feb. 16) makes some valuable points about civility in disagreement, and also says generous things about this site.
San Antonio ambulance chasing
Columnist Roddy Stinson reports that, notwithstanding a recent Texas law criminalizing the practice, “services” are collecting personal information from San Antonio accident reports to solicit clients. (“Ambulance-chasing vultures continue to plague San Antonio”, San Antonio Express-News, Feb. 3) (via CALA Houston).
For Texas trial lawyers, revenge time
Throwing their weight around: “Across Houston and the state, plaintiffs’ attorneys are backing primary opponents to Democratic legislators who bucked the party last year and supported Proposition 12, part of a Republican-led effort to cap medical malpractice damages. … The Texas Trial Lawyers Association had no public comment. But one association member privately said trial lawyers intend to make it rough on legislators who oppose them.” Republicans aren’t safe either, with the chief author of the bill, Rep. Joe Nixon (R-Houston), facing a primary challenge from a plaintiff’s lawyer. (John Williams, “Alliances put heat on tort reformers”, Houston Chronicle, Jan. 31).