Interview on Hayes Sammons Hearing

KURV 710AM in the Rio Grande Valley interviewed Lawsquawker's own Linda Laurent Thomas last week regarding this week's hearing to move forward with trial on our Hayes-Sammons lawsuit in Mission, Texas.

Listen to the interview or read the accompanying story.

Pick Your "Friends" Carefully

As Texans know, the ability to sue a negligent doctor or hospital is virtually impossible now that the tort reformers (read: insurance executives) got their $250K caps on non-economic damages (i.e., you can sue if you make a lot of money like an investment banker, but if you are a housewife, file clerk or bookkeeper, your damages are negligible).

Today, the Houston Chronicle exposed one of Texans for Lawsuit Reform's spokesmen Dr. Forney Fleming who advocated against med mal lawsuits. He failed to mention that he was reprimanded and fined by the Texas Medical Board and still has complaints pending:

He was eager to bash plaintiffs' lawyers, particularly those who targeted doctors. So TLR, a business group that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bashing plaintiffs' lawyers and winning restrictions on judgments against physicians and other defendants, signed him up as a volunteer speaker.

Fleming, however, left out some details of his professional life, including his reprimand and $7,500 fine by the Texas Medical Board in 2004 for misdiagnosing what turned out to be bone cancer in a 16-year-old girl's leg. The leg later was amputated. The board also accused Fleming of providing substandard care to six other patients, including an 81-year-old woman with a fractured hip. That formal complaint was still pending when he let his medical license lapse and retired last December. And, according to state records, Fleming was sued or threatened with suits for malpractice three times. All were settled out of court or resolved through mediation for undisclosed terms.

None of his professional problems was mentioned on the TLR Web site, but his profile was removed last week, within an hour after I informed a TLR spokeswoman about them.

Here is a link to his "removed" TLR profile by way of Burnt Orange Report and Texas Watch: Dr. Forney Fleming, Texans for Lawsuit Reform Spokesman

True Value of a Texas Worker

Well, Texas has recently decided that plant owners will be shielded from liability by Worker's Compensation Laws if a contractor gets injured.

In Entergy Gulf States Inc. v. John Summers, the Texas Supreme Court held that "a premises owner that "undertakes to procure" work falls within the the Labor Code's definition of a general contractor, for purposes of qualifying for the exclusive-remedy defense."

This case marks a sweeping change in the ability of an injured worker to get any meaningful protection from a negligent landowner and ultimately discourages plant owners from making safety changes to reduce injuries in the first place. If there is a silver lining to the 2005 BP explosion in Texas City, it is the fact that it occurred before this ruling came out.

A sad day for Texans, but not surprising according to John Eddie Williams, a prominent Texas personal injury lawyer who was quoted in the Houston Chronicle's story today: "The court ruling followed several unsuccessful attempts in recent years by the business community to convince the Legislature to address the same issue."

Slow Death, Slower Justice

The Texas Observer has a detailed story on our Mission lawsuit and the struggles of our clients to obtain justice against the Goliaths of the chemical industry. The story paints a good picture of the conditions at the time the plant was in full swing:

The plant exhaled pesticide dust like a vacuum cleaner with a full bag. The fan sucked poisonous dust and fumes from the factory, sending them into the neighborhood. Families left their windows open most of the year because they didn’t have air conditioners. Strong Gulf winds moved the dust around so much that residents said they could taste it. The poison blew off of trucks, open-top kettles, and piles of residue left outside, which neighborhood kids used like a community sandbox, according to former workers, locals and court records. Rainbow colored storm water frequently flooded unpaved streets, at times muddying dirt kitchen floors.

Texas Supreme Court Lifts Stay in Mission, TX case

The Texas Supreme Court lifted its stay on our Mission, Texas case last Friday. The mandamus had been pending for two years. Our clients provided some video commentary for KRGV-Channel 5 here.

A Victory for Safety

Common sense finally won last week when President Bush's pick to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Michael Baroody, withdrew his nomination. As you recall, Mr. Baroody was Executive Vice President at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) - a K Street lobbying behemoth devoted to helping big manufacturers evade accountability for their wrongdoing.

Maybe I should just start my own farm and ranch

Just a follow up to yesterday's post on food safety, the FDA is now going to look at imported human food and potential for contamination. It's about time...frankly it's a national security issue...all our inexpensive products today come here through our seaports, airports and border crossings. Maybe we should eat things that don't travel half way around the world (just think of the savings in gasoline to haul stuff over here)? Just a thought. CNN has the full story.