December 30, 2008

Texas Wrongful Death Suit Blames Sawmill's Safety Violations

MARSHALL TEXAS- The family of a man killed while working at a Texas sawmill is suing the company for alleged safety violations.

According to the complaint filed Dec. 28 in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas, the man was employed at Southern Hardwood Co. on Jan. 20, 2007, when he died.
The man was making wooden boards for pallets using a board edger, when the Crosby board edger "shot back" a board into his chest.

The man was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead and the cause of death determined to be from a blunt force trauma to the chest.

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December 8, 2008

Wal-Mart Sued by Family of Trampled Man

The family of a man killed in a stampede by holiday shoppers filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, seeking unspecified damages.

Shoppers on New York's Long Island broke down doors and surged into the Valley Stream Wal-Mart, the day after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday," traditionally the busiest retail shopping day of the year.

The 34 year old man, was knocked to the ground and trampled to death. He had been assigned to cover security as an independent contractor.

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December 3, 2008

Judgment Overturned in Texas Hazing Case

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 the lawsuit was an accident, and the lawsuit will now proceed.

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December 1, 2008

Texas Failing to Protect Patients From Abuse And Neglect

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 probe concluded that serious problems and deficiencies in care currently exist throughout the facilities where nearly 5,000 vulnerable Texans live.

"We have concluded that numerous conditions and practices at the facilities violate the constitutional and federal statutory rights of their residents," said an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

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November 19, 2008

Restaurant Patron Who Slipped on Peanut Shells Gets $97k

A Texas woman who broke her knee when she slipped on peanut shells in a Temple restaurant recovered $96,750 after a jury found her partially responsible for her injuries. The 2006 incident occurred at Texas Roadhouse, where patrons are given buckets of peanuts and encouraged to drop the shells on the floor. The woman, then 31, said she fractured her knee in three places after she slipped on a shell that may have still contained peanuts.

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November 1, 2008

Default Judgment: Fraternity Must Pay $16.2 million in Hazing Death

A default judgment was granted to the parents of a freshman pledge who fell to his death two years ago after authorities said he was subjected to hazing. A state district judge has ordered the national and University of Texas chapters of a fraternity to pay $16.2 million.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity must pay each of the parents $2.5 million for mental anguish and nearly $81,000 for funeral expenses, as well as additional damages, according to the default judgment.

The order was issued after the national and local SAE chapters failed to respond to a lawsuit filed in September. State law allows the chapters to seek a new trial, which could be granted if the representatives explain why they did not respond to the suit and can defend allegations against them.
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August 31, 2008

Texas Supreme Court: No duty to Warn

An employee alleged that Brookshire Grocery Company caused her back injuries when the worker Barbara Goss was trying to step over a "lowboy" cart.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled against her: To the extent that stepping over a lowboy is dangerous, it is a danger apparent to anyone, including Goss. A lowboy stands about 42 inches high, measures about two and a half feet by five feet, and rolls on four wheels.

Goss stepped over one as she entered a freezer, but on the way out her shin struck the lowboy and she hurt herself grabbing a shelf to stop her fall.

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