Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

TEXAS-Johnson County officials are concerned about "mud" spills, the mess that some companies leave behind when waste is hauled away from drilling sites.

When trucks loaded with the mud used in the gas drilling process travel too fast along county roads, some of it spills out, and county officials are sometimes left to clean up the mess.

The Johnson County’s emergency management coordinator, said cleanup costs are mounting, and the problem is also plaguing other counties in the Barnett Shale.

The mud contains lubricants and toxic chemicals used to make the drill bit turn more easily. When mud spills onto roadways, it is like ice, sometimes leading to serious accidents.

Continue reading "Texas Roadway Hazards From Trucks Leaving Gas Well Sites " »

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Personal Injury , Toxic Injury , Trucking Accidents

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An appeal by Hanford contractors, has been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court clearing the way for a settlement with almost 2,000 people exposed to radiation during the Manhattan Project and the early years of the Cold War.

The contractors - E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., General Electric Co. and UNC Nuclear Industries Inc. - were challenging a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last spring that sided largely with the plaintiffs.

The people exposed to radiation lived in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho, down wind of the Hanford nuclear reservation, as the U.S. government was developing the first atomic bombs in the 1940s. They have spent nearly two decades trying to win compensation for thyroid cancer and other conditions that they say were caused by the exposure.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Hanford Contractors" »

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Posted In: Personal Injury , Toxic Injury

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W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay up to $140 million to settle a class action lawsuit from its use of an attic-insulating product that contained asbestos.

The chemicals maker company will pay $30 million cash into a trust fund, an additional $30 million cash after three years, and make up to 10 additional annual payments of $8 million if certain conditions are met.

The payouts stem from the company's sale of Zonolite attic insulation, a loose-fill vermiculite product that can contain naturally occurring asbestos. Zonolite was installed in millions of homes throughout the U.S. and Canada. The hundreds of thousands of lawsuits filed against the product pushed W.R. Grace into bankruptcy protection in 2001.

Continue reading "W.R. Grace to Settle Asbestos Case" »

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Posted In: Personal Injury , Toxic Injury

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The Food and Drug Administration said that it had discovered the toxic chemical melamine in infant formula made by an American manufacturer.

Agency officials said they had discovered melamine at trace levels in a sample of infant formula. It was also discovered in several samples of dietary supplements that are made by some of the same manufacturers who make formula.

Melamine contamination became a major scandal in China after it was added to milk to disguise test results that measure protein levels. Since it was discovered in infant formula in September, it has sickened more than 50,000 infants and killed 4.

Continue reading "Melamine Found in U.S. Infant Formula " »

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Posted In: Toxic Injury

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The city of Milwaukee's appeal to force a former lead paint manufacturer to pay for the cleanup of 11,000 contaminated properties was rejected.

The Court of Appeals ruled that NL Industries Inc. does not have to pay the city costs of cleaning up the inner-city homes. The city sought $52.6 million for the program, which involved replacing old windows.

The Milwaukee County jury ruled last year the widespread presence of lead paint in Milwaukee homes was a public nuisance, but NL Industries did not "intentionally and unreasonably engage in conduct" that caused it and was not negligent.

Continue reading "Milwaukee Loses Appeal in Lead Paint Lawsuit" »

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A congressionally mandated scientific panel has concluded that Gulf War syndrome is real and still afflicts nearly a quarter of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1991 conflict, according to a recently released report.

The report concluded that two chemical exposures were direct causes of the disorder: the drug pyridostigmine bromide, given to troops to protect against nerve gas, and pesticides that were widely used -- and often overused -- to protect against sand flies and other pests.

"The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is a result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time," according to the 450-page report presented to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake.

Continue reading "Gulf War Syndrome New Report" »

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A group of Maryland residents whose drinking water was contaminated with coal ash reached a multimillion-dollar settlement of its class action lawsuit against Constellation Energy Group.

The deal, estimated at $45 million, gives about 600 residents living near a sand and gravel mine financial compensation and environmental remediation.

For 12 years Constellation worked with a contractor to dump billions of tons of waste ash from its Brandon Shores coal-fired power plant into an unlined former gravel mine pit. County tests found that 23 wells in the area tested positive for metals such as arsenic, cadmium and thallium, all components of waste ash from smokestacks, also called "fly ash."

A suit was filed in November 2007 in Baltimore Circuit Court to make Constellation pay unspecified damages for personal injuries and loss of property values.

Continue reading "Coal Fired Power Plant and Residents Settle Law Suit" »

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The world's largest company Exxon Corp promised the residents of a Baltimore County neighborhood that the company would "pay money damages to the people who were harmed" by a 26,000-gallon gasoline leak that contaminated the groundwater beneath their homes two years ago.

This is a trial in which 309 plaintiffs claimed that the oil giant was careless in looking after its facilities and the responsible party There are real damages in this case. Some plaintiffs have suffered emotional distress and some plaintiffs have suffered loss in property values.

Continue reading "Exxon Sued For Groundwater Contamination" »

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Parents are worried about a chemical substance found in the popular sealants that are painted on children’s molars to prevent decay.

The chemical is bisphenol-A, or BPA, which is widely used in the making of the hard, clear plastic called polycarbonate, and is also found in the linings of food and soft-drink cans. Most human exposure to the chemical clearly comes from the food supply. But traces have also been found in dental sealants.

Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reassured consumers that the chemical appears to be safe, it has received increasing scrutiny in recent months from health officials in the United States and Canada. See earlier post

Continue reading "BPA In Dental Sealants" »

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to stem the pollution washing into waterways from cities and suburbs, the National Academy of Sciences reported this week.

According to the report's authors, there needs to be "radical changes" in the way the federal government regulates stormwater runoff so that all waters are clean enough for fishing and swimming.

Stormwater runoff is the toxic brew of oil, fertilizers and trash picked up by rain and snowmelt as the water flows over parking lots, roofs and subdivisions.

Continue reading "EPA Messed Up Water Pollution Controls" »

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued new air quality standard for lead that is expected to have a major impact in Missouri, in the heart of the nation's lead belt.

The new standard is 10 times more tougher than the old standard for lead, a toxic metal which known to impair neurological development in children.

The new standard of 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter of air represents the first time the agency has revised airborne levels of lead since 1978, when the metal was phased out of gasoline. According to experts it is a good standard and EPA has got to enforce it.

The EPA was under a court order to revise the standard as a result of successful 2004 lawsuit.

Continue reading "EPA Issues New Standard For Lead" »

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A Kansas District Court judge says the city of Neodesha is entitled by law to recover the costs of cleanup and damage caused by an oil refinery. The ruling from the judge overturns a jury verdict that sided with oil giant British Petroleum (BP) Corp. North America.

Continue reading "BP Corp Liable for Clean Up " »

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According to sources the EPA is planning to rule that it will not set a drinking-water safety standard for perchlorate. Perchlorate is a highly toxic substance; a component of rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and young children across the United States.

The EPA's "preliminary regulatory determination" marks the final step in a six-year-old battle between EPA scientists who want to regulate the chemical and other governmental officials who oppose it. The EPA estimates that up to 16.6 million Americans are exposed to perchlorate at a level many scientists consider unsafe.

Continue reading "EPA Blinks on Perchlorate" »

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns consumers on the Texas Gulf Coast to protect themselves against dangers in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Portable gasoline generators can quickly produce high levels of poisonous carbon monoxide (CO) and should never be used indoors, including inside a home, basement, shed or garage, even if doors or windows are open. It is a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas; in other words a silent killer. CO from a generator used indoors can kill you and your loved ones in minutes.

Continue reading "Carbon Monoxide From Generators Can Kill in Minutes" »

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Years after claiming that mercury in fillings was safe, the FDA now says it may be harmful to pregnant women, children, fetuses, and people who are especially sensitive to mercury exposure.

The FDA now states that dental amalgams containing mercury, may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.

Continue reading "Mercury Fillings Harmful" »

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An Arkansas woman filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a Connecticut company of making plastic baby bottles with a dangerous chemical linked to serious health problems.

The lawsuit by Ashley Campbell against Playtex Products is a challenge involving the industrial chemical bisphenol A.

Continue reading "Baby Bottles With BPA" »

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Posted In: Toxic Injury

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