Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

January 28, 2009

Wisconsin Ruling Limits Cheerleader Injury Suits

High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district.

The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation.

At issue in the case was whether cheerleaders qualify for immunity under a Wisconsin law that prevents participants in contact sports from suing each other for unintentional injuries.

January 27, 2009

Peanut Butter Update

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The plant in Georgia that produced peanut butter tainted by salmonella has a history of sanitation lapses and was cited repeatedly in 2006 and 2007 for having dirty surfaces and grease residue and dirt buildup throughout the plant, according to health inspection reports. Inspection reports from 2008 found the plant repeatedly in violation of cleanliness standards.

January 26, 2009

Washington D.C. Water With High Lead Levels

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A new study finds that hundreds of young children in the Washington D.C. area experienced potentially damaging amounts of lead in their blood when lead levels were rising in the city’s tap water.

In some neighborhoods, the number of toddlers and infants with blood-lead concentrations that can cause irreversible IQ loss and developmental delays more than doubled after lead began leaching into the city’s drinking water in 2001, according to the findings to be published in Environmental Science and Technology journal.

January 25, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Declines Colleyville, Texas Exorcism Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a former Colleyville woman who says that a forced traumatic exorcism left her so physically bruised and emotionally scarred that she later tried to commit suicide.

Attorneys for Laura Pearson filed an appeal before the court arguing that the Texas Supreme Court was wrong in tossing out her case against the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God in Colleyville.

In the appeal, Pearson’s attorneys argued that the Texas ruling “dramatically and dangerously departs” from the Supreme Court’s earlier decisions, and that someone’s religious beliefs do not excuse them from being held accountable under valid state laws that prohibit such things as assault and false imprisonment.

January 24, 2009

Supreme Court Rules For Worker Over Retaliation

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Workers who cooperate with their employers’ internal investigations of discrimination may not be fired in retaliation for implicating colleagues or superiors, according to a unanimous Supreme Court ruling.

The court voted to reverse the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the anti-retaliation provision of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not apply to employees who merely cooperate with an internal probe rather than complain on their own or take part in a formal investigation.

January 23, 2009

Amusement Park Operators Settle Wrongful Death Suit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a Wisconsin teenager killed on a 2007 amusement park ride will be paid $1 million in the settlement of their lawsuit against the operators.

The girl aged 16, died July 14, 2007, in a fall from a giant swing ride at Lifest 2007 when her safety harness was improperly secured.

The parents, named Life Promotions and Air Glory Inc. in a wrongful-death suit and reached an agreement, according to their attorney.

January 22, 2009

Report: KBR Negligent in Soldier Electrocution

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Army investigation called the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq a “negligent homicide” caused by military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors.

Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, died as a result of negligent homicide because the contractor failed to ensure that “qualified electricians and plumbers” worked on the barracks where the soldier died.

January 21, 2009

FDA: Products Recalled in Peanut Salmonella Outbreak

by Dr. Shezad Malik

More than 125 products have been recalled in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger, according to federal health officials.

The list ranges from goodies like cookies and ice cream to energy bars. Even food for dogs may not be entirely safe, with a national company recalling some of its dog treats.

January 20, 2009

Employee Fired For Cooperating With FBI Awarded $873,000

by Dr. Shezad Malik

On Dec. 8, 2008, a jury awarded $873,000 to an insurance adjuster who claimed he was fired for cooperating with an FBI investigation.

In 2003, the FBI began investigating fraud allegations made against one of Fred Klecka’s co-workers. Klecka claimed that when his managers learned he was cooperating with the FBI, he was told he would be fired if he continued.

Klecka refused to obey his managers and within a few months began receiving poor job evaluations. He alleged he was wrongfully terminated in 2005 for refusing to obstruct the investigation.

January 19, 2009

FDA Confirms Salmonella in Peanut Butter Crackers

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Food and Drug Administration said that salmonella was found in a package of peanut butter sandwich crackers made by Kellogg.

Kellogg said that a previously recalled peanut butter-sandwich cracker tested positive for salmonella.

The outbreak has led to 474 reported illnesses and may have caused six deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.