Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

July 18, 2010

Natural Gas Company’s Natural Gas Disclosure Decision Could Change Fracking

A Texas natural gas producer’s decision to voluntarily disclose the chemicals it injects into the ground could prompt other drillers to do the same, and pave the way for regulators to require such disclosure.

But Range Resources Corp.’s move also reflects the desire of industry to get out ahead of the issue to prevent federal regulation of the key drilling practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. MIKE SORAGHAN, Greenwire, The New York Times 07/16/2010
Read Article: The New York Times

July 17, 2010

FDA: Avandia To Be Restricted

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An FDA panel has made a recommendation to the agency that the controversial diabetes drug Avandia should either be taken off the market or its sales should be severely restricted.

Avandia and its maker, GlaxoSmithKline, have recently come under fire for trial results that reveal that patients taking Avandia are at an increased risk for heart attacks.

A majority of the committee decided that if Glaxo wants to keep Avandia on the market, it must complete another clinical trial to prove it is safe.

FDA officials said they will consider the recommendations of the committee and make an official decision as soon as possible. Gardiner Harris, The New York Times 07/14/2010
Read Article: The New York Times

July 17, 2010

Imperial Sugar, OSHA Settle Explosion Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Sugar Land-based Imperial Sugar has reached a settlement with federal regulators seeking to fine the company for safety violations after a 2008 explosion at its Georgia refinery killed 14 workers near Savannah, GA.

The Feb. 7, 2008, explosion killed 14 workers and injured 36. Investigators determined that dangerous levels of sugar dust accumulated inside the plant and ignited like gunpowder. RUSS BYNUM , AP, Houston Chronicle 07/07/2010
Read Article: Houston Chronicle

July 16, 2010

TXI to Shut Down Highest-Polluting Cement Kilns in Midlothian Texas

by Dr. Shezad Malik

TXI will permanently shut down its four oldest, highest-polluting cement kilns in Midlothian and will stop burning hazardous waste as fuel, the company said Tuesday.

The Dallas-based company’s announcement ends an environmental battle that has raged in North Texas for decades.

Midlothian became a center for the cement industry because of extensive limestone deposits. Yet it also became the site of one of the country’s biggest environmental fights.

Federal law allows some cement kilns to burn hazardous waste as fuel to create the high heat required to make cement. TXI is the only company that has burned hazardous waste in Midlothian in recent years.

Environmentalists across the country and in North Texas said burning massive volumes of chemical waste needlessly endangered the public.

Read the full story here at the Dallas Morning News.

July 14, 2010

Washington High Court Dumps Notice for Malpractice Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The WA Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to require 90 days’ notice before suing a doctor. The court’s 6-3 decision said the waiting period violates the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government.

The courts already have procedural rules for filing civil suits, and adding a 90-day notice “conflicts with the judiciary’s power to set court procedures,” Justice Charles Johnson wrote for the majority.

The ruling sides with two separate plaintiffs who had medical malpractice cases thrown out by lower courts over notice issues. Those cases were sent back for further action. Associated Press, Seattle Times 07/06/2010
Read Article: Seattle Times

July 13, 2010

Blast at BP Texas Refinery Foreshadowed Gulf Disaster

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The 2005 BP plant disaster in Texas City has taken on new relevance, because the investigations that were done in its aftermath reveal so much about the company that is responsible for what’s happening now in the Gulf. Government probes, court filings and BP’s own confidential investigations paint a picture of a company that ignored repeated warnings about the plant’s deteriorating condition and instead remained focused on minimizing costs and maximizing profits.

According to a safety audit BP conducted just before the 2005 blast, many of the plant’s more than 2,000 employees arrived at work each day with an “exceptional degree of fear of catastrophic incidents.” What BP has — or hasn’t done — to improve conditions at the Texas City plant since the explosion is also laid out in the documents. Ryan Knutson, ProPublica’s Lisa Schwartz, Nicholas Kusnetz and Sheelagh McNeill contributed to this report., ProPublica 07/06/2010

Read Article: ProPublica

July 13, 2010

Texas May Require Utilities to Replace Steel Gas Lines

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Natural gas utilities might have to dig up neighborhoods across Texas to replace hundreds of thousands of steel service lines to prevent explosions.

The Texas Railroad Commissioner will propose that utilities replace the lines, which bring natural gas from pipelines under neighborhood streets to homes.

Texas has at least 525,000 steel lines, maybe a million. Regulators targeted the service lines after several deadly home explosions. The problem is that the old service lines are made of rigid steel, which can shift and corrode. ELIZABETH SOUDER , The Dallas Morning News 07/06/2010
Read Article: The Dallas Morning News

July 12, 2010

NYTimes says patients should seek Avandia alternatives.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The New York Times (7/5) editorialized that the recent controversy over the diabetes drug Avandia — with “two major studies” saying it “raises the risk of cardiovascular ailments” and the third yet-to-be-published study that “seemed to exonerate” the drug — should probably lead patients to ask their doctors about alternatives.

The paper said that as expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration work to deliver a more definitive judgment, it would throw its lot with the views of safety specialists, who focus solely on risks emerging after the drug is in use, rather than the opinions of those “who approved the drug as safe and effective in the first place.”

Read the full story here at the New York Times.

July 11, 2010

Fort Worth Man Settles Sex-Abuse Suit With Roman Catholic Diocese

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A man who accused a priest of sexually abusing him when he was 14 has settled his lawsuit with the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese.

At the man’s request, terms of the settlement were confidential. The suit, filed last year in state district court, accused the Rev. Rudolf Rentería of abusing the boy in the rectory at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Arlington on Mother’s Day weekend 1981.

According to the suit, Rentería offered to let the boy spend the night at the rectory. There, Rentería fondled him and attempted anal intercourse, the suit says. An additional report of sexual misconduct dating to 1985 surfaced in 2000, according to the lawsuit, which accused the priest of having an “impulsive sexual attraction to boys.” DARREN BARBEE, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 07/02/2010
Read Article: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

July 10, 2010

Pipelines in Texas Natural Gas Explosions Were Not Properly Marked

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Two Texas natural gas pipelines that exploded last month, killing three people, had not been properly marked, according to state records.

Incident reports filed with the commission by the pipeline operators and excavators involved in each event confirm that neither pipeline was properly marked before the digging.

State law requires that companies wanting to excavate call a national 811 number to state where they plan to dig and request information about pipelines and anything else underground that might be struck. AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 07/02/2010
Read Article: Fort Worth Star-Telegram