Texas Legal News & Case Updates

Family Dollar Hit With $33.2M Penalty in Overtime Pay Suit

A jury last month ruled that discount chain Family Dollar owed $19.1 million for systematically classifying some employees as “salaried managers,” thus making them ineligible for overtime pay. A federal judge in Alabama has now increased the award to $33.2 million.The increased award comes after the

By The Legal Examiner

/ 5 Apr 2006

Federal Lawsuit Filed Over Wichita Falls Inmate's Death

The family of a man who died in a Wichita Falls, Texas jail has filed a ten million dollar lawsuit against Wichita County and the sheriff of that county. Wilbert Lee Henson died in the Wichita County jail at age 61. He had been hospitalzed and was returned to the jail just prior to his death.Accordi

By The Legal Examiner

/ 29 Mar 2006

Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Entitled to Overtime Pay

The Fifth Circuit court of Appeals has ruled that Nurse Practitioners (“NPs”) and Physician Assistants (“PAs”) who are paid on an hourly basis are entitled to overtime compensation for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.In June Belt, and others, versus EmCare, Inc and Texas EM-I Medical Services, P.

By The Legal Examiner

/ 28 Mar 2006

Northwest Air Pension Fund Is Being Investigated

The United States Labor Department is investigating if Northwest Airlines shortchanged its employee pension fund on a routine basis over the last three years, and then avoided having to make a $65 million payment to the fund by filing for bankruptcy protection just one day before the payment was due

By The Legal Examiner

/ 16 Mar 2006

A Wal-Mart Employee Wins a False-Imprisonment Lawsuit

A Wal-Mart employee alleged that a security guard wrongly detained her and then roughed her up after an argument with a customer. A jury awarded the employee almost $14 million for her false-imprisonment. Roslyn Campbell won a multi-million dollar judgment against Wal-Mart for the actions of a secur

By The Legal Examiner

/ 9 Mar 2006

Medical Patches + Heat = Potentially Dangerous Combination

Some medical experts now believe that medicated patches, used by over 12 million people for a range of ailments, can become unsafe when heated by exercise, soaking in a hot tub, or even a high fever. In November, the FDA issued a warning about birth-control patches after studies showed that women us

By The Legal Examiner

/ 9 Mar 2006

ACLU Suit Claims Police Chief Caused Gay Man's Death

A small-town West Virginia police chief faces a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union for his actions in alledgedly denying a dying gay man CPR. According to the federal lawsuit, Welch, WV police chief Bobby Bowman stopped a would-be rescuer from performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation

By The Legal Examiner

/ 8 Mar 2006

$8 Million Awarded to Family of Student Killed by Trucker

A Virginia jury awarded has ordered a construction company to pay $8 million for the death of a seventeen year old student killed by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel. Dwayne Mongold, employed by Danella Construction Corp., admitted to nodding off at the wheel but continued driving his truck, w

By The Legal Examiner

/ 7 Mar 2006

Supreme Court Says US Postal Service May Be Sued For Personal Injury

The US Supreme Court has ruled that the US Postal Service is not immune under federal law from personal injury lawsuits. The decision reverses conventional thinking to this point regarding the Postal Service’s liability for the negligence of mail carriers. In the opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy dis

By The Legal Examiner

/ 1 Mar 2006

Loan Originators Sue for Unpaid Overtime

Loan originators for First Horizon Home Loan Corp. have filed suit against the company claiming they were illegally denied overtime pay.Follow a series of similar lawsuits agianst Bank of Blue Valley in Overland Park, Kansas, recently settled for over $1 million, National Bank of Kansas and Principa

By The Legal Examiner

/ 28 Feb 2006

Did Medtronic knowingly sell faulty defibrillators?

Medtronic Inc. continued selling flawed cardiac defibrillators for two years after learning that some of them may suddenly quit working, according to documents filed in a California lawsuit. “Medtronic has been taking products they know are not quite right and putting them into people rather than ta

By The Legal Examiner

/ 27 Feb 2006

University of Rochester Settles a Wage Dispute for Nearly $9 Million

The University of Rochester has agreed to pay almost $9 million to employees who allege that the University violated wage laws by denying its employees payment for work done during their breaks. About 40,000 workers may be eligible to collect part of the settlement so that they will receive approxim

By The Legal Examiner

/ 23 Feb 2006