Texas Legal News & Case Updates

FDA Shuts Down Human Tissue Broker

The Food and Drug Administration ordered a New Jersey-based broker of human tissue closed this week in the midst of accusations that the company took body parts from cadavers without family permission and did not always screen these body parts for diseases.The agency said an investigation showed tha

By The Legal Examiner

/ 6 Feb 2006

Computer Professionals Are Denied Overtime Pay

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), a federal law, workers are entitled to overtime pay unless they fall under specific exemptions. Computer professionals are often improperly treated as exempt. If you install, maintain, or supportcomputer hardware or software (but are not primarily engaged

By The Legal Examiner

/ 31 Jan 2006

Frat Gets Sued For Wrongful Death

The family of an 18 year old recently inducted new fraternity member sued the fraternity and some its active members in a Texa court house early this morning. The new member died from alcohol poisoning during a party at an off campus frat house at the University of Texas at Austin. Khongsavay and So

By The Legal Examiner

/ 30 Jan 2006

Physician E-Mail Describes "Messy" Vioxx Problem

An editor for a prestigious medical journal sounded pleased, yet exasperated in an e-mail to another scientist as they went over an editorial criticizing researchers for leaving out critical data from a study of the painkiller Vioxx.”Thanks again with all the time you have spent on this Vioxx situat

By The Legal Examiner

/ 30 Jan 2006

Release of Records May Spell Doom for Defective Product Made by Guidant

Late last week, Indianapolis-based Guidant lost its battle to keep secret certain documents that may sink its defense in its product liability litigation involving defective heart implantable devices. The New York Times and two Texas citizens won access to certain documents they allege prove that Gu

By The Legal Examiner

/ 26 Jan 2006

Healthcare Staffing Industry Employees Illegally Denied Overtime Pay

Due to a shortage of health care workers in the U.S., healthcare staffing companies have experienced tremendous opportunities and growth in recent years. Companies like MHA Group, the parent company of Merritt Hawkins & Associates as wells as Staff Care, Inc., and Martin Fletcher & Associates, emplo

By The Legal Examiner

/ 24 Jan 2006

Preventable Medical Errors – The Third Leading Cause of Death

The number of hospital patients who die from preventable errors may be far higher than previously thought, and this trend shows no sign of stopping, according to a new national review of Medicare records by a Denver-based health care ranking group. The findings would make medical mistakes the third-

By The Legal Examiner

/ 23 Jan 2006

New Package Inserts May Reduce Medical Errors

It’s about time. Revamped package inserts are about to hit pharmacy shelves in the near future. In the first time in a quarter of a century, the FDA will change the requirements of the lengthy package inserts included in your prescription drugs. Pharmasicts, doctors and even patients welcome this ch

By The Legal Examiner

/ 21 Jan 2006

Mortgage Company Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for Unpaid Overtime

First Horizon Mortgage Corp. has been sued by several of its former loan officers. They contend that First Horizon Mortgage did not pay them overtime and violated the law. More specifically, seven loan officers for First Horizon in Johnson County, Kan., had filed suit in U.S. District Court Kansas C

By The Legal Examiner

/ 19 Jan 2006

Teen Drivers Responsible for 31,000 Auto Accident Deaths

An analysis of federal crash statistics by the American Automobile Association (AAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety found that approximately 31,000 people were killed in crashes involving teenage drivers between the ages of 15 and 17 from the years 1995 to 2004. "While we may think of this as being a

By The Legal Examiner

/ 18 Jan 2006

New Residential Road Speed Limits May Save Lives

Recently, the city of Mesquite reduced its speed limit on residential roads from 30 mph to 25 mph. The reduction required an amendment to existing state law, accomplished last year by state Rep. Elvira Reyna, R-Mesquite. Community support for the change was overwhelming, as the reduced speed limit c

By The Legal Examiner

/ 18 Jan 2006

Not Surprising – Nursing Homes are Still Deficient

As reported in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/politics/16nurses.html?th&emc=th.Does it surprise you that state inspectors often over look serious deficiencies in nursing homes. From a new report from the General Accountability Office, Congressional investigators report that st

By The Legal Examiner

/ 17 Jan 2006