Recently, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a worker was required to arbitrate her employment discrimination claims against her employer even though she was an “at-will” employee. Normally, an employer cannot take away an employee’s rights to bring a claim in the Texas court system unless the agreement to arbitrate has “consideration.” That term means…
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Although the legislative session hasn’t even started yet, those who oppose civil lawsuits are already gearing up to strip away more of your rights. Below is a list of some of the bills that will likely come up next year: A bill protecting chemical companies from liability for additives manufactured in compliance with government regulation…
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The United States Public Interest Research Group recently released their report on the safety level of toys and other children’s products. Noting progress, not perfection, the organization found a small fraction of children’s toys tested for toxic substances and choking risks to still be in violation of federal safety regulations. PIRG credited a 2008 federal…
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The smell of rotten eggs descended on Texas City, Texas, after an equipment failure at BP’s Texas City refinery on Monday, November 15. According to BP spokesman Michael Marr, workers were performing maintenance work on a sour water compressor and noticed the foul smell after a piece of equipment failed. Texas City Homeland Security Director…
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Johnson and Johnson today recalled 4 million packages of children’s Benadryl allergy tablets and about 800,000 bottles of junior-strength Motrin. A recent internal review revealed insufficiencies in the development of the manufacturing process, prompting J&J to issue the recall, which is currently only at the wholesale and retail levels. “There’s no safety issue, and consumers…
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On Friday, November 19, U.S. District Judge James Selna issued a 63-page opinion, which temporarily refused to dismiss one of the class-action lawsuits brought by purchasers of Toyota vehicles. In that class action, plaintiffs’ have sued Toyota for the diminished market value of their vehicles in light of the defects in those vehicles. Toyota claimed…
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A tanker truck explosion at a fueling station has lead to $12,600 in fines for AGE Refining, Inc. After an investigation conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), AGE Refining was cited for three safety violations. AGE’s refinery in San Antonio provides jet fuel and diesel to the U.S. Air Force and other…
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According to a recent Houston Chronicle investigation, more than half of the major natural gas transmission lines in Texas were laid more than 40 years ago and are “vulnerable to failure.” In Texas, there is are nearly 46,000 miles of transmission pipe and, according to federal records, more than 25,000 miles are older than 1970….
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