On Sunday, December 28, 2014, a commercial AirAsia jet disappeared in the Indonesian airspace with a total of 162 people on board. As of yesterday, December 30, 2014, the media reported that 40 bodies have been recovered. Additionally, debris of the aircraft has been found in the Karimata Strait between Sumatra, Java and Borneo. Air…
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Sunday’s disappearance of AirAsia flight QZ8501-which has not yet been located as of the time of this writing-has left the families of its 162 passengers and crew in anguished suspense. These families are surely devastated by the certain knowledge of the loss of their loved ones, yet the ongoing search for the airliner’s wreckage cruelly…
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In January, a chemical company spilled a coal-cleaning agent into a West Virginia river, leaving 300,000 people without safe drinking water. Six executives of the chemical company were charged by federal authorities for violating the Clean Water Act. On January 9, 2014, a Freedom Industries chemical tank ruptured, dumping approximately 10,000 gallons of the chemical…
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February of this year, General Motors (GM) notified the National Highway Traffic Safety System (NHTSA) that it was recalling vehicles because of a defective ignition switch that could affect the safe operation of the vehicle. GM knew about faulty ignition switches in its various vehicle models for more than a decade but did not issue…
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In a Litigation Summary published recently in the Texas Lawyer, attorney James Walker discusses the revised Rule 21a, entitled “Methods of Service.” In particular, Rule 21a(1) states: Documents filed electronically. A document filed electronically under Rule 21 must be served electronically through the electronic filing manager if the email address of the party or attorney…
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Speaking before a Senate committee, U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso confirmed that the deaths of the 4 workers at the DuPont chemical plant in La Porte, Texas were the result of broken plant equipment and lax safety practices. A clogged pipe from the methyl mercaptan, a key ingredient in pesticides, caused the deadly…
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As most families are going shopping for Christmas gifts, and planning for holiday events, one man and his loved ones hope that he does not have to endure an amputation of his leg. The 59-year-old man was attacked on Wednesday by two pit bulls. He was rushed to Ben Taub General Hospital, and later listed…
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U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin recently said that juries may find C.R. Bard, Inc. liable for billions of dollars in damages due to injuries consumers suffered from Bard’s defective vaginal mesh-implants. “I can’t imagine a corporation facing potentially billions of dollars in verdicts wouldn’t find it advisable to try to achieve a settlement for a…
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