In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed an expansion of consumer protections from domestic and foreign air carriers, which would codify a well-settled interpretation of the law that is an unfair business practice for 1) an air carrier, or a ticket agent to refuse to provide requested refunds to consumers when a…
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The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA” or the “Longshore Act”) is a federal workers’ compensation scheme designed to provide coverage to maritime employees who are injured or killed in an incident “occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or…
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In Texas, there are generally few circumstances in which an aggrieved homeowner may sue their natural gas provider for ordinary negligence for a home explosion or fire caused by a natural gas leak. For each natural gas provider in the State, the circumstances are limited and specifically identified in each provider’s tariff, a document the…
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In 2022, the number of fatal deaths has been on the rise in many states across the U.S., including Texas. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), there were 9,650 roadway deaths between January 2022 and March 2022, 625 more than those killed in 2021. This was the highest January to March fatality…
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On Tuesday, July 26, 2022, a Dallas County jury handed down a verdict for punitive damages totaling a $7.37 billion award for a family of an eighty-three-year-old grandmother Betty Thomas who was viciously killed in her home by a Spectrum Cable employee in 2019. The perpetrator, Roy James Holden, was an installer for Spectrum, a…
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On June 8, 2022, a United States Marine Corps MV-22B “Osprey” crashed near Glamis, California, just a few miles north of the Mexican border. Five marines, including the pilot, died in the crash. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing, and short takeoff and landing capabilities….
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On Monday, May 23, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 35 into law, which raised the non-economic damages cap that plaintiffs may receive in medical malpractice cases. In doing so, it was the first increase in the non-economic damages cap in medical malpractice cases since the California Legislature first enacted a cap…
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In Texas, a landowning defendant sued under a premises liability theory of negligence is afforded a particularly stalwart affirmative defense pursuant to Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 95. Referred to commonly as simply “Chapter 95,” it “applies to a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim (1) for damages caused by negligence resulting in…
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