Dallas Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Bar Ordered to Pay 5.7 Million for Drunk Driving Death

 

The parents of a woman who died in a car accident after a night of heavy drinking won $5,771,197 in a suit against a bar they accused of over-serving her.

In 2006, Jodi Sproles died as a result of injuries she sustained when she crashed her car into two trees.

Prior to the collision, Sproles had been drinking at bars in Longview, including Player's Social Club. Sproles' parents alleged the bars directly contributed to their daughter's death because employees continued to serve her despite her obvious state of intoxication.

Player's Social Club, which was represented at trial by its owner, argued it wasn't responsible for its employees' actions, nor was it to blame for Sproles' decision to drink and drive.

Other establishments named in the suit settled for a confidential amount prior to trial.

Dentist Agrees to Pay 95k To Settle Claim He Broke Patient's Jaw

 

 

A man who alleged his dentist broke his jaw while attempting to pull wisdom teeth received a $95,000 settlement. In 2007, Agustin Trevino, then 27, underwent surgical removal of four impacted wisdom teeth performed by Dr. Joseph Collins. Three teeth were removed, but the fourth retracted into the sinus cavity. A CT scan two days later showed multiple fractures of Trevino's left mandible, which he claimed occurred during the procedure. Trevino also accused Collins of failing to refer him to an emergency room or an oral surgeon for emergency removal of the retracted tooth. He later underwent surgery to remove the molar and needed internal fixation to repair his jaw fractures. Collins argued he didn't cause the fractures and said the tooth hadn't retracted into the sinus cavity at the time Trevino left his office.

Engineer Gets 2.8 Million for Train Crash Accident

 

A jury awarded $2.8 million to a railroad engineer who sustained back injuries and experienced severe post-traumatic stress disorder following a train accident. On Oct. 9, 2006, Lloyd Rand, then 55, was driving a BNSF Railway Co. train when it left the main tracks for a siding that had been negligently left open by BNSF employees. The train struck a line of stationary railcars at 36 mph and derailed in Etter. Rand suffered a lumbar injury which continues to limit his mobility despite physical therapy and trigger point injections. The back injury, coupled with his PTSD, rendered him unable to return work for the railroad.

Teen Who Dies in Car Crash Not Wearing Seatbelt

Austin police said today that three of five teens involved in a rush-hour wreck on Interstate 35 Thursday, including a teenage girl who died, were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

Fifteen-year-old Raven Mayes, who was sitting in the back of the vehicle, was partially ejected during the wreck and taken to University Medical Center at Brackenridge where Mayes (pictured at right) later died, police said.

Initial reports said there were six youths involved in the wreck; police updated that information today. It was the 23rd traffic fatality in Austin this year.

Texas Medical Board Ranks Poorly

 

With some doctors complaining the Texas Medical Board is too harsh and several lawmakers saying it’s time to rein in the board, you might think it’s one of the tougher boards in the country. So do you think Texas ranks among the top 10 toughest board in the U.S.? Guess again. Top half? Not even.

Based on rankings released this week by Public Citizen, a nonprofit that ranks boards every year based on the rate of serious disciplinary actions taken, Texas falls in the bottom half of the states when it comes to meting out serious discipline. Texas was 33rd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on how often it has revoked a medical license, had a doctor surrender a license, suspended a licensed or restricted a license, according to the rankings.

Minnesota had the lowest number of serious disciplinary actions against doctors, while Alaska had the most. But because Alaska has a small population, it didn’t take many actions to be No. 1, just 11 in 2008, the report says. Looking at the rest of the top five is a little more useful: Kentucky, Ohio, Arizona and Oklahoma.

Overall, however, medical boards are less aggressive than they were in 2004, when the number of serious disciplinary actions peaked, the report says.

Girl Dies After Pickup Hits Three at Bus Stop

 

TENAHA, Texas – A 7-year-old girl waiting for a school bus was killed and two other students were critically hurt Tuesday morning after a pickup hit them near Tenaha in East Texas.

State troopers said the pickup driver, Eloy David Lara of Palestine, swerved to avoid two vehicles that had stopped for the bus and his truck rolled and hit the students. School officials identified the dead girl as JaLyric Boykin.

Tort Reform Does Not Reduce Health Care Costs

 

The Dallas Morning News published the following article about the real effect of tort reform:

"Capping malpractice damages is a health care reform idea that has swirled around Washington for years. But would it make health care less expensive?

The evidence doesn't show it.

For many years, doctors have complained that they pay huge insurance premiums to defend themselves from malpractice suits. They're right. The premiums are staggering. A gynecologist/obstetrician practicing in Miami has to pay nearly $200,000 a year for insurance coverage. In 2003, ob/gyn malpractice premiums in the Dallas area averaged about $75,000 a year.

Those sorts of expenses make doctors more expensive. On top of that, doctors say they order extra diagnostic tests and other procedures to avoid getting sued, a practice known as defensive medicine.

Voters amended the Texas Constitution in 2003 to cap medical malpractice lawsuits. Doctors remain liable for the loss of earnings and the medical expenses faced by patients harmed by their mistakes, but non-economic damages are limited to $250,000.

Life is now better for Texas doctors.

On average, their insurance premiums have fallen more than 30 percent since 2003, according to the Texas Medical Association. Thousands more doctors have moved to the state.

Expenses escalate

But the cost of health care still is rising. Consumers are paying higher insurance premiums, which continue to escalate faster than earnings.

And according to the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, Medicare spending in Texas rose 24 percent in the three years after the state capped malpractice awards. In Dallas, it went up 27 percent during the same period, 2003 to 2006.

Rep. Michael Burgess, a physician as well as a Republican congressman from Flower Mound, has championed caps on malpractice insurance since coming to Washington in 2002.

He argues that a $250,000 cap on "pain and suffering" damages would improve the national outlook for medical spending, even though things have not turned around in Texas.

"It's still early," he said of the Texas spending climate in the wake of liability caps. "Defensive medicine practices are learned early in a doctor's career. It takes awhile to change that."

A team at the University of Alabama looked into this last year. Their survey of studies related to malpractice insurance, defensive medicine and consumer health insurance premiums looked at 27 states with limits on non-economic damages, including Texas.

No savings

Their conclusion – "Tort reforms have not led to health care cost savings for consumers" – was published in the December issue of Health Sciences Review.

"It's had a really small effect, or else it doesn't seem to change defensive medicine," said Michael Morrisey, a professor of health economics and health insurance and the director of the university's Lister Hill Center for Health Policy.

Families USA, a consumer advocate group in Washington, found health care premiums in Texas increased 86.8 percent from 2000 to 2007.

The cost of the average family health insurance policy went from $6,638 to $12,403.

Employees don't typically see all of this increase because employers pay most of the tab.

But with this sort of compensation cost soaring, wage increases have been going up far more slowly. Median earnings in Texas were up 15 percent from 2000 to 2007.

Medicare spending rose as well.

From 1992 to 2006, spending increased an average of 3.53 percent a year.

In Texas, Medicare spending went up 4.5 percent a year, while in Dallas it rose 5.25 percent.

"Tort reform is not a panacea for health care costs," said Morrisey.

Health economists following the reform debate say none of the other ideas for curbing health care inflation is a silver bullet, either.

But it's important to keep in mind who gains and who loses in the trade-offs that will be part of reform.

As Morrisey and his colleagues put it:

"The results of this study suggest that there are no insurance premium savings that accrue to consumers. Are there other benefits to consumers? If these cannot be identified, it is difficult to see a justification for the loss of legal rights." "

New Asbestos Law Passes Senate

 

A bill that critics fear will expose thousands of additional businesses to asbestos lawsuits has passed the Texas Senate.

Senate Bill 1123, authored by state Sen. Robert Duncan of Lubbock, relates to the standards of causation in mesothelioma claims.

The Senate approved SB 1123 early this evening in a 20-11 vote, despite unified opposition from the business and legal reform community. The House version (HB 1811 by Eiland) is pending in the House Committee on the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence.

The Senate bill will change established standards regarding the amount of a plaintiff's asbestos exposure and requirement that the plaintiff prove that the dose was sufficient enough to be a substantial factor in causing mesothelioma.

Support for the bills is coming from trial lawyers and labor unions, whose clients and members are usually lawsuit plaintiffs claiming asbestos exposure in the workplace.

Person Hit By 18-Wheeler Received 850k Settlement

 

A man who suffered multiple injuries when he was struck by a tractor-trailer received an $850,000 settlement. In 2006, Christopher Mejia, then 21, was helping a friend load a disabled vehicle onto a trailer on the shoulder of I-35 near Ardmore, Okla., when an 18-wheeler veered off the road and struck the men. Mejia was thrown through the air. He sustained a torn brachial plexus, closed head injury and eight fractured teeth. His friend was killed. Mejia racked up $250,000 in medical bills and his range of motion is permanently reduced, rendering him unable to work. He blamed driver Emerson James Griffin, who resides in Cherokee County, and Griffin's employer, CRST International, alleging Griffin went off the road because he was fatigued. The defense argued that the area was poorly lit and accused Mejia of failing to set out flares.

Trial Lawyers Not to Blame for Doctor Shortage?

 

The below information has been circulated by the Texas Association of Businessess:

"Throughout Texas, access to health care is shrinking.  Twenty-six counties have no primary care physicians. 110 counties have LESS than one physician for every 3,500 people.

Now, members of both legislative chambers have developed a bipartisan plan to protect the future of health care in Texas.

We need your help.

Without question, one of the biggest factors in doctors pursuing more lucrative specialties is the need to pay off student loans.

By closing a tax loophole currently in place, Texas can provide physicians, dentists and other health care providers up to $160,000 per year for loan repayments over four years of service.  This step will help attract and retain important members of the health care community to these areas of need."

Organizations similar to the one above had said that frivolous lawsuits were the cause of the doctor shortage, and that was the reason tort reform was needed.