Miscellaneous

• Personal Injury and Other Lawyers Criticize Texas Supreme Court

  Brooks Schuelke | November 26, 2007 9:08 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  The Dallas Morning News has an enlightening article that discusses lawyers' grilling of Texas Supreme Court justices about potential biases. The article states:Texas' Supreme Court justices aren't in the habit of defending their judicial records, much less from lawyers grilling them as they would an uncooperative witness. But that's just what happened in September at a continuing education...

• Personal Injury Subrogation

  Brooks Schuelke | November 21, 2007 11:44 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  Many personal injury victims have health insurance. And most health insurance policies have a subrogation clause. The clause typically says that if the company pays medical expenses that are caused by a third party's negligence or other conduct, then the health insurance company is entitled to be reimbursed for the expenses it pays in any resulting settlement or lawsuit. While the notion...

• Halloween Safety Tips

  Brooks Schuelke | October 30, 2007 9:08 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  The Consumer Product Safety Commission has once again issued their Halloween safety tips. Among other items, the CPSC has the following safety tips:Carry flashlights.Use reflective tape on your treat bag.Make sure masks or other parts of costumes don't obstruct your child's view.Watch out for candles and Jack O' Lanterns when approaching front doors.Warn children not to eat any candy until it...

• Are Bicycle Accidents Causing A Brain Injury Epidemic?

  Brooks Schuelke | October 22, 2007 3:54 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  Injury Prevention magazine published a startling study about bicycle related injuries. The study, conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital, estimates that 10,700 children are hospitalized each year for bicycle-related injuries. One-third of those were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (many of which could have been prevented...

• New Personal Injury Video

  Brooks Schuelke | October 18, 2007 9:30 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  The Texas Progress Council has just posted a short new video on YouTube. We encourage anyone interested in personal injury and civil justice issues to take a couple of minutes to watch.

• Learn The Process Before Trying To Settle Your Personal Injury Claims

  Brooks Schuelke | September 28, 2007 10:02 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  Anchorage, Alaska personal injury lawyer Michael Schneider has a great post today featuring a story about a client who lost a personal injury case because the client spoke to the insurance adjuster, trusted the adjuster, and apparently followed the adjuster's bad advice, which ended up hurting the claim.Mr. Schneider doesn't have specifics but only says that at trial the client couldn't explain...

• Personal Injury News at ACL Festival

  Brooks Schuelke | September 14, 2007 8:51 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  The firm was virtually closed today so that most of us could attend the Austin City Limits Music Festival, but even there we couldn't escape personal injury news. Unfortunately, one of the big news stories of the day was an explosion and fire that broke out around 2:30. The fire was quickly contained, but there were still four people that suffered severe burn injuries and were taken to the...

• Flash Flood Kills 4 in Texas

  Staff Writer | June 19, 2007 3:35 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  At least four people were killed in a flash flood that took place in north Texas, and many more people are still missing. Among the dead was a 4 year-old girl from Fort Worth and a 5 year-old girl and her grandmother from Gainesville. The 5 year-old's sister is still missing. Another women was confirmed dead after her car stalled and she was swept away by the water.The damages to homes,...

• Tort Reform

  John Rudd | May 30, 2007 4:19 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  Proponents of tort-reform would have you believe the debate is about frivolous lawsuits. It's really about corporate responsibility and who, if anyone, will be held accountable when consumers are defrauded, injured or killed as a result of someone else's negligence.Big businesses continue to finance a massive public relations effort lobbying legislators for more tort-reform measures....

• Will Estate Tax Reform Become a Reality?

  Robert Soliz | July 27, 2006 8:37 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX

  On June 22, 2006, the US House of Representatives approved H.R. 5638, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief Act of 2006 by a vote of 269-156. If enacted, the bill would increase the estate tax exemption to $5 million and lower the tax rate to 15% for estates between $5 million and $25 million and to 30% for estates greater than $25 million. The Senate has not yet taken up this bill.