Posts tagged General Personal Injury

• Frivolous Defenses, part 3

  Brooks Schuelke | March 15, 2008 12:27 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  I have a long-held belief that one of the root causes behind the increase in cost of litigation is the occurrence of more and more frivolous defenses asserted by insurance companies and defense lawyers. Today marks my third story about frivolous defenses, and this story comes from a 2006 patent case in Tyler. That case involved a suit against Microsoft. The judge found that Microsoft's...

• Text Messaging While Driving

  Brooks Schuelke | March 11, 2008 8:06 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  One of the hot topics in prevention of auto accidents is how to reduce the number of people (particularly teens) who text message while driving. There are numerous statistics, but I find that the video from the news story below shows a lot more than mere numbers. The story follows a Clemson study that puts teen drivers in a driving simulator and asks them to text message while "driving" in...

• Listserves, revisited

  Brooks Schuelke | March 10, 2008 9:31 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Earlier, there was an exchange among blogs, including Des Moines Injuryboard member Steve Lombardi, about the value of listserves for attorneys. Instead of rehashing each sides' views, I refer you to my earlier post about our trial lawyer listserves. Steve had another post on the subject recently. And after reading it, I can't say that I disagree with anything he had to say. If I understand...

• Tort Reform and Frivolous Defenses, Part 2

  Brooks Schuelke | March 06, 2008 10:38 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  As stated in a tort reform post earlier, I believe one of the big problems driving the cost of litigation is insurance companies and defense lawyers asserting frivolous defenses and taking frivolous positions. I have griped and moaned about the lack of coverage, but I haven't done anything about it. Now, I'm going to quit being lazy and try to highlight some of these situations.In November of...

• Text Messaging An Increasing Cause of Auto Accidents

  Brooks Schuelke | March 05, 2008 8:04 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  There have been numerous stories lately emphasizing that text messaging while driving (an increasingly frequent occurrence) significantly increases the risk of auto accidents. For example, one study finds that a person texting while driving is six times more likely to be involved in a car wreck. And one study finds that texting is the number one distraction for teen drivers. But statistics are...

• Tort Reform: Frivolous Defenses

  Brooks Schuelke | March 01, 2008 8:53 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  The "tort reform" movement is one of the most successful marketing jobs in modern day America. And one of the key components of that marketing has been an effort to try and convince the American public that frivlous lawsuits are a big part of the problem. But that's far from the truth.In my experience, the biggest factor in the cost of litigation is frivolous defenses --- insurance companies...

• Justice Delayed - Texas Supreme Court

  Brooks Schuelke | February 28, 2008 2:19 PM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Consumer watchdog organization Texas Watch has released a new report called Justice Delayed that addresses the growing backlog of cases at the Texas Supreme Court. The report made the following findings:The Court took an average of 852 days (2.3 years) to dispose of a case in the 2006-2007 term, an increase of 24% from the 2004-2005 term. Justices took an average 416 days to write an...

• Health Insurance Company Seeks Spies

  Brooks Schuelke | February 15, 2008 9:17 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Unbelievably, Blue Cross of California had a policy of using its customers' doctors as spies to cancel coverage. The Los Angeles Times broke the story this week:The state's largest for-profit health insurer is asking California physicians to look for conditions it can use to cancel their new patients' medical coverage.Blue Cross of California is sending physicians copies of health insurance...

• Tips for Burn Injuries

  Brooks Schuelke | February 08, 2008 11:04 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  This is National Burn Awareness Week. In my 13 or so years of doing this, I have seen few injuries that are more painful and devastating than severe burn injuries. In honor of some of those victims, I thought I would post links to a few resources to help us prevent burn injuries.Shriner's Hospitals Tips To Avoid Burn Injuries --- starting a year-long emphasis on gasoline misuseRemember that...

• ACL Burn Victims File Personal Injury Suit

  Brooks Schuelke | January 30, 2008 10:03 AM | 0 CommentsAustin, TX Category: Miscellaneous
  

  In September, we reported about a fire at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Today, the Austin American Statesman reports that the fire victims have filed a personal injury suit for their damages. The article sets out the basis of the complaint:The fire was caused, the suit says, when the propane tank was overfilled by the leasing company; the valve that was supposed to stop overfilling...