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We recently received a link to the Progressive Gainsharing program. Under the program, Progressive Insurance employees receive bonuses based on how well the company does. That's not a problem for many industries, but it is a problem in insurance if adjusters receive monetary incentives to deny claims. Perhaps we should... -
We’ve been critical of the Consumer Products Safety Commission for its failures in regulating dangerous products (see posts here, here and here). Now, the Washington Post reports that manufacturer groups have paid for numerous trips for CPSC executives: The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken...
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Roy Pearson, the Washington judge who sued his dry cleaner after they lost his pants, has lost his job. Mr. Pearson had been up for a ten year appointment to the bench. Instead, the Washinton Post reports that he received a letter yesterday at 3:30 p.m. telling him to vacate his...
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Last Friday, the Texas Supreme Court denied petitions for review filed by both sides in BFI Waste Systems of North America, Inc. v. Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc. However, in denying the petitions, the Court issued a per curiam opinion criticizing the court of appeals for issuing a footnote on an issue...
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Today's New York Times again spotlights the Consumer Products Safety Commission's failure when it comes to defective products: Walter E. Friedel’s plans to waterproof the tile floors of his hot tub room using Stand ’n Seal, a do-it-yourself product sold at his local Home Depot, promised to be a quick...
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We have previously written about the Motion to Recuse filed with the Supreme Court in a wrongful death/personal injury suit. The Court has apparently denied the motion without hearing, and Osler McCarthy, the Court's spokesman, says that the stories that oral argument on the motion was set for next week were mere rumors. ...
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There is an interesting dichotomy about the importance of public safety. This month, the Center for Progressive Reform released a white paper, The Truth About Torts: Using Agency Preemption To Undercut Consumer Health and Safety, discussing the Bush administration's continued use of preemption as a tort reform measure. The paper,...
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Kevin O'Keefe has posted Blawg Review #125. We haven't posted links to these in the past, but Kevin's issue has some great information on blogging, and it appears he put a LOT of work into it. Review # 123 was hosted by Austin's own Texas Appellate Law Blog. To contact Austin...
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A recent article in the Washington Post reports on a study by Norbert Schwarz, a University of Michigan social psychologist, that provides insight into why tort reform myths, and other false statements, are so hard to combat. According to the article: The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently...
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As Univeristy of Texas grads, we're always interested in blogs of fellow UT grads. Two of the better blogs in the tort arena from UT Law grads are Bill Childs' TortsProf Blog and Edmund Normand's firm blog at Wooten, Honeywell in Orlando. The odd thing is that even though these guys...