| Court: Texas Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas on ...
Appellant, Ora Devereaux, appeals the trial court's dismissal with prejudice of her causes of action for breach of contract and negligence against appellee, Harris County Hospital District. After determining that Devereaux's claims were for health care liability as defined by the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act (the Medical Liability Act), the trial court dismissed Devereaux's lawsuit due to her failure to file the required expert report. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. 74.001(13) (Vernon 2005), 74.351 (Vernon Supp. 2006). In two issues, Devereaux contends that the trial court erred by denying her motion for continuance and by applying the Medical Liability Act to her claims. We conclude that the trial court properly dismissed the lawsuit pursuant to the Medical Liability Act because Devereaux's claims are health care liability claims that required her to file an expert report, which she did not file.
Clovis receives emergency disposal plan, FEMA to open recovery ...
CLOVIS, N.M. — The state Environment Department has approved an emergency plan that will let residents of Curry County and the city of Clovis discard debris from tornadoes that hit the area in late March. Under the plan approved by Environment Secretary Ron Curry, the city and county can dispose of waste — including debris containing asbestos — in a particular section of the Clovis landfill for 30 days. "This plan will allow people in affected parts of the county to clear roads and other areas from garbage that could harm the health of residents and the environment," Curry said. Some residents burned debris after the tornado, which the department said could have harmed people's health. Tornadoes damaged hundreds of homes and other structures in Clovis and parts of Curry, Quay and Roosevelt counties on March 23.
Local construction values in skyrocket
The value of construction permits filed during January in Bryan and College Station reached its highest level in at least seven years, according to a Texas economist who has been studying the local economy. The benefits of the $80.3 million worth of building projects - the purchase of construction materials from local vendors, people being put to work in the construction sector locally and economic development surrounding the new buildings - could unfold in the Bryan-College Station economy over the next year, said Karr Ingham, an Amarillo-based economist. "That can be viewed as an ongoing positive economic impact for however long it takes those construction projects to play out," Ingham said. The second highest valuation of building permits was $50.1 million in May 2004, and the local economy showed a monthly average of $29.5 million in building permits last year, Ingham said.
Minnesota Sues "Trust Mills"
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing two California companies, American Family Legal Plan and Heritage Marketing and Insurance Services, Inc., for operating a "trust mill" that preys upon Minnesota senior citizens. Swanson said that American Family Legal Plan initiates a "trust mill" scheme through a direct mailing to senior citizens, telling them that the company has special expertise in estate planning and can advise clients on how to avoid estate taxes and probate fees. If the senior citizen responds positively, Swanson said an agent posing as an estate planner meets the senior citizen at home and sells the person a plan for $2,000 or more. Swanson said that during this meeting, the agent will distort and misrepresent the impact of probate fees and estate taxes, causing the senior citizen to buy the trust out of fear that their heirs will lose the estate.
Managing health care costs takes team effort
Health insurance may be more expensive than many employers or workers care for-but don't think that going to a single-payer universal health care system is the answer. That's the position of the Southwest Virginia Association of Health Care Underwriters (SWVAHU), the parent North American Healthcare Underwriters and other trade groups, who are circling the wagons in anticipation of a fight over universal coverage for all Americans. That could come after the 2008 presidential election, especially if a Democrat is elected. Hillary Clinton has made universal health care coverage a major campaign issue-she was once stopped in her tracks while heading up an exploratory committee on the topic while her husband was president, but will be much harder to stop if she is the president. Several brokers who work as a liaison between heath care underwriters and employers in the Blue Ridge Region say there are better ways to hold down costs than universal health care, which could be government-administered and leave many in their industry out of a job.
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