Immigration Status not a factor in Negligent Entrustment/Hiring

In a negligent entrustment/negligent hiring case against a company whose driver causes an auto accident, the driver’s immigration status is not admissible at trial to prove these causes of action against the company. TXI Transp. Co. v. Hughes, No. 07-0541 (Tex.2010). The Texas Supreme Court has held:

We have said a claim for negligent hiring or entrustment cannot lie if “[t]he risk that caused the entrustment to be negligent did not cause the collision,” and if a “defendant’s negligence did no more than furnish a condition which made the injury possible.” Here, Rodriguez’s immigration status did not cause the collision, and was not relevant to the negligent entrustment or hiring claims—even if TXI’s failure to screen, and thus its failure to discover his inability to work in the United States, “furnished [the] condition” that made the accident possible. We agree with the court of appeals “that neither Rodriguez’s status as an illegal alien or his use of a fake Social Security number to obtain a commercial driver’s license created a foreseeable risk that Rodriguez would negligently drive the gravel truck.”

(citations omitted).

New Rules for Insurers - Child Support Liens

Insurers now have a duty to cooperate with the Texas Attorney General to identify insurance claimants with past-due child support arrearages. In 2009, the Texas Legislature amended Section 231.015 of the Texas Family Code to make it mandatory for insurers doing business in Texas to participate in an insurance intercept program. The Office of the Attorney General has adopted new rules in the Texas Administrative Code implementing these changes, and the new rules take effect March 16, 2010. Insurance companies doing business in Texas should coordinate with the Insurance Service Office (ISO) or the Child Support Lien Network (CSLN) to participate in the program, which entails performing either automated data matches or interactive look-ups of almost all personal injury claimants prior to payment of their claims.

GORDON CONVINCES PLAINTIFF TO DROP HIS CLIENT FROM $100 MILLION SUIT

Touchstone partner Wayne Gordon recently got a Bituminous insured, Pampa Machine and Supply, nonsuited from a $100 million case filed by Diamond Shamrock Refinery against several defendants concerning a refinery fire and explosion near Dumas, Texas.

The claims were for repair costs to the plant and business interruption/lost profits. The allegations included negligence in the refurbishing of a defective gate valve in a piping system which allegedly started the fire.

Wayne filed a motion for summary judgment on behalf of Pampa and then convinced the plaintiff to drop our client from the suit because the plaintiff had no evidence that Pampa had ever worked on the gate valve in question.

NO LIABILITY FOR A WATER FOUNTAIN FALL

A Dallas County jury has decided that a grocery store was not negligent after a Plaintiff slipped and fell on liquid near a fountain drink dispenser - even though the store manager testified that the liquid could have been there for at least 10 minutes.

Plaintiff Miranda Esperanza brought a negligence lawsuit against Brookshire Grocery Co. claiming, among other things, that the store breached its duty of care to her by failing to inspect the premises on a regular basis. Plaintiff claimed that she sustained neck, back, and knee injuries as a result of the fall, and sought to recover damages for physical pain and mental anguish, medical expenses, and physical impairment. However, following a two-day trial, the jury found that Brookshire was not negligent.

Brookshire, a self-insured corporation based in Tyler, Texas, was represented at trial by Barton Ridley and Heather Drake of Touchstone Bernays.

Darrell Calvin recently successfully defended a prisoner's civil rights lawsuit brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by obtaining a summary judgment and dismissal of all claims. He also recently obtained a summary judgment in another case involving a slip and fall at a residential apartment complex.