Dec. 6
PA � Keith Hyde, J � Donald Floyd
George Frauenberger's widow and son are suing Texaco. They claim the company negligently exposed Frauenberger, a former Texaco employee, to benzene and caused his fatal leukemia.
Case No. E180-864
PA- Michael Doyle, J - Milton Shuffield
Otis Rogers is suing his employer's insurance provider, claiming he was wrongfully denied worker's compensation benefits for an on-the-job injury. Rogers filed suit against Ace American Insurance Company, ESIS Inc. and Brenda Preuss. Rogers, "a loyal and hard-working employee of Protherm Services Group," was injured while working on the job on Dec. 5, 2005 when a rubber hose fell and struck him.
Case No. D180-867
Dec. 7
PA - Curtis Leister, J - Milton Shuffield
An Atlantic Scaffolding employee hurt his foot when his co-workers "improperly passed scaffolding boards vertically through a fixed circular ladder" that was attached to a vessel owned Exxon Mobil Corp. Lee McGraw claims it was Exxon Mobil's responsibility to prevent the injury caused by his co-workers taking shortcuts and has filed suit against the Oil Giant. McGraw claims Exxon Mobil's alleged negligence has caused him to suffer past and future loss of earning capacity, medical expenses, physical pain and mental anguish and physical impairment, the suit said.
Case No. D180-872
Dec. 10
PA � Clay Dugas, J � Milton Shuffield
Choking on a chicken bone is not a common death but still not unheard of. Perhaps a new one for the medical books, the family of Charles West is claiming their benefactor died of complications following a surgery to correct a small bowel perforation caused by a chicken bone. Dorothy West, Charles widow, and her three children filed suit against Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital and Doctors Bodo Brauer and Jerome Schrapps. West's family is suing for his conscious pain, impairment and hospital expenses, plus mental anguish, loss of companionship and inheritance and funeral expenses.
The family is also contending that Memorial Hermann and its physicians acted with malice, which entitles them to recover punitive damages.
Case No. D180-874
PA - Jonathan Juhan, J - Donald Floyd
Approximately two years ago, Carlton Bellard rear-ended another vehicle while driving his work truck. Now, Bellard is suing Beaumont Frame and Front End Service Inc., claiming the company caused the accident by failing to properly service the work truck's brakes. Bellard is suing for past and future medical expenses, loss of earning capacity, physical impairment, disfigurement, pain and mental anguish.
Case No. E180-878
PA � Matthew Willis, J � Bob Wortham
From 1954 to 1982 the late John Ard worked at Texas Gulf Sulfur. After he died of leukemia, Ard's benefactor filed a lawsuit against PCS Phosphate and six oil companies claiming he was negligently exposed to a chemical that could have been benzene. Ard worked four months as a roughneck and then started working in the shipping department blending sulfur, loading and unloading trucks, tank cars and barges and ships. The plaintiff is suing for punitive damages, plus Ard's physical pain, mental anguish, pain and funeral expenses.
Case No. A180-877
Dec. 11
PA � Cory Itkin, J � Donald Floyd
A glue factory worker, who was taken for a ride when a conveyor belt started up out of the blue, has filed a second suit for his injury. This time around, Timothy Segura and his wife Lisa, who are currently residing in China, are suing the Brance-Krachy Company for allegedly failing to maintain the defective conveyer. The couples' first lawsuit, filed on June 7, was against Goodyear and its subsidiaries, along with the manufacturer of the conveyor, Haver & Boecker, and one of its employees, Doug Jones.
According to the suit, Segura was working at the Goodyear glue plant in Beaumont when "a bulk bagging conveyor started on its own, when it should not have." "As a result, Segura was thrown headfirst and sustained severe and permanent injuries to his brain, back and arm," the suit said, adding that the traumatic incident has caused him to suffer pain and mental anguish. The couples' current lawsuit was filed with the Jefferson county District Court on Dec. 11 and contends Brance-Krachy "negligently maintained the defective conveyor and supplied defective parts that caused it to malfunction."
Case No. E180-880
Dec. 12
PA - Richard Laminack, J - Milton Shuffield
A Houston law firm has filed a searing "jaw death" lawsuit against Merck, alleging the drug manufacturer knew its medication Fosamax was defective from the start and, in spite of the dangers, went so far as to bribe physicians to prescribe the drug. Representing Coye Holman, a Mississippi resident, and local resident Charlette Burns, attorney Richard Laminack of the Laminack, Pirtle & Martines law firm filed the suit in the Jefferson County District Court on Dec. 12, claiming Fosamax, a medication designed to treat thinning bones, instead caused permanent bone decay. This is the second suit against Merck filed by the law firm in four months. The first lawsuit, Sandra Cooper et al vs. Merck & Co. Inc., was filed on Aug. 23.
Case No. D180-886