'Dead' Man Wakes Up Under Autopsy Knife

A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.

Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.

"I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.

His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor -- and alive.

Story here.

OU fan accused of gruesome injury to man clad in UT shirt

Okay, it probably wasn't the greatest idea for this fellow to walk into a bar in Oklahoma City wearing a Longhorn t-shirt, but did he deserve to be "partially castrated" (as described on the radio, but tastefully not elaborated upon in the FWST) by a zealous Sooner fan?

"I've actually heard callers on talk radio say that this guy deserved what he got for wearing a Texas T-shirt into a bar in the middle of Sooner country," said Irven Box, an attorney in this city 20 miles from OU's campus in Norman.

C'mon, people.

Good Hunt Last Saturday

Goooood dove hunting last weekend in Coleman. There's a guide service out there called the Coleman County Bird Hunting Co. and those fellows know how to do it right. Great guys, and their food and lodging is fantastic. Give David a call at 325-625-5352 and plan your next hunt out there.

Quail season promises to be great this year. I have heard and seen more quail while dove hunting around Coleman and Throckmorton than I can recall seeing in many years.

Grilled Dove Rub Recipe from Bob Hood:

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons granulated onion
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Makes enough for at least a dozen doves. Rub both sides of each dove with the mixture and refrigerate doves for one hour before grilling.

Note to Self: Don't Fly Nepal Airlines

KATHMANDU - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday. Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due to the problem. The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

Cheaper than paying a mechanic, I guess.

How do you stand out in a land with a billion people?

Radhakant Bajpai did it by growing his ear hair more than 5 inches long. Yes, that's right. Look closely. Ear hair.

Why I Hunt Birds

Deer hunting could be a dangerous endeavor for men with heart disease or risk factors for it, research findings suggest. In a study of 25 middle-aged male deer hunters, researchers found that the activities inherent to hunting -- like walking over rough terrain, shooting an animal and dragging its carcass -- sent the men's heart rates up significantly.

Fair warning, Bubba.

Great Book on Trial Strategy

For the trial lawyers out there, here's a great new book by Rick Friedman and Patrick Malone: Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability. This book emphasizes how jurors are called upon to make a collective decision about subjective concepts like "reasonableness," and how defense lawyers use complexity, confusion and ambiguity to derail the plaintiff's case. By developing several irrefutable "rules of the road" during discovery and at trial, the plaintiff lawyer provides the jurors with objective evidence against which to measure the defendant's actions. And if done right, the defendant and the defense witnesses must either agree with the rules or look foolish for disagreeing with them. Powerful book. It describes and explains a method that many successful plaintiff lawyers have learned through trial and error. It's no secret that jurors are highly skeptical of personal injury cases (the recent "$54 million pants lost by dry cleaners" case is the new "McDonald's hot coffee" case that comes up in every voir dire these days), so anytime a tool comes along that helps lawyers working for consumers, grab it.

Dove Report

Saturday was productive, afternoon moreso than morning. Hunted a cut sunflower field west of Woodson with some buddies. Reports from several hunters in the parking lot of the Allsups in Throckmorton (home of Bob Lilly, by the way) were mixed. Overall, though, another great Opening Day. Even had a nice northerly breeze Saturday afternoon. Finished the day back in Haskell with home-made enchiladas and college football. Just perfect.

Banner Year for Dove and Teal

TPWD says we'll have lots of dove and teal this year. Teal up 50%. Short season and hot as hell, but teal hunting sure is fun. Dove are plentiful but likely to be scattered because of abundant food and water. Bag limit is 15 in the north zone (north of I20/I30) and 12 in the central zone (from I20/I30 south to I10). Never understood the rationale behind that.

Debt Collection Suits on Rise

Good article in the FWST about the rise in lawsuits filed by debt collectors, a concern I expressed a few blog entries ago. Key points to remember: Don't ignore debt collection efforts (especially letters and anything nailed to your door while you're at work) and be ready to challenge the debt collector's documentation of the debt. Often these groups buy debts from the original creditors and the paperwork necessary to establish the debt (the original credit card agreement and so forth) doesn't make it from the creditor to the collector. In the three or four such cases I've handled for friends, I have yet to see one that had the evidence necessary to prevail at trial. But the debtor has to stand up and challenge the suit, or else face a default judgment (in which case the collector can get a judgment against the creditor despite not having all the necessary paperwork to back up the debt).

On a similar note, write your elected officials (state and federal) about the abuses heaped upon average consumers by the banking and lending institutions. Grandma's utility bills go up and she falls a couple of months behind on paying off that new dishwasher from Sears, and suddenly she finds herself a defendant in a collection suit. That ain't right.

Getting Ready for Bird Season

I need one of these...think of all the birds I could shoot at and miss.

I Don't Watch Oprah, I Swear

While backpacking in Colorado recently with two buddies, one of them went on and on about how much he enjoys the Oprah show and some regular guest named "Dr. Oz." Thinking to myself how glad I was that I was not sharing a tent with this fellow, I promptly forgot about his comments until I read this article on CNN/Oprah.com. Says we men can drink all the coffee and red wine we want and it'll make us healthy...or that is what I gathered from skimming it. Sadly, chicken-fried steak and beer did not make the short list of healthy foods. But among the good news, coffee is good for bowel movements. Who knew? Anyway, perhaps the Oprah show deserves a look.

Dove Season Opens Saturday

It's just around the corner, my friends: September 1st, that time of year near and dear to all Texans, either because football season starts or - more importantly - bird season starts. Love it, love it, love it. If you're headed out this weekend, best wishes and be safe. Watch the heat, the snakes, and the idiots. Here's a link to some good dove recipes. Also, make sure you put the plug back in the gun from last quail season, get that license ahead of time (available on-line and over the phone), and be kind to Game Wardens. Those guys are pros and deserve our respect and appreciation.

This...is not my plane

Just trying to figure out how to upload photos. But this is a pretty cool old picture of a Piper Cub.

Long Time, No Blog

Geez, time flies. Summer has come and gone, kids are back in school, dove season starts Saturday and I haven't blogged in ages. This is due to any number of reasons, the primary ones being laziness and poor typing skills. Ah, well. In any event, I wanted to link up two sites. The first one is a great resource for trial lawyers and the second is one of the funniest blogs I've ever seen. Witty, entertaining, informative, inspirational. Big thumbs up to Barry. My only regret is that he doesn't like my Longhorns. But hey, my wife went to Baylor, so I can appreciate where he's coming from.

Gas Well Explosion in Parker County, Texas

Every day, more and more gas drilling rigs pop up all over north Texas, mainly around Tarrant, Johnson and Parker Counties. And with the increased drilling activity comes a greater risk of injuries, both to workers and to those living around the wells. Today many residents in this area watched as huge flames and a billowing cloud of black smoke erupted near Aledo in northern Parker County following a gas pipeline explosion. Fortunately for the dozen workers and many residents nearby, there have been no serious injuries reported, although thousands of area residents are without power for the foreseeable future.

North Texas is booming from gas production in the Barnett Shale, sometimes quite literally. We all applaud the increased business and tax revenue generated by this industry, but in the haste to punch holes in the ground, we can't forget that working men and women and their families are often the ones who live with the consequences when mistakes are made. Find out how you can get involved in your community to help ensure that drilling operations are done safely.

Hats off to the Parker County emergency crews who responded to this explosion.

Trucking Industry a Mess; Truck Wrecks on the Rise

I'm pleased to see more great reporting from the Dallas Morning News on problems in the trucking industry.

The first article in the series investigates the numerous criminal convictions, often drug and alcohol related, which plague interstate trucking. Too frequently, these problems don't come to light until after a terrible wreck causes injury or death to innocent motorists.

The second article focuses on the long hours and stressful demands faced by truck drivers. Market demands and competition among the carriers are forcing drivers to drive longer hours and farther distances for less money. Carriers are cutting costs to stay competitive and drivers are forced to put more miles behind them in order to stay afloat.

My hat is off to the honest drivers trying to earn a living under these conditions, but it seems the good guys are being squeezed out by those who are less-qualified, who violate the laws on hours-of-service, and who use drugs to stay awake for hours on end.

My hat is also off to the aggressive investigation and reporting at the DMN. Kudos to reporters Holly Becka, Gregg Jones, Jennifer LaFleur and Steve McGonigle for staying on top of this problem.

Shutting the Courthouse Door on Real, Injured Plaintiffs

Most Texas trial lawyers can attest that it's harder and harder to get some plaintiffs' cases to court these days. This is particularly true in cases involving victims of medical malpractice or homeowners who discover construction problems with their houses. These types of cases, among others, have been affected drastically by recent changes in the law which have the effect of "closing the courthouse doors" on injured parties.

And as much as it pains me that meritorious consumer cases are being shut out of the courthouse, what really galls me is the huge number of creditors' lawsuits which are now being filed by the truckload across the state. These suits are often filed by debt-collection firms on behalf of huge retailers and credit card companies, and they use heavy-handed scare tactics to wring out a few dollars from debtors who can't afford to hire lawyers. Intimidated by being sued and unable to defend themselves, many debtors get sucker-punched with default judgments that can haunt them for years.

I'm not advocating that creditors should not be allowed to pursue legitimate debts, or that debtors should not pay what they legitimately owe. The problem I see is that too many of these suits are being filed against the wrong people, or for the wrong amount, or have some other major defect. Twice in as many months I've had people come to me after being sued for debts that were not even theirs. Another time a lady came to me after being sued for a debt that she had been diligently paying off before the original creditor sold the debt to a "Rambo" collection firm.

It's a shame that the big bully corporations and questionable debt-collectors are now clogging the courts with these dubious suits, particularly now when so many truly injured folks are kept out of the courthouse. Courthouses exist so that the little guy can take on Goliath, not the other way around.

McDonald's Hot Coffee and Other Myths

Rarely does a week pass without someone forwarding me an email complaining of "frivolous" lawsuits. You've probably seen them, too. They usually reference the so-called "Stella Awards," in dubious honor of 79-year old Stella Liebeck. Stella was severly burned when scalding hot coffee spilled in her lap and she sued McDonald's for $2.7 million. Most people hear only this and automatically assume it was a frivolous suit filed by a greedy plaintiff. Unfortunately, few seem to know the true facts about Stella's case, such as:

• Stella was severely injured, suffering third degree burns to her legs and genitals which required hospitalization and multiple skin grafts;
• Her doctor testified that her injury was one of the worst scald burns he had ever seen;
• She asked McDonald's to simply pay for her medical treatment, but they refused;
• McDonald's kept its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees, a temperature which by its own admission made it unfit for consumption (hot beverages are typically served from 130 to 150 degrees);
• Spilled coffee at that temperature causes third degree burns in 2 to 7 seconds;
• McDonald's had been aware of the risks of serving super-hot coffee for over 10 years;
• Over 700 people had been burned previously by its coffee; and
• The jury's assessment of $2.7 million in punitive damages representing merely two days' worth of McDonald's coffee sales, and the trial judge reduced this amount to $480,000.

Sound frivolous? So the next time one of these emails pops up in your inbox, consider replying to the sender and giving them the real facts. After all, just like Stella Liebeck, that person may someday need a personal injury lawyer, too.

Too Many Safety Violations = Too Many Truck Wrecks

When prosecuting truck wreck cases, we frequently find evidence of various safety violations by either the trucking company or the truck driver or both. Falsified logbooks and hours-of-service violations, vehicles and equipment with mechanical problems, and speeding are just some of the violations that are commonly seen in these cases. Often victims of trucking accidents are left to wonder why these problems are not caught sooner, before they lead to wrecks. Needless to say, there is much room for improvement.

An excellent investigative series in the Dallas Morning News led reporters Gregg Jones and Doug Swanson to this conclusion: "The political clout of the trucking lobby and of big retailers has helped block tougher laws to police the business. As a result, industry experts and watchdog groups say, untold legions of truckers work unsafe hours, or operate faulty equipment that inspectors fail to curb, or continue driving despite numerous traffic violations, or wipe out innocent people who try to share the road. "

Jones and Swanson also report that deregulation of interstate shipping, competition among trucking companies, economic pressure on drivers, and shrinking federal and state law enforcement budgets have all played a role in making our roads more dangerous.

Left alone, the trucking industry is not going to clean itself up, despite the many carriers and drivers who operate professionally and safely. Average citizens must demand more from our lawmakers: More meaningful oversight of the industry, more funds for enforcement, and more dangerous trucks taken off our roads.