Jeff's Blog

Sobriety Checkpoints – Are DWI Stops in Texas’ Future?

Jeff Rasansky | January 7, 2013 | Comments (0)

Every year there’s an effort by politicians and groups like MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to make sobriety checkpoints legal in Texas. It’s no surprise that with nearly 1,300 alcohol related driving fatalities in 2010 alone that concerned citizens want the Texas government to take a more proactive stand on preventing drunk driving. This past week San Antonio Police Deputy Chief Anthony Trevino asked the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee to once again try to legalize sobriety checkpoints.

Beating The Heat Behind Bars – Summer Deaths Lead to Lawsuits Against Texas Prisons

Jeff Rasansky | August 6, 2012 | Comments (1)

Texas Department of Criminal Justice is being sued by an Austin civil rights group for the wrongful death of Larry Gene McCollum and other prisoners who died of heat stroke over the summer. Prisons without air conditioning in extreme heat leading to hyperthermia can be considered cruel and unusual punishment.

Crack Down on Barratry – Ambulance Chasers On the Run

Jeff Rasansky | July 3, 2012 | Comments (1)

Barratry, also known as ambulance chasing, is an immoral and illegal way for an attorney to get a new client. The Texas legislature (after a scandal involving Representative Ron Reynolds) is cracking down on ambulance chasers by prosecuting more suspects. Fines, prison time and disbarment are consequences.

Flying-Car Wreck Attorney: Did Your Parachute Deploy?

Jeff Rasansky | June 18, 2012 | Comments (0)

The summer is a time when many of us pause while on vacation or at a slow day in the office and wonder about our future. What will our business be like this time next year? This time ten years from now? What are the big-picture changes facing us? As the economy shifts and elections [...]

The Texas Board of Medical Examiners – A Broken Promise for Texas Health & Safety

Jeff Rasansky | May 9, 2012 | Comments (3)

A recent piece by Becky Oliver at Fox 4 revealed how dysfunctional the Texas Board of Medical Examiners is. She uses some alarming statistics and focuses on several Texan families who have experienced first-hand how harmful the institution can be. To understand what makes these heart-wrenching stories so important, you have to understand what the [...]

Texas Juries Disappearing – What Keeps Civil Cases Out of the Jury Box

Jeff Rasansky | April 25, 2012 | Comments (1)

Early this month The Dallas Morning News ran a story called, “Civil Jury Trials Plummet in Texas” that mentions some staggering statistics on the decline of civil juries. While the average person might still think most lawsuits end with compelling arguments before a group of twelve of your fellow citizens, the reality is that juries [...]

Recent Findings Spur Talk of Cell Phone Ban – Cell Phone Use Accounted for almost 25% of all vehicle accidents

Jeff Rasansky | April 17, 2012 | Comments (0)

This month is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the National Safety Council (NSC) in D.C. has made a national wide ban on all cell phone use while driving it’s number one priority. Piggy backing on the report that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released last December, the NSC has released its own 2012 [...]

Surviving Tornados – A Plan for Action

Jeff Rasansky | April 9, 2012 | Comments (0)

As a native Texan, I’ve seen my fair share of tornadoes. The tornadoes that ripped through the Metroplex this week were the most frightening in years. Together our staff watched the warnings on TV and spoke over the phone with loved ones on Tuesday afternoon, making sure that everyone was as safe as they could [...]

An Email Chain of Lies – Shedding Light on the Stella Awards

Jeff Rasansky | March 27, 2012 | Comments (0)

Around this time, every year, thousands of Americans begin receiving an email for the “Stella Awards.” Like many of these chain emails, it’s full of sensational and completely bogus information. And like other email chains of this nature, most people will take it at face value (since it is usually forwarded from a friend) including [...]

Not a Shocker – Texas’ Tort Reform Laws Hurt Consumers

Jeff Rasansky | October 18, 2011 | Comments (0)

A recent report conducted by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen, has found what many of already knew – damage caps only serve to hurt the consumer and protect insurance and big business.

The report, “A Failed Experiment”, discovered that the 2003 Texas law that placed limits on settlement amounts in malpractice cases has done the opposite of what it is said to do.