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D.C. judge expands lawsuit filed by homeless families

Today’s post was shared by The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group and comes from www.washingtonpost.com

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Thursday ruled that all homeless families that have been staying in a makeshift shelter on frigid winter nights can join in a lawsuit alleging that the city’s emergency housing is inadequate.

Judge Robert D. Okun, siding with four families that filed the initial complaint, expanded the suit into a class action to include…

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INCREASING YOUR BENEFITS WITH A CLAIM FOR UNEMPLOYABILITY

If you have a combined rating of 60% or higher you may be able to obtain a rating of 100% by showing that your service-connected disabilities keep you from working. This benefit is called total disability due to individual unemployability (TDIU).

If your combined rating is 60% and all the disabilities are from the same cause or accident, affect the same body system, or stem from multiple injuries suffered in action or as a prisoner of war you may qualify for this higher rating. You may also qualify if your 60% rating is for one or both arms or legs. If you have a 70% rating, with at least one rating of 40%, then you may also qualify for this higher rating.

Once you meet the rating requirements, you have to show that your disabilities keep you from working. The VA must take into account your education and the type of work you did in the past. For example, if you only did heavy physical labor in the past, and now can only do a desk job, you may be unemployable. If you are still working, but your work is marginal, which means your wages are at or below the Government poverty level, you can still qualify for TDIU. If you get Social Security Disability benefits or Railroad Retirement benefits, the VA must consider that in deciding if you get TDIU.

Although this benefit is available the VA does not like to pay this benefit and will not usually grant it when you first apply. The VA will often deny or ignore a claim for TDIU. If you got a decision that denied TDIU or you told the VA you could not work when you applied for benefits and the VA did not consider TDIU, then you need to have our Veteran’s Benefits lawyer review your decision to decide if our firm can help you with an appeal.

New York City Settles Lawsuit Accusing Fire Dept. of Racial Bias

Today’s post was shared by The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group and comes from www.nytimes.com

A news conference was held Tuesday to discuss the agreement. Among those who attended were, back row from left, the plaintiffs Kevin Walker, Lt. Michael Marshall, Kevin Simpkins and Rusebell Wilson; and front from left, the president of the Vulcan Society, John Coombs, and the lead counsel, Richard Levy.

Years of legal wrangling over the racial makeup of the New York City Fire Department has led to a host of reforms, from a court-appointed monitor to a new entrance exam and an influx of recruiters into black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, that long fight to diversify the overwhelmingly white department came to an end with an agreement to settle the case and pay nearly $100 million in back pay and benefits to minorities whose efforts to join the department were thwarted by what courts have ruled were institutional biases.

For Mayor Bill de Blasio, who vigorously criticized the civil rights records of both the Police and Fire Departments during his campaign last year, the decision to settle the suit represented another sharp break from the Bloomberg administration.

“The brave men and women of the F.D.N.Y. work tirelessly to keep us safe from harm’s way — and our administration is committed to ensuring every New Yorker who seeks to take on this heroic role has a fair opportunity to join the ranks,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement.

Soon after taking office, Mr. de Blasio announced a settlement with civil rights groups that…

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New lawsuit challenges Arizona’s gay-marriage ban

Today’s post was shared by The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group and comes from azstarnet.com

PHOENIX — Unwilling to wait for a 2016 vote, advocates for same-sex marriage asked a federal judge Thursday to rule the state’s ban is illegal.

The lawsuit challenges longtime state laws and a voter-approved 2008 state constitutional amendment defining marriage in this state as solely between one man and one woman. Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, representing seven Arizona couples and two survivors of same-sex relationships, contends that ban violates federal constitutional provisions.

“Because our clients are not able to marry, they’re being denied equal protection under the laws, which should be a birthright of all Americans,” she said at a Phoenix news conference detailing the legal action.

Attorney General Tom Horne said he thinks the Arizona law is legally defensible.

Horne sidestepped the question of whether allowing heterosexual couples to marry but denying that right to same-sex couples amounts to unequal treatment. He said that’s not the legal issue. “The question really is, what is the definition of marriage,” he said.

“I would say that the Legislature, and the people acting through the Legislature, have a right to define what is marriage,” Horne continued. “And that should be a decision made by the people governing themselves rather than the judiciary imposing it on them.”

The lawsuit comes as proponents of same-sex marriage are gearing up to put…

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Family of construction worker files lawsuit in fatal industrial accident

Today’s post was shared by The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group and comes from www.wacotrib.com

The family of a construction worker killed in January while working on Baylor University’s new on-campus football stadium has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the university and several construction and equipment companies.

Jose Dario Suarez’s wife, two daughters, son and mother are seeking unspecified damages in their lawsuit, which was filed last week in Harris County.

The petition says Harris County is a proper venue for the lawsuit because one of the defendants, Flexifloat Construction Systems, is located in Houston.

Besides Baylor and Flexifloat, the suit also names as defendants Austin Commercial Inc., Austin Bridge and Road, Derr and Isbell Construction Inc. and Genie Industries Inc.

Austin Commercial, Austin Bridge and Road, and Derr and Isbell are construction companies building Baylor’s McLane Stadium and a walking bridge over the Brazos River linking the stadium to campus.

Suarez, 55, of Manor, drowned Jan. 28 after a hydraulic lift he and another construction worker were strapped to slipped or rolled from a modular barge into the Brazos River.

Suarez and another man were working on the pedestrian bridge over the river behind Baylor Law School. The other man was able to untether himself after the lift went into the river, but Suarez was not.

Divers found Suarez’s body still strapped to the lift about four hours later.

“This is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the Suarez family, but we have not yet seen the…

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The Power of the Civil Justice System

Michael Smerconish of CNN comments on the importance of our modern day Civil Justice System. Though often maligned, it is often to only way to protect the public from future harm as seen in the recent problems with General Motors ignition switches. Companies are not going to jump and say they did something wrong. Often, it is only through a lawsuit that we learn about dangerous conditions affecting the public. Watch his commentary here.

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