As the School Bells Ring…
This August Glasheen, Valles & Inderman, LLP partnered with local schools in Lubbock, Odessa and El Paso to provide 128 economically disadvantaged students with a new backpack filled with supplies to start the school year. “This is just one way to give back to our communities,” said Noe Valles. “We know how important it is to provide students with the supplies they need for a new school year – after all, kids look forward to having a new backpack and showing off their supplies.”
Client Crushed by Tractor Trailer
In the mid-morning hours our 41 year-old client was loading his truck at a local distribution center. After his trailer was loaded, he pulled away from the loading dock and exited his truck to close his trailer doors. As he was closing his trailer doors, a truck driver from another company backed into our client and pinned him between the two trailers, crushing his body. He was diagnosed with multiple bilateral rib fractures, a collapsed left lung, and a laceration to his scalp. We filed a claim against the Defendant driver and his company and settled the claim prior to trial.
Rights for All Workers
For everything from swinging a hammer on an icy cold construction project to blistering work in industrial plants, Texans rely heavily upon the economic benefits of undocumented workers. Many of the working conditions are not only tough, but dangerous.
Not too long ago we handled a case for a young man from Aldama, Chihuaha, Mexico. The promise of $8.00 per hour and over 80 hours per week lured him away from his family to a Texas cotton gin. The gin owner immediately hired him and even helped find a fake social security card for income tax withholding. During his second day on the job, the young man was instructed to clean trash and debris from a piece of equipment. No one bothered to tell him that the lint and trash covered a spinning saw. As he reached in to remove debris, the saw sliced and ground away several fingers on his right hand.
The employer had refused to carry workers compensation insurance coverage. The young man was left to make it on his own. He found himself jobless, in a foreign country, with no money, no way to get home, and a mangled hand. He was told by the employer that he would get no help for his medical bills or his time off of work but offered him enough money to make it home if he would sign a liability release.
Fortunately, he found his way to our firm for help and one of the reasons he felt comfortable with us is because he was able to communicate in Spanish with my law partner, Noe Valles. We took the case and discovered facts that allowed us to resolve the case for over 80 times the amount of the initial offer. When we were doing his settlement disbursement the young man kept asking if we were sure that what he was receiving as his portion was correct. This is a story that has played out in similar fashion countless times for our clients.
Texas courts have recently clarified Texas law to protect against improper reference to illegal immigration status at trial. The Texas Supreme Court stated that “such appeals to racial and ethnic prejudices, whether ‘explicit and brazen’ or ‘veiled and subtle,’ cannot be tolerated because they undermine the very basis of our judicial process.”
Our law firm will continue to help all injured people irrespective of their citizenship status.