Dallas Attorney Charla Aldous Secures Settlement

Attorney Charla G.Aldous of the Aldous Law Firm in Dallas recently secured a successful confidential settlement on behalf of a North Texas rabbi whose right arm was crushed and nearly amputated in May 2010 while he was assisting in kosher meat processing at Frontier Meats, a Fort Worth slaughterhouse.

Rabbi Peretz Shapiro was working at the Fort Worth company as an independent contractor on behalf of Maspeth, N.Y.-based Alle Processing Corp., which contracted with Frontier to produce the kosher food.

To adhere to the kosher process, Alle hired ritual slaughterers, or shochetim, to travel from New York to Texas. The process then was supervised by local rabbis, called mashgiach, to ensure all religious requirements were kept. Alle hired Rabbi Shapiro to serve as a mashgiach, but provided no formal training or safety instructions related to the plant's heavy equipment. The rabbi's arm was crushed after he was directed to stand dangerously close to a piece of heavy equipment on the slaughterhouse's kill floor.

While hospitalized and under heavy medication following the accident, Rabbi Shapiro was approached on two different occasions by an Alle representative who wanted the rabbi to sign legal papers that would have certified him as a company employee. Doing so would have allowed Alle to file the accident as a workers' compensation matter and severely impaired Rabbi Shapiro's rights to future legal recoveries. To his benefit, Rabbi Shapiro never signed the documents, says Ms. Aldous.

"Alle's relationship with Frontier seemingly has been built on the idea of circumventing responsibility. It's no surprise that this unimaginably horrible accident happened since no training was provided, and even less surprising that these companies tried to avoid their obligations to Rabbi Shapiro," says Ms. Aldous, who notes that Alle was not registered to do business in Texas at the time of the accident.

Alabama Joins EWTN Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate

The Attorney General of the State of Alabama filed documents today in US District Court in Birmingham, Alabama to join EWTN Global Catholic Network as a plaintiff in its lawsuit against the Obama Administration's contraception mandate. EWTN filed its lawsuit on February 9, asking the federal courts to overturn the new rules which require most U.S. employers to provide contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans even if it violates their conscience.

"We are grateful to Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange for taking such a strong stand on this issue," said EWTN President and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. "This suit demonstrates that the Alabama motto, `We dare to defend our rights,' is no mere slogan. The state could simply have chosen to file a brief advising the court of the impact of the case on its citizens. Instead, it is intervening in the suit as a co-plaintiff with EWTN. The Attorney General of Alabama is saying, in effect, that this unjust, unconstitutional mandate hurts not only EWTN, but the entire community."

According to the state's motion to intervene, filed March 22, Alabama law does not mandate that insurers must provide contraception or sterilization coverage or that any employer or person in the state is required to purchase such coverage. The documents note that Alabama citizens enjoy the freedom to contract for an insurance plan or with a religious-affiliated insurer that does not cover these services. In contrast, the federal regulation would mandate the type of health insurance Alabama could offer on its state-run health insurance exchange, and, if allowed to stand, would preempt Alabama law guaranteeing its citizens' right of conscience.

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