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The family then turned to lawyers.

In 1990, the DeLays filed suit against Midcap Bearing Corp. of San Antonio and Lovejoy Inc. of Illinois, the distributor and maker of a coupling that the family said had failed and caused the tram to hurtle out of control.

The family’s wrongful death lawsuit accused the companies of negligence and sought actual and punitive damages. Lawyers for the companies denied the allegations and countersued the surviving designer of the tram system, Jerry DeLay.

The case thrust Rep. DeLay into unfamiliar territory Ñ the front page of a civil complaint as a plaintiff. He is an outspoken defender of business against what he calls the crippling effects of “predatory, self-serving litigation.”

The DeLay family litigation sought unspecified compensation for, among other things, the dead father’s “physical pain and suffering, mental anguish and trauma,” and the mother’s grief, sorrow and loss of companionship.

Their lawsuit also alleged violations of the Texas product liability law.

The DeLay case moved slowly through the Texas judicial system, accumulating more than 500 pages of motions, affidavits and disclosures over nearly three years. Among the affidavits was one filed by the congressman, but family members said he had little direct involvement in the lawsuit, leaving that to his brother Randall, an attorney.

Rep. DeLay, who since has taken a leading role promoting tort reform, wants to rein in trial lawyers to protect American businesses from what he calls “frivolous, parasitic lawsuits” that raise insurance premiums and “kill jobs.”

Last September, he expressed less than warm sentiment for attorneys when he took the floor of the House to condemn trial lawyers who, he said, “get fat off the pain” of plaintiffs and off “the hard work” of defendants.

Aides for DeLay defended his role as a plaintiff in the family lawsuit, saying he did not follow the legal case and was not aware of its final outcome.

The case was resolved in 1993 with payment of an undisclosed sum, said to be about $250,000, according to sources familiar with the out-of-court settlement. DeLay signed over his share of any proceeds to his mother, said his aides.

Three years later, DeLay cosponsored a bill specifically designed to override state laws on product liability such as the one cited in his family’s lawsuit. The legislation provided sweeping exemptions for product sellers.

The 1996 bill was vetoed by President Clinton, who said he objected to the DeLay-backed measure because it “tilts against American families and would deprive them of the ability to recover fully when they are injured by a defective product.”

After her husband’s death, Maxine DeLay scrapped the mangled tram at the bottom of the hill and sold the family’s lake house.

Today, she lives alone in a Houston senior citizen residence. Like much of the country, she is following news developments in the Schiavo case and her son’s prominent role.

She acknowledged questions comparing her family’s decision in 1988 to the Schiavo conflict with a slight smile. “It’s certainly interesting, isn’t it?”

She had a new hairdo for Easter and puffed on a cigarette outside her assisted-living residence as she sat back comparing the cases.
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Republican media adviser R. Gregory Stevens, who was found dead in the Beverly Hills, Calif., home of actress Carrie Fisher on Feb. 26, died of an overdose of cocaine and the painkiller OxyContin, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
ÊÊÊÊA spokeswoman at the coroner’s office read to The Washington Times portions of the report, which was completed Friday.
ÊÊÊÊ”Cocaine and OxyContin,” the spokeswoman said when asked by phone what was the cause of death. When asked specifically whether there was a drug overdose, she said “yes.”… Rest of Article

Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.Ê
ÒThey’re detached from reality and suscepitble to influence,Ó the army says

Ê… Rest of Article

THIEVES WHO entered a home on the 1200 block of Linda Mar Boulevard last month got into the house through the doggy door. The culprits made off with a bong and vaporizer used for smoking marijuana. The theft happened sometime between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Feb. 16 while the residents were not home. Police are investigating potential suspects…. Rest of Article

20 Amazing Facts About
Voting in the USA… Rest of Article

Microsoft is laying off 62 test engineers in the second round of cuts hitting Windows testers in the past five months.


The company has recently sent test work overseas, but a spokeswoman denied that’s a factor. She said automation, not globalization, led to the cuts.

Microsoft notified the employees Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and the layoffs took effect Friday. The testers were given the option of staying, with pay, for six weeks while they look for other jobs in the company.

But finding other test jobs in the company may be a challenge.

The 62 work in the core operating system division, headed by Brian Valentine, a senior vice president. In the past, Valentine has called on managers to consider outsourcing work to India as a way to get more done for less cost.


Microsoft is outsourcing some test work to overseas companies such as Wipro, Infosys and Tata Consultancy in India. It’s also expanding its overseas research and development facilities with a new campus opening this month in Hyderabad, India…. Rest of Article

The interception of a cocaine courier at the Spanish border sent investigators backtracking to the French house, 1,769 pounds of cocaine and loads of suitcases used to smuggle the cocaine, Selmore said.

“The facade of legitimacy that these two defendants have build around themselves began to crumble,” she said.

Lopez had approached Usuga with a proposition for flying cocaine on the plane used by Saudi prince and Swiss banker Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz Al-Shaalan, Selmore charged. After marrying a royal princess, he flew the world with an entourage of dozens and diplomatic immunity that avoided luggage inspections…. Rest of Article

Citizens to Save California, a business-backed group with close ties to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, says it’s committed to creating new jobs.

And it’s starting in India.

As part of a $10 million petition drive to place the governor’s proposed constitutional amendments before voters, Citizens to Save California has hired an out-of-state firm to verify signatures. That firm, in turn, is outsourcing the work to India…. Rest of Article

Asked Thursday his reaction to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s insistence this week that Social Security must be transformed, preferably along lines urged by Bush, Reid replied:


“I’m not a big Greenspan fan. … I voted against him two times. I think he’s one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington,” Reid said on CNN’s “Judy Woodruff’s Inside Politics.”


Reid complained that Greenspan had decried budget deficits when Bill Clinton was president but he doesn’t criticize Bush for turning a federal budget surplus he inherited from Clinton into trillions of new debt…. Rest of Article

WASHINGTON – In what could be a troubling sign for the military, the active-duty Army missed its February recruiting goal by more than 27%. It was the first time in almost five years that the Army has failed to meet a monthly target.

The Army signed up 5,114 recruits in February, 1,936 fewer than its goal of 7,050. The last time the Army missed a monthly target was in May 2000.

The February shortfall is especially worrisome because it comes as the Army is trying to lure recruits with the largest enlistment bonuses it has ever offered: up to $20,000 to some recruits willing to sign on for four years. The Pentagon has also been adding thousands of recruiters for the Army and other branches.

Doug Smith, a spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky, attributed the shortfall in part to competition from the improving economy and parents’ fears that their children could be injured or killed in Iraq. As of Wednesday, nearly 1,500 U.S. servicemembers had died in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003…. Rest of Article