Personal Injury Law

Medical Malpractice Filings Down - New Statutes Reducing Number of Lawsuits

Posted on March 10, 2009
We have some preliminary data on the number of medical malpractice case filings in certain counties since the October 1, 2009 effective date of the medical malpractice notice and certificate of good faith statutes. One new statute requires that actual notice be given to defendants in med mal cases before a lawsuit is filed...

Defense Firm To Be Penalized for Fraudulent Removals?

Posted on March 09, 2009
A defense firm has been threatened with severe sanctions for allegedly engaging in a pattern of fraudulently removing cases from state court to federal court in Louisiana.  Sanctions on the table?  Not only a financial penalty but also also barring members of the firm from practicing in federal court...

Practice Guidelines: Obstetric Anesthesia

Posted on March 07, 2009
Here is the most recent version of the practice guidelines for obstetric anesthesia as prepared by a task force of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Great Legal Research Tip

Posted on March 06, 2009

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Legal Malpractice Avoidance Checklist

Posted on March 05, 2009

Do You Believe in Magic (Tricks During Closing Argument)?

Posted on March 05, 2009

SCOTUS Issues Opinion in Wyeth v. Levine

Posted on March 04, 2009

Courtoons

Posted on March 03, 2009

Legal Malpractice Lawsuits On the Upswing?

Posted on March 02, 2009

March 2009 Edition of the Tennessee Trial Law Report

Posted on March 01, 2009

Animation of Crash of Flight 1549

Posted on February 28, 2009

E-Discovery Highlights

Posted on February 27, 2009

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the ER

Posted on February 26, 2009
The American College of Emergency Physicians has released a new clinical policy called  "Clinical Policy: Neuroimaging and Decisionmaking in Adult Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Acute Setting." 

Amusement Parks, Carnivals, and Carnies

Posted on February 25, 2009
I grew up in Spencer, Wisconsin, a village of about 1000 (less in the 1960 census, more in the 1970 census) in North Central Wisconsin.  The closest city was Marshfield, at eight miles to the south on Highway 13,  which at the time had about 15,000 people, a J...

Do You Want to Start Your Own Firm?

Posted on February 24, 2009
I admit it:  I am a fan of the Wall Street Journal.  I have read it almost every week day since I was 19, and actually got chill bumps when they started a Saturday edition a couple of years ago.  The editorial page makes me mad as hell every morning, but quite frankly I think it is important to get mad as hell about something every single day...

Has Hill v. NHC Been Settled?

Posted on February 23, 2009
I heard a rumor that the appeal in Hill v. NHC Healthcare/Nashville,LLC, M2005-01818-COA-R30-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. April 30, 2008) (Rule 11 granted Aug. 25, 2008) has been dismissed. This important opinion held that the defendant nursing home's arbitration clause was unconscionable as a matter of law...

Has Hill v. NHC Been Settled? UPDATE

Posted on February 23, 2009
I heard a rumor that the appeal in Hill v. NHC Healthcare/Nashville,LLC, M2005-01818-COA-R30-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. April 30, 2008) (Rule 11 granted Aug. 25, 2008) has been dismissed. This important opinion held that the defendant nursing home's arbitration clause was unconscionable as a matter of law...

Impeachment by Contradiction

Posted on February 21, 2009
How do you impeach by contradiction? The Federal Evidence Review Blog has a fine summary of a recent case from the Third Circuit that provides a “textbook example” of how one sets up an impeachment by contradiction and how the impeachment evidence comes before the jury even though it is not otherwise admissible...

Avoiding Malpractice - Tips for Lawyers

Posted on February 20, 2009
The American Bar Association has a nice paper titled "The Top Ten Malpractice Traps and How to Avoid Them."  The paper is excerpted from  "Desk Guide Legal Malpractice."  Not all of the "traps" are applicable to those who do tort work on a full-time basis, but there is a lot to be learned from this 11-page document...

Ruining Depositions - Part 3 of 3

Posted on February 19, 2009
Evan Schaeffer from St. Louis has two blogs, The Legal Underground and The Trial Practice Tips Weblog.  He has written three posts on the latter titled "15 Ways to Ruin a Deposition."  Here is his latest and last post (Part 3) on the subject...

Peanut Butter and Peanut Recall List

Posted on February 18, 2009
Here is a list of the peanut and peanut butter products that have been recalled.

Fire in the Operating Room

Posted on February 18, 2009
The February 18, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about fires in the operating room, which happen approximately 650 times per year in the United States.  A sample:  "Because each member of the [surgical]  team may be focusing on his own role in a procedure, 'the No...

Florida Family Awarded $8M in Tobacco-Related Death Case

Posted on February 18, 2009
Tort lawyers have been carefully watching the tobacco lawsuit against Phillip Morris which arose out of the death of 55-year old Stuart Hess.  The Florida jury imposed liability several days ago and earlier today awarded $3M in compensatory damages and $5M in punitive damages...

Liability Insurance Rate Increases Coming?

Posted on February 17, 2009
Liability insurance companies make money in two major ways.  First, they make money on the insurance product - doing good underwriting, setting appropriate rates, and properly managing claims.  Second, insurance companies make money holding today's premiums to pay tomorrow's claims (and claim expenses)...

Paul Does It Again

Posted on February 16, 2009
Paul Luvera has another great post on his outstanding blog, Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips.  A sample:  "Focusing on the bad conduct of the defendant shifts the availability bias and causes the defendant to be the subject to the greater weight of scrutiny instead of plaintiff...

Sunday Spoof - The AMA's MFA Program

Posted on February 15, 2009
It was almost three years ago, February 26, 2006, that this Sunday Spoof first appeared.  In the last three years, I have added another daughter and a few pounds.  But the effort of doctors to limit their responsibility for harm caused by their negligence continues, as does the fiction that doctors are leaving Tennessee because we don't have caps on damages...

Diagnosis of Appendicitis

Posted on February 13, 2009
State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company's Winter 2008-09 quarterly newsletter, Risk Points, has an interesting article discussing the diagnosis of appendicitis.   This illness occurs in 250,000 people in the United States every year, and the mortality rate increases 500% if the appendix ruptures...

Vicarious Liability in Trucking Cases

Posted on February 12, 2009
It is not uncommon for wrecks involving tractor-trailer rigs to result in serious injury and death.  It is also not uncommon for there to be inadequate insurance coverage or other assets to make whole the victims of the trucker's negligent acts. Thus, it is not uncommon for lawyers who represent the victims of the these wrecks to look to the conduct of others to see what role they played in contributing to the wreck...

Auto Fatalities Decline

Posted on February 11, 2009
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported that automobile accidents for the first 10 months of 2008 are down significantly when compared with the same period in 2007. Fatalities are down 10% to a total of 31,110 deaths in the first 10 months in the year...

Fear of HIV Lawsuit - Defendant Roberto Alomar

Posted on February 11, 2009
CNN reports that Roberto Alomar has been sued in New York by his ex-girlfriend,  who alleges that he exposed her to the HIV virus by engaging in unprotected sex with her while he was suffering from HIV/AIDS.  She has tested negative for the disease...

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