Today I am in Memphis to participate in the evaluations of our appellate judges. A couple years ago Lt. Gov. John S. Wilder appointed me to the Judicial Evaluation Commission. The Commission has the responsibility of evaluating judges and composing a summary statement about each judge for publication in newspapers…
Federal tort trials are dropping like President Bush’s approval rating. From fiscal year 1985 through 2003 the number of federal tort trials dropped 79%, from 3600 to less than 800. Only 2% of all cases in that time period went to trial. There were less than 100 products liability trials…
Anna Ayala, the woman who claimed that she found a finger in a bowl of Wendy’s Chili, has plead guilty to filing a false claim and attempted grand theft. Her husband has also plead guilty for his part in the scheme. The finger turned out to be that of a…
Those of you who read the Tennessee Tort Law Letter know that I depise Tennessee’s limitations on the liability of governmental entities. I think a limb or life of a person should be worth the same regardless of whether the tortfeasor is a person, an entity, or a governmental entity.…
But not really. Forseeability in tort law is a complicated concept, but one thing is undeniably true: for a duty to arise or legal cause to exist one need not be able to (or actually) foresee the precise type of harm that resulted. Instead, one only need be able to…
Read here for an analysis of the impact of the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist.
I know that you are going to contribute to a Katrina relief fund – that is the type of person who reads this blog – but I urge those of you who are lawyers to do so through Trial Lawyers Care, an ATLA affilliated organization. Go here to help. Trial…
Our hearts go out to those we know and those we don’t in our sister states to the south. I cannot imagine what those folks – and their families across the nation – are going through right now. No substantive post today.
OK – so it is a recycled joke. Most of them are. How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb? Ten 1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed; 2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light…
I mentioned the other day that we would be hosting a couple of seminars in December, the first designed to help newer lawyers and the second designed for those with a little more experience. You can read more about both programs, and register on-line, by clicking here.