I write a quarterly column on tort law for the Tennessee Bar Journal. The column for the May edition of the publication discusses Tennessee’s recreational use statute, Tenn. Code Ann. §70-7-101 et seq, An excerpt: The Tennessee Supreme Court has interpreted the recreational use statute as one that gives rise to…
CNA has issued a white paper titled "Slip and Fall Control Techniques for Commercial Real Estate Owners." The report indicates that more than one million people are injured each year in slip or trip and fall incidents and 16,000 people die from falls. CNA adds this: With the aging baby boomer generation,…
The U.S. Supreme Court has issued the opinion in Wyeth v. Levine, the product liability case against the manufacturer of Phenergan. Wyeth appealed from an adverse jury verdict saying that Levine’s failure-to–warn claims were pre-empted by federal law because Phenergan’s label was approved by the FDA. The USSC held that federal…
In slip and fall cases in Tennessee, one must either prove that the defendant created the condition or knew or should have known about the condition. The latter may be proved by showing a pattern of conduct, a re-occurring incident, or a general or continuing condition indicating the dangerous condition’s existence. …
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed an en banc ruling of the Tennessee Claims Commission and ruled that the the State was liable for damages suffered by a college student as a result of being beaten after she left a parking garage on the University of Tennessee campus. To…
The Supreme Court of Florida recently issued an interesting opinion. In Williams v. Davis, No. SC05-1817 ( Fl. S.Ct. Nov. 21, 2007) the Court initially notes that "all property owners owe a duty … not to permit the growth of foliage on their property to extend outside the bounds of…
Pharmacist persuades a female customer to stay over night at his house. When his wife is gone. Girlfriend is unaware he has a wife and, indeed, is told to the contrary. Wife appears at an inopportune time. Fight ensues. Girlfriend gets hurt. Lawsuit follows. Girlfriend seeks to hold wife and husband responsible…
i wrote several weeks ago about the lawsuit Robert Bork filed against the Yale Club. I mentioned that the some issues I had with the suit, including the request for punitive damages. Eric Turkewitz wrote a much better post than I. As a New York personal injury lawyer, he wrote…
The Tennessee General Assembly has passed a new dog bite liability statute, known as the "“Dianna Acklen Act of 2007”. Section 44-8-413. (a) (1) The owner of a dog has a duty to keep that dog under reasonable control at all times, and to keep that dog from running at…
In Lane v. Atchison Heritage Conference Center, Inc., No. 94634 (March 16, 2007), the Kansas Supreme Court held that "mmunity from liability under the recreational use exception to the [Kansas Tort Claims Act] does not depend upon the "primary use" of the property but rather depends on the character of…