During the last five years the Tennessee General Assembly has passed dozens of bills that can be properly classified as "tort reform" statutes. Over fifty cases have already interpreted these statutes. My latest book, Compendium of Tennessee Tort Reform Statutes and Related Cases (2nd ed. 2013) has the full text of all…
Tennessee medical malpractice (now called "health care liability") cases remained essentially flat for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, according to data recently released by the Administrative Office of the Courts. For the twelve month period ending June 30, 2013, there were a total of 385 health care liability…
Pre-suit notice in Tennessee health care liability cases continues to be a huge problem for victims of medical malpractice. In this case, Plaintiff sent notice, included all of the necessary forms and paperwork, and attached it to the complaint – but it turned out to be sent to the wrong…
The fights over the Tennessee health care liability pre-suit notice statute, T.C.A. Sec. 29-26-121, have steadily increased and now loom over virtually every Tennessee health care liability lawsuit. In short, motions to dismiss cases are being filed because of the alleged failure of the plaintiff’s lawyer to perfectly comply the statute. In many…
Under Tennessee wrongful death law, the distribution of proceeds obtained after a settlement for wrongful death are governed by common law not statute. Basically, the law provides that the wrongful death proceeds are distributed under the law of intestate succession. Thus, if a decedent left behind a surviving spouse and one…
No, you did not read the headline wrong. The company that insures doctors for medical malpractice claims in Georgia is opposing a tort reform measure being pushed by a group of healthcare administrators. What is going on? A group of healthcare administrators in Georgia has formed an organization called "Patients…
A dispute between a Tennessee plaintiffs’ firm and a Maryland plaintiffs’ firm over responsibility for litigation expenses will be resolved in Tennessee, says the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The Wolff Ardis firm in Memphis and the Law Offices of Jonathan Dailey in Washington, D.C. teamed up together to work on…
I know – I have gone off the grid. For the past couple of months I have been extremely busy and my law practice has simply consumed the vast majority of my time. I have also worked on an article that I was asked to write for the inaugural edition…
The sender of a text message to a person faces potential liability if the recipient of the message negligently causes a wreck injuring others, according to a recent opinion of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. In Kubert v. Best, A-1128-12T4 (N.J. Sup. Ct. App. Div.…
A Texas police officer has sued a 9-1-1 caller for failing to warn the 9-1-1 official (and thus the police officer) that the police responding to the call would be walking into a dangerous situation. The responding officer was attacked by a man at the home who had allegedly been…