Under the law of wrongful death in Tennessee, the spouse of the decedent typically has the principle right to pursue a wrongful death claim. However, from time to time cases have arisen where the marriage effectively but not legally ended before the death of one spouse, and squabbles arose…
Tennessee law has a one year statute of limitation in a medical malpractice (now called a health care liability) case. Formal legal notice must be given to health care providers who are going to be sued in the case and this notice must be given before the expiration of the…
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a private Medicare Advantage Organization plan cannot sue a plan participant’s survivors for reimbursement of medical payments out of the proceeds of an automobile insurance policy. The case is Parra v. PacificCare of Arizona, No. 11-16069 (9th Cir. April 19, 2013), Parra was…
The news that Pilot Flying J, a company largely if not exclusively owned by Governor’s Haslam’s family and run by his brother, is the subject of a criminal investigation has made a lot of news in the last week. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Flying J has over 600 retail…
My last two posts (here and here) have discussed financial and related information about Tennessee’s largest insurer of physicians that I hope is of interest to Tennessee medical malpractice lawyers and patients. Now I am taking out my crystal ball and looking in the future of SVMIC’s defense of medical…
The United States Supreme Court has released its opinion in U.S. Airways v. McCutchen, No. 11-1285 (USSC April 16, 2013), a case that raised the issue of whether "equitable doctrines and defenses," such as the "common fund" doctrine and the "made whole" doctrine applied to subrogation interests governed by the…
Last week I wrote a post titled " State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company -2012 Financial and Claims Data" that resulted in an unusual number of emails and phone calls. To those that took the time to reach out and thank me for the information, thank you – I appreciate your…
State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company (SVMIC), Tennessee’s bedpan mutual, has been around almost forty years. Started by doctors for doctors, it writes more medical malpractice insurance coverage for doctors and their extenders than any other professional liability insurer in Tennessee. The company is insuring a decreasing number of doctors in…
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released its annual statistical report on filings, verdicts and settlements in medical malpractice (now known as health care liability) cases. The report bears the date "2012" even though the data is from 2011. The report is helpful to lawyers who represent patients…
In most if not all states, the settlement of a minor’s personal injury claim must be approved by the Court. This is certainly true in Tennessee – the applicable statute is T.C.A. Section 29-34-105. The Alabama Supreme Court recently decided a case in which the minor died after a settlement…