The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that a trial judge appropriately admitted surveillance videos of the plaintiff into evidence. The videos were taken in a case where the quality of life of the plaintiff after the accident was "hotly disputed." The videos showed…
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that post-mortem testing has demonstrated an increase in the level of drug involvement among fatally injured drivers over a five-year period from 2005 to 2009. According to data compiled by NHTSA, 63 percent of the 21,798 drivers who were killed in…
The November 25, 2010 New York Times has reported on a study that has found that no progress has been made at improving patient safety in hospitals. The study is reported in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine. It was conducted from 2002 to 2007 in 10 North Carolina…
Mediation is an important part of personal injury and wrongful death litigation. Indeed, my only significant quarrel with mediation is that defendants often refuse to engage in any settlement negotiations in significant cases without a formal mediation. I still remember the days where lawyers could actually engage in settlement negotiations…
AAJ Education’s Breaking News in Medicare Secondary Payer Requirements: Moratorium on Reporting Teleseminar, November 23, will give you the breaking news and latest on Medicare Secondary Payer reporting requirements, the Bradley v. Sebelius 11th Circuit decision, what the moratorium means, and what happens next. To view the agenda and faculty,…
Jay O’Keeffe has a written a great post called "10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before My First Oral Argument." An excerpt: 3. Anticipate hard questions. As soon as I start working on an appeal, I create a document called "Tough Questions." This document includes every hard question I can think of, regardless…
Hot off the press this morning from AAJ: As all of you are aware, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) implementation of the Section 111 reporting requirements of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSP) for liability settlements and the penalties associated with improper lien resolution has created turmoil…
Our Justice Programs seminar series will be held on Nov. 18 and 19 in Nashville. Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley, and I also will present the two-day programs in Memphis (Dec. 9 and 10) and and Knoxville (Dec. 2 and 3) .…
The United States Department of Health and Human Services maintains a databank of individuals who have had medical malpractice settlements or judgments The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Integrity Data Bank (HIPDB) are information clearinghouses created by Congress to improve health care quality and…
Yesterday I reported that SVMIC, the bedpan mutual that insures the vast majority of Tennessee doctors, reduced its rates by 23.1% . I also reported that the company declared a $20,000,000 dividend. The net effect of the dividend means that policyholders with a history of no paid claims will receive another 8% reduction (or…