U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood released updated 2009 fatality and injury data showing that highway deaths fell to 33,808 for the year, the lowest number since 1950. The record-breaking decline in traffic fatalities occurred even while estimated vehicle miles traveled in 2009 increased by 0.2 percent over 2008 levels. In…
Adobe has created an Online Digital Signing Service. When the document is digitally signed, no changes may be made to it. The document is also time-date stamped and certified. Read more here.
A lawyer called me the other day and asked me if a lawyer’s communications with his or her private investigator are privileged under Tennessee law. The answer is "yes," as provided in T.C.A. § 24-1-209: Communication between an attorney and a private detective or investigator hired by such attorney, while acting…
This article from NPR caught my eye. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), a physician, said recently on the House Republican website America Speaking Out that the tab runs "an astounding $650 billion each year. That’s 26 percent of all money spent on health care." As the article notes, a series of…
Penny White, Joe Riley and I are on the road again this Fall as part of our annual Justice Programs seminar. You wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t have an interest in Tennessee tort law, and I will be doing my annual summary of changes in the…
The Garretson Firm Resolution Group has issued this report on the status of reporting personal injury and wrongful death claims and the need for the utilization of medical set asides. The bottom line: starting October 1, 2010 insurers will be required to gather certain information about claimants asserting personal injury…
Tennessee has pattern jury instructions for civil and criminal cases, but our federal judicial circuit only has pattern instructions for criminal cases. Here is a list of the federal circuits that have pattern jury instructions in civil and criminal cases, as well as a link to those instructions. The Tennessee…
Rule 5 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure was amended to permit papers to be served on attorneys of parties via electronic mail. Here the language added to Rule 5 to accomplish that result: (2)(a) Service upon any attorney may also be made by sending him or her…
Have you subscribed to the Tennessee Trial Law Report – Tort Law Edition? Each month Brandon Bass and I summarize the recent Tennessee appellate decisions in the field of tort,civil procedure, evidence and trial law and publish those summaries in the TTLR. Importantly, we do not just regurgitate…
ABC News reports that Dr. Frank Ryan, the surgeon who performed extensive plastic surgery early this year on Heidi Montag, was sending a Twitter message about his dog before his fatal car crash Monday in Los Angeles. The dog, who was in the car at the time of the crash, survived…