Dan Pollitt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has died at the age of 88. Professor Pollitt was my Constitutional Law professor and, as explained in this obituary, he spent "a lifetime of defending civil rights, civil liberties, and fighting injustices in local, state…
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is seeking the maximum civil penalty of $16.375 million against Toyota Motor Corporation for failing to notify the auto safety agency of the dangerous “sticky pedal” defect for at least four months, despite knowing of the potential risk to consumers. Approximately 2.3 million…
Those of you over 30 will remember James Carville’s message to the Clinton campaign in 1992: "It’s about the economy, stupid." Well, trying cases is about persuading jurors to your client’s point of view. Sure, you must prove-each-element-of-your-cause-of-action-by-a-preponderance-of-the-evidence, but you must do so in a way that keeps the…
AAJ’s upcoming seminar Litigating Medical Negligence and Injured Infant Cases, April 9–10 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, will provide the newest strategies and techniques on how to get justice for those who need it the most. To register and learn more, visit www.justice.org/education/medneg or call AAJ Education at 800-622-1791 or 202-965-3500,…
Paul Luvera does a nice job in this post hitting the high points of David Ball’s book Ball on Damages. An excerpt: [W]e must shed our law school training about advocacy and learn to present cases consistent with the way that people really make decisions. You were probably taught…
AAJ’s upcoming seminar Growing on the Vine: Maximizing Profitability in Changing Times (cosponsored by AAJ’s Sole Practitioner and Small Firm Section) is about the business of running a successful law practice. The program is taking place April 9–10 at Caesars Place in Las Vegas. Program highlights include “Controlling Cost and…
The South Carolina Supreme Court has reversed a judgment for the plaintiffs in a case against Ford Motor Company. The plaintiffs claimed that the Ford Explorer in which they were riding had a defective cruise control and defective seat belts. The court ruled that the trial judge should have excluded…
Brian Tannebaum is a Florida lawyer who handles bar grievance cases and shares information on the subject in his blog, My Law License. He has been kind enough to share an e-book with us called "I Got A Bar Complaint" that is both informative and entertaining. The book…
As I mentioned in three previous posts, Shannon Ragland of the Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter has graciously agreed to permit me to share some of the information he has gathered concerning jury trials in Tennessee. This multi-part series will discuss some of the data contained in Shannon’s 359-page 2009 report. You can…
Various television stations are reporting that a medical helicopter crashed outside of Brownsville, Tennessee. The NTSB has sent a team to the scene. Apparently, the company operating the helicopter was Memphis Medical Center Air Ambulance Service, Inc., also known as Hospital Wing. The helicopter was a Eurocopter Astar AS350B3 model. …