My daughter was hurt in a soccer game because the ref refused to reign in a reckless player on the opposing team. Can I sue? My son is devastated because he was improperly called out on strikes by a blind umpire. Can I sue? Setting aside the merits of these…
A bill has been introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly to cap "non-economic" damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to $1,000,000, regardless of the degree of harm suffered by the patient. Non-economic damages are defined as " damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, discomfort, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of…
The Tennessee Medical Malpractice Claims Report for 2009 (which reports data for 2008) contains lots of information of interest to lawyers who represent Tennesseans in medical malpractice claims. Last week I wrote about the number of claims closed in 2008 and the amount paid on these claims. Today I will…
The Tennessee Adult Protection Act, T. C. A. Sec. 71-6-101 et seq, creates civil action for compensatory and, as appropriate, punitive damages when "adults" covered by the act are victims of abuse or neglect, sexual abuse or exploitation and for theft of money or property whether by fraud, deceit, coercion or otherwise. Those covered…
Truck drivers who text while on the road are now violating federal law. On January 26, 2010, the federal Transportation Department said it is prohibiting truck and bus drivers from sending text messages on hand-held devices while operating commercial vehicles. Tennessee banned texting while driving effective July 1, 2009. The Transportation…
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released the 2009 Medical Malpractice Claims Report. Despite its title, the Report reveals data for calendar year 2008. This is the fifth report issued by the Department and contains more different types of data than released in previous years because of a…
As a Tennessee injury lawyer I receive calls from time to time from parents of children who have been injured by a foster parent. Indeed, several years ago our firm represented a parent of a pregnant teenager who was killed as a result of careless driving by her foster parent.…
Trial Lawyer Tips has a great post about steps to take to before picking a jury in another city, county, or state. An excerpt: To get familiar with my out of town trial venues, I used to order the local paper several months before trial and read it each day…
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has set up a website called "Distraction.Gov." The website reveals some interesting statistics: In 2008, there were a total of 34,017 fatal crashes in which 37,261 individuals were killed. In 2008, 5,870 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities).…
Thompson Hine is a 99-year old law firm with offices in eight different cities. Its products liability lawyers work do work in the aerospace, automotive, chemical, electrical, mechanical, medical device and pharmaceutical areas. And they are concerned about the implications of Section 212 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008,…