Dianne McLeod says a debt collector killed her husband Stanley. According to CNN, Ms. McLeod alleges that " her mortgage company, Green Tree Servicing, for the wrongful death of her husband. McLeod said she thinks he would be alive if not for the stress caused by Green Tree’s debt collectors.…
From the American Association for Justice: State tort reforms have provided a boon to insurance companies, leading to record profits while physician and patient premiums continue to skyrocket. An analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and company annual statements shows malpractice insurer profits are…
According to NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis there were 1035 people killed on Tennessee roads in 2008. Of those fatalities, 327 of them involved at least one driver who had a blood alcohol level of 0.8 or greater. This is an alcohol-related death rate of .47 people per 100…
Maine requires that a medical screening panel hear a medical malpractice case before it can be heard by a jury. Tennessee had screening panels in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were abandoned because all agreed that they were ridiculous. Now, Senator Snowe wants to require that states…
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a case against Wal-Mart for selling bullets to a person without requiring her to present an identification card as required by Illinois law. Candice Johnson later used the bullets to commit suicide. Her husband filed suit, alleging that his…
The Doctors Company is a medical malpractice insurer. Its website contains articles of interest to all Tennessee medical malpractice lawyers and, in fact, medical malpractice lawyers in every state. For example, one interesting article is titled "When to Evaluate for a Hypercoagulable State." Here is an excerpt: Hypercoagulability…
Senator Ensign (R-Nevada) introduced an amendment to limit contingent fees in medical malpractice cases. The Senator attempted to attached the language to amendment SA 2786 to H.R. 3590, which is intended to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members of…
The Ohio Court of Appeals has ruled that a trial judge committed error by ordering production of a personal injury plaintiff’s medical records without first doing an in camera review to determine if the records should have been turned over to the defendant. The opinion is interesting to Tennessee lawyers…
The Iowa Supreme Court has released an opinion in Thompson v. Kaczinski, 2009 WL 3786632 (Iowa 2009) and adopted the Restatement (Third) of Torts approach to both duty and causation. The case arose after "a motorist lost control of his car on a rural gravel road and crashed upon encountering a trampoline that had been…
More information continues to be leaked to the media about Tiger Woods’ alleged mistresses, and news reports indicate that at least one of them has confirmed a long-lasting affair. What does the law of torts say about this? Alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and reckless infliction of emotional distress immediately…