David Mills, appellate lawyer and cartoonist from Ohio, supplied the cartoon. A reader supplied the caption. In fact, lots of readers suggested captions, and David choose this one. I must admit that I was a fan of a caption suggested by Kpawss ("Surprisingly, a lineal descendant appeared during probate.") but…
Day on Torts
Thoughts About Efficiency in Law Practice
For lawyers, time is money. For lawyers who charge hourly rates, inefficiency may result in more fees on the front end but will result in a clients over time. For contingent fee lawyers, efficient practice increases profitability. This blog post from Litigation Cost Control reminds us of the efficiencies that…
ER Docs in Arizona Get Special Treatment in Courtrooms
Torts Prof lets us know that the elected representatives in Arizona believe that ER doctors should not be held responsible for their negligence unless the patient can prove his case by clear and convincing evidence.
Do You Want to Go Paperless in Your Office?
Or at least move in that direction? Here is a great post from a lawyer who has figured out how to do it. An an excerpt: In the three years that I’ve been practicing as a solo lawyer I have been completely paperless. Before that, when I worked in a…
Post-Sale Duties
The current Brooklyn Law Review contains this article by Ken Ross and J. David Prince provides an overview of the post-sale duty sections of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability. The article provides an overview of the Restatement (Third)’s post-sale duty sections. In addition, it discusses relevant case law…
Motion to Compel Defense Counsel to Wear Shoes Without Holes in the Soles
You read the title correctly. Apparently Bill Bone in Florida believes that his adversary "wears shoes with holes in the soles when he is in trial." He believed that defense counsel did so "as a ruse to impress the jury and make them believe that [his adversary] is humble and simple…
West Virginia Rejects Claim That Ford Should Have Used Laminated Glass in Side Window
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has ruled that a products liability claim was preempted by FMVSS 205, a safety standard that it says permits vehicle manufacturers to make a choice between tempered glass and laminated glass in side windows. The court felt compelled to rely on Geier…
Medical Research, Anyone?
Here is a list of medical sites created by from Exposing Deceptive Defense Doctors by Dorothy Sims as posted here. *www.nlm.nih.gov/ This is the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health, with a great search site. * www.guidelines.gov/ This is an extremely useful website. It has hundreds of protocols…
Georgia Supreme Court Reverses Med Mal Verdict Because of Error in Jury Instructions
Georgia has a pattern jury instruction called the "hindsight" instruction. It provides as follows: In a medical malpractice action, a defendant cannot be found negligent on the basis of an assessment of a patient’s condition that only later, in hindsight, proves to be incorrect as long as the initial assessment…
GM Allowed to Escape Responsibility to Victims in Pending Tort Cases
Here is a copy of the court order in the GM bankruptcy that makes tort victims stand in line with other general creditors of the company. The discussion of successor liability issues begins on Page 50. Here is key language from Page 60 and 61: This Court fully…