Last night at about 10:45 EDT I had to occasion to start counting blessings. My advancing age means I do this more and more, and it also causes me to realize that I should have counted those blessings more frequently in years past . I will tell you what gave rise to the time for reflection in…
On September 28, 2008 FRE 502 become applicable in federal court. The rule provides that under certain circumstances the disclosure of attorney-client material and work product material does not constitute a waiver. Read the full rule here. Federal Evidence Review is a great resource for infromation about this rule. Click…
Last Monday I referred to the Palsgraf opinion and took the opportunity to re-read it. I suggest you do the same. The dispute between Justice Cardozo and Justice Andrews lives on. Read this and tell me who could have written the exact same words almost 100 years later: The proposition…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled that federal law applies to determination what sanctions should be available for relief of spoiled evidence in federal question cases. The en banc decision reversed precedent and brought the circuit in line with other appellate courts. An excerpt: …
SVMIC, the medical malpractice insurer owned by doctors for doctors, has published information about a seminar it offered to its insureds addressing the issue of surgical checklists. This is how SVMIC describes the seminar it called "“Applied Aviation Safety Practices for Surgeons and Anesthesiologists:” The basic premise of these seminars was…
Every month I let you know that a new edition of our newsletter – Trial Law Report – Tennessee Tort Law Edition – is in the mail to our subscribers. This month, we are making a free copy available for downloading by each of you, the loyal readers of this blog. (The…
"Yeah, the facts demonstrate a Shoney’s buffet of negligence, but there is no proof that any of that negligence caused any harm. So what?" This case out of Illinois is a classic example. Russell was found severely injured at the bottom of some steps. When found he said "I fell over…
Westlaw charges you for looking at the language of a public act after it has been codified. The Tennessee Secretary of State has the language of the public act for free at this site. The site includes public acts back to 1997.
I write a quarterly column on tort law for the Tennessee Bar Journal. The column for the May edition of the publication discusses Tennessee’s recreational use statute, Tenn. Code Ann. §70-7-101 et seq, An excerpt: The Tennessee Supreme Court has interpreted the recreational use statute as one that gives rise to…
CNA has issued a white paper titled "Slip and Fall Control Techniques for Commercial Real Estate Owners." The report indicates that more than one million people are injured each year in slip or trip and fall incidents and 16,000 people die from falls. CNA adds this: With the aging baby boomer generation,…