Day on Torts

From the March 30, 2009 edition of Courtoons.

What is the standard to be applied when a judge faces a recusal motion?   The Tennessee Supreme Court answered that question yesterday in Bean v. Bailey, No. E2007-02540-SC-S10-CV  (Tenn. Mar. 26, 2009).  Here is the standard:  a recusal motion should be granted when “the judge has any doubt as to…

The Judicial Selection Commission and the Judicial Evaluation Commission are in a wind-up period after the General Assembly let them die last year.  (I serve on the later commission as an appointee of former Lt. Governor John S. Wilder.) Both commissions will die on June 30, 2009 unless the General Assembly takes…

Here is an interesting article from the ABA Section of Litigation on the issue of handling the difficult adversary lawyer.   We have all been there.  Here is a description of a type of lawyer each of us has seen: The Bully. Nearly all difficult adversaries exhibit bullying behavior. This lawyer…

Structured settlements were up 25% in the 4th quarter of 2008 (compared with the previous quarter), and totaled nearly $1.8 billion, according to this article in the National Law Journal.  The article relates the increase to the economic turmoil we have been experiencing. Perhaps.  But what were they in the…

I argued a medical malpractice case before the Tennessee Court of Appeals today.  Regular readers know that we prevailed in a med mal case in Maury County last year after a thirteen-day jury trial.  The case has been resolved as to all defendants but one, the ER doctor, and it…

Plaintiff talked to lawyer (later the defendant) about a potential car wreck case.  The lawyer allegedly gave the plaintiff wrong information about the statute of limitations applicable to the claim.  Plaintiff’s car wreck case was dismissed as time-barred. Plaintiff sued the lawyer for negligent misrepresentation.  Lawyer said that he never…

Keeping contemporaneous time records in cases where fee-shifting is allowed just makes sense.  Not keeping such records does not make sense.  And, if the allegations against one attorney are correct, a lack of candor about whether such records were kept can cause  a big, expensive mess. Result?  A forfeiture of a fee…

Paul Luvera has written an interesting post on neuro linguistic programming.  Those of you who have studied concepts such as mirroring and anchoring have explored some of the concepts that make up this field as applied to our craft. The Oxford  English Dictionary defines NLP as "a model of interpersonal communication…

It was four years ago today that I wrote about the ability of Senator Bill Frist to make a medical diagnosis via videotape.  Here is my follow-up post from June 16, 2005, written after the release of Ms. Schiavo’s autopsy. Did Dr. Frist’s videotape diagnosis cost him a shot at the…