State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company’s Winter 2008-09 quarterly newsletter, Risk Points, has an interesting article discussing the diagnosis of appendicitis. This illness occurs in 250,000 people in the United States every year, and the mortality rate increases 500% if the appendix ruptures. A sample from the article: "Thus clinicians should focus on…
It is not uncommon for wrecks involving tractor-trailer rigs to result in serious injury and death. It is also not uncommon for there to be inadequate insurance coverage or other assets to make whole the victims of the trucker’s negligent acts. Thus, it is not uncommon for lawyers who represent…
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported that automobile accidents for the first 10 months of 2008 are down significantly when compared with the same period in 2007. Fatalities are down 10% to a total of 31,110 deaths in the first 10 months in the year. If these numbers…
CNN reports that Roberto Alomar has been sued in New York by his ex-girlfriend, who alleges that he exposed her to the HIV virus by engaging in unprotected sex with her while he was suffering from HIV/AIDS. She has tested negative for the disease. Here is a copy of the…
From time to time I will see a question posted on the trial lawyers’ listserve asking whether Medicare has a subrogation interest in wrongful death proceeds. The answer is "yes," and this opinion helps explain why. Tennessee wrongful death law permits the recovery of medical expenses incurred between the injury…
Today’s USA TODAY includes an interesting article titled "How much ‘truth’ is too much?" written by Rod Dreher. The article addresses the impact of the Roman Catholic Church’s sex abuse sandal on the life of the author, who investigated and wrote about it. Readers who know me know that our firm filed…
Here is Part 2 of Evan Shaeffer’s post called "15 Ways to Ruin a Deposition." Evan writes "The Trial Practice Tips Weblog" and "The Legal Underground." Here is Part 1.
The Tennessee Medical Malpractice Reporting Act found at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 56-54-101, et seq. went into effect on January 1, 2009 and replaced statutes regarding similar previous reporting requirements. Bold the old and new statute require that lawyers report all medical malpractice settlements and judgments obtained in calender year 2008. The…
Jeffrey surreptitiously installed video equipment in the bedroom of the marital home (where Jeffrey may or may not have been living, depending on whom one believed), including a motion sensing optical eye in the headboard of the bed and a camera concealed in an alarm clock. His wife Cathy learned…
Evan Schaeffer at The Trial Practice Tips Weblog has started a three-part series titled "15 Ways to Ruin a Deposition." Here is his first post on the subject. The first tip? Deposing someone who doesn’t need to be deposed at all.