Plaintiff’s lawyers: do you want to have the hell scared out of you? Read this article by Rick Swedloff on Medicare subrogation entitled "Can’t Settle, Can’t Sue: How Congress Stole Tort Remedies From Medicare Beneficiaries." The article appears in Volume 41.2 of the Akron Law Review. [A 2003 amendment to…
There is a lot of talk about capping fees in medical malpractice cases. Fees are already capped, of course, at one-third of the recovery, but the health care industry wants further limitation on fees charged to plaintiffs in successful cases. Why? Because they’re not stupid. They understand that a lower fee…
Do you have a Sec. 1983 lawsuit for injuries to a bystander arising out of a police chase? Are you thinking about filing one? Are you defending one? If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes," I encourage you to read "When Innocent Parties Are Injured or Killed…
From time to time over the years there has been talk about imposing a sales tax on professional services. One cannot help but wonder whether there will be an effort to impose such a tax to help solve the budget problem facing our state government. Like all sales taxes, a…
Here is the text an December 20, 2008 article on the CBS News website about the efforts of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to take advantage of the opportunity created by the world’s financial problem to seek legal protection for wrongdoers. Thanks to Suzanne Keith at TAJ who forwarded it to…
Insurance companies know that they have little credibility in the fight over access to the courthouse. This is particularly true in the medical malpractice area, where the evidence in Tennessee demonstrates that (a) doctors and hospitals win over 96% of jury trials; (b) professional liability rates, adjusted for the medical inflation rate,…
The state’s law libraries are closing their doors to lawyers and other citizens. The Administrative Office of the Courts is cutting programs and staff. Appellate court law clerks are fearing the loss of their jobs. Tennessee budget problems are hitting the judiciary and it remains to be seen what impact…
According to the Tennessean. Tennessee nursing homes rank No. 48 (beating only Louisiana and Georgia), according to new survey information out from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Less than 7% of the nursing homes in Tennessee were rated above average. The paper reports that "[o]f the 40 nursing…
On March 24, 2006 I wrote about the death of my grandmother, Milda Heath, at the age of 97. Today is her 100th birthday. She was a wonderful grandmother, mother, teacher and citizen. I miss her.
Here is a summary of FRE 502 which came into effect on September 18, 2009. The rule – which addresses the attorney client privilege and work product doctrine – is intended to provide increased clarity in this confusing area of the law. The author explains that "[t]he rule establishes a…