Here are links to two interesting blog posts by Stewart Weltman in his "Lean and Mean Litigation Blog" on the subject of formulating a discovery plan before taking depositions. The knee-jerk response is depose everyone, but as this author makes crystal clear that is not always the smart thing to do.…
The Insurance Institute for HIghway Safety has announced its TOP SAFETY PICKS for 2009. The picks " recognize[ ] vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also have to have electronic stability control (ESC),…
A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about use of PDF Portfolios to organize documents. The source for that post has recently given us access to an eseminar that he did on creating electronic closing binders using PDF technology – either PDF Binder or PDF Portfolio. The differences between the two programs are…
It has been revealed that Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, host of NPR’s "Infinite Mind," earned at least $1.3M from drug makers. He received the payments for giving lectures. NPR says it did not know about the payments, Goodwin says it did, but clearly the show’s listeners did not. Did the…
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released the 2008 Medical Malpractice Claims Report. The report reveals data from medical malpractice cases settled and tried in Tennessee in calendar year 2007. The numbers: Total judgments for plaintiffs 2004 6 2005 5 2006 6 2007 7 Total settlements 2004 444 2005 461 2006 453 2007 492…
The Florida Supeme Court has relied on the Restatement (Second) of Torts to impose a duty on the manufacturer of anthrax "to avoid a an unauthorized intercepton and dissemination of the materials." The lawsuit arose out of the mailing of stolen anthrax some seven years ago that resulted in the…
Rule 37 of the TRCP makes exclusion of evidence the default sanction for failure to supplement. The trial judge can impose a lesser or greater sanction. In a recent case in Arkansas the Court of Appeals reversed a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff when the plaintiff failed to supplement…
Brandon Bass and I are pleased to announce that the inaugural edition of Tennessee Trial Law Report – Tort Law Edition has been printed and mailed to Tennessee lawyers who we know practice tort law. Brandon and I resigned from our position as editors of the Tennessee Tort Law Letter and launched…
The Tennessee Bar Association has been kind enough to republish my "What it Takes to be a Great Trial Lawyer" series as the cover story in the November edition of the Tennessee Bar Journal. Click here to read the article.
The Fall travel schedule begins again. Many of you know that five years ago former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, former Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley and I establsihed a seminar company called "Justice Programs." We offer a 15 hour CLE program each Fall that permits…