Ten days or so ago I included a post from Paul Luvera’s blog about the importance of using checklists for taking the deposition of an eye witness. Here is another post from Paul. This time he is sharing a checklist on information you should share with your client about the trial…
Day on Torts
New Trucking Regulations Means Increased Public Safety
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued an amend to its regulations to require interstate commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders subject to the physical qualification requirements of the agency’s regulations to provide a current original or copy of their medical examiner’s certificates to their State Driver Licensing Agency (SDLA). The new…
Medical Malpractice Reporting Statute
Many plaintiff’s lawyers from across the state received assessments from the Department of Commerce and Insurance for failure to report data concerning medical malpractice settlements and judgments received during the prior year. Many of the penalities approach $20,000 and, as one lawyer told me, the penality he has been assessed…
Tennessee Trial Law Report
Thank you to the hundreds of you who have said such kind words about our new newsletter, Tennessee Trial Law Report – Tort Law Edition. Brandon Bass and I have worked hard to put together a newsletter than will save you time and make you money. Our idea was to…
Luvera’s Sample Talking Points for Trial
Paul Luvera has offered-up a list of his talking points for trial, an example that can be applied to a myraid of cases. See them here.
The Case for a “Loser Pays” Rule
The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research has issued a report extolling the virtues of a "loser pays" rule. Here is an excerpt from the "Executive Summary:" This study explores the likely effects of adopting a "loser pays" rule for attorneys’ fees in the United States. Loser pays, sometimes called the "English…
Eye Witness Deposition Checklist
Paul Luvera’s blog includes this great checklist for taking the deposition of an eye witness. Paul makes the point that "lawyers must use a checklist for every deposition they take no matter how experienced there are. If seasoned airplane pilots use checklists, lawyers should too. It’s too easy to get…
Deciding Who To Depose
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.…
IIHS Announces TOP SAFETY PICKS
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),…
PDF Portfolio Webinar and Booklet
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…