Many of you know that former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, former Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley and I have a seminar company called "Justice Programs." We offer a 15 hour CLE program each Fall that permits attendees to meet all mandatory CLE obligations for the…
Tennessee permits a plaintiff to rely on the res ipsa loquitor doctrine in medical negligence cases when appropriate under the facts. For the most recent Tennessee case on the issue see Flowers v. H.C.A. Health Care Services of Tennessee, Inc., 2006 WL 627183 ((Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 14, 2006). But…
The age old question: should I try it or accept the offer the defense has made? This article in the New York Times reports on an article that will appear in the September edition of the Journal of Empiral Legal Studies on the subject on settling cases. The article will…
How does SVMIC evaluate claims? Here is what they tell their insureds.
In slip and fall cases in Tennessee, one must either prove that the defendant created the condition or knew or should have known about the condition. The latter may be proved by showing a pattern of conduct, a re-occurring incident, or a general or continuing condition indicating the dangerous condition’s existence. …
SVMIC’s position on how the new statute making it more difficult to sue physicians will impact what doctors pay for medical malpractice insurance: "Regarding the effect of this reform on your professional liability insurance, it will be difficult to quantify what, if any, rate changes are a direct result of the…
Ok – I know I have not been posting lately. I spent 8 days in Canada fishing and returned on Saturday night. I am now back to work and will be back on a normal blogging pattern this week. Thanks for coming back to the site.
The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled unconstitutional a state statute that imposed certain requirements on expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases. The statute required that experts be board certified in the same specialty as the defendant and mandated that the expert have practiced (or taught) that same specialty for…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has released the opinion in Flax. Stated briefly, the Court affirmed the dismissal of the NIED claim and re-instated the remitted punitive damages for the wrongful death claim. For the first time in my memory, the TSC released 4 opinions on the case. Get the links to…
Did you know that Tennessee has a specific statute addressing sex abuse claims against therapists? The "Therapist Sexual Misconduct Victims Compensation Act" is set forth in T.C.A. Sec. 29-26-201 et seq. A "therapist" is defined as "any person who performs therapy regardless of whether the person is licensed by the…