An Understanding of the Human Condition and What It Takes to Motivate Jurors to Action You can’t try jury cases if you don’t understand how people think. I am not talking about how the way other members of the club think. Nor am I talking about the thought processes or values of the people you see…
The Tennessee Supreme Court issued its first two tort law opinions of the year yesterday, both dealing with the same subject: the potential liability of a hospital for the acts of a non-employed,, hospital-based physician. The Court said that "to hold a hospital vicariously liable for the negligent or wrongful acts…
The Speaker of the House signed a bill yesterday that makes it more difficult for patients to bring medical malpractice actions. The Senate Speaker signed the legislation last week and therefore the bill is on its way to the Governor. The legislation requires that a patient give at least 60…
A Healthy Respect for the Judicial System Great trial lawyers have a healthy respect for the judicial system and, if they are jury trial lawyers, for the right to trial by jury and the jury system. They demonstrate that respect in the way they speak and act around lawyers and…
The Chamber of Commerce does an annual ranking of the "lawsuit climate" in the fifty states. The winning state – Deleware – has the most pro-business climate. The losing state – West Virginia – has the most anti-business climate. How are the rankings determined? By a "sample of in-house general counsel…
A Passion for the Work It is hard to be a great trial lawyer if you don’t like what you do. Most people can quickly determine whether a lawyer – or the cashier at McDonald’s – has a passion for the job. You can see that passion in the face…
Indiana is not known as a particularly progressive state when it comes to tort law (or anything else for that matter). But not even Indiana could deny a plaintiff the use of the res ipsa doctrine when the plaintiff caught on fire during surgery. You read that right. The plaintiff…
Vehicle rollovers result in a significant number of fatalities every year, and there has been a vigorous debate about the roll that roof strength plays in those deaths. Now, a new study from the Insurance Institute for HIghtway Safety reveals that stronger roofs would save lives. The study concludes as…
The ability and willingness to undertake (and share with the client) a cost-benefit analyis throughout the litigation. Things change in litigation. For example, as mentioned in a least one previous post in this series, almost every deposition changes the value of a case. But there are many other things that impact the…
One of my favorite publications, Lawyers USA, has an interesing article about a new test which allegedly determines whether a personal injury plaintiff is malingering. It is called the "Fake Bad Scale." The article says that "[a] leading critic of the test, Dr. James Butcher, PhD, a senior author of…