"From 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S. Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion, according to the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study." So begins this article found on the MSN website. The article notes that (a)"of the…
The Courage to Tell The Client the Truth Many clients don’t want the truth. A number of them want re-assurance that they are "right," regardless of the reality of the situation. Others demand to know that, at the end of the day, they will prevail. And some will fire or lose…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has announced that it is going to hear oral argument in a very important case on Wednesday, May 7th, 11:00 a.m. in Knoxville. The case is Tennie Martin et al. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. et al. (Franks, author) (Susano, dissenting) – E2006-01021-SC-R11-CV. The issues are:…
The Ability to Organize Great trial lawyers spin plates. Lots of plates. (Those of you who do not remember "The Ed Sullivan Show" may not appreciate this metaphor. Learn about it here.) Law firm management requires time. Training of associates and others requires time. Bar associations require time. Families require…
The American Bar Association has released four additions to its "Civil Trial Standards." The new standards addresss these topics: Use of Tutorials to Assist the Court, Summary Exhibits and Witnesses, Organizing the Complex Case for Trial, and Judicial Involvement with Settlement. Some of the earlier standards (Juror Notebooks, Juror Questioning…
The Ability to Pull the Trigger Trial lawyers a required to make a large number of decisions. Some are minor (e.g. do I ask this interrogatory in this case?) and some are major (e.g. should I settle with one of multiple defendants in a case in which several liability applies?). Great…
Regular readers know that one web site I frequent is that of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel. Its "Hot Cases" section frequently has cases from other jurisdictions that I find interesting and its quarterly magazine has articles I enjoy reading. Here is an interesting article that discusses how to…
Tennessee ranks 12th of the 50 states on the U.S. Tort Liability Index. The list measures the tort climate from the standpoint of the business and insurance community, so a rank of "1" is a pro-business, pro-insurance company state and a rank of "50" is that dark, dreary place inhabited…
Did you know that there was a statute that permits you to use demonstrative aids during closing argument (and probably during opening statement as well)? Here is a statute for your trial notebook. T.C.A. Sec. 20-9-303 permits a lawyer "to use a blackboard, models or similar devices, also any picture,…
I have written on the subject of case selection on this blog in the past. Here is a link to an article on the subject that I had published recently in Trial magazine. (Available only to AAJ members). I gave a speech on this subject recently in Memphis and generally…