The Tennessee Court of Appeals has held that the savings statute trumps the products liability statute of repose. In Maino v. The Southern Company, Inc., d/b/a The Southern Company, et al., W2007-00225-COA-R9-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. NOv. 19, 2007) the Western Section of the Court of Appeals held that a products…
Should a court ever determine, as a matter of law, that a plaintiff is fifty percent or more at fault? Should it ever do so when there is some evidence of fault of the defendant? Those questions will be explored by the Tennessee Supreme Court in the coming months. The…
Updates to A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers – 2008 have been posted on the book’s website. The updates are available in the "free updates" section of the site. To utilize this service, simply scroll down to the relevant chapter and section and click on it to see if there are…
Read this heart-warming article by a doctor from Memphis as published in the November 12, 2007 Commercial Appeal. Thanks to Lang Wiseman from Memphis for alerting me to the article.
An Illinois trial judge has declared that caps on certain medical malpractice cases imposed by the Illinois Legislature violate the rights of medical malpractice victims. Read more here.
An article in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at closed malpractice claims to see what caused the errors made by medical trainees. A summary of the findings: "Among 240 cases, errors in judgment (173 of 240 [72%]), teamwork breakdowns (167 of 240 [70%]), and lack of technical competence (139…
In Tennessee, the Supreme Court has an advisory commission that recommends changes in the rules of civil procedure, evidence and appellate procedure. Proposed changes are circulated for public comment and then the court sends them to the legislature for approval. The legislature can only vote the rule changes up or…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that an arbitration provision in a nursing home contract signed by a person who had a power of attorney to act on behalf of the resident is not void as against public policy. However, the court remanded the case to the trial court for…
Do you document substantive conversations with other lawyers? Once upon a time, it was unheard of to do so and some felt it was downright offensive. A lawyer can and should be trusted to stick by an understanding that is reached with another lawyer, the theory went, and to confirm…
My new book – Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers – was delivered yesterday (November 5). It was promised for last week, but there were apparently some difficulties in the shipping process. The project started about eight months ago and the book was delivered within ten days of…