The Tennessee Supreme Court has released its opinion in Health Cost Controls, Inc. v. Gifford, No. W2005-01381-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. S. Ct. Oct. 17, 2007). If the style of this case sounds you familiar you are not losing your mind – this case was before the Supreme Court on the made-whole four…
I know you remember the Feres doctrine. The Feres doctrine comes from the decision in Feres v. United States, 71 S.Ct. 153 (1950) and provides that soldiers cannot sue the government for injuries that they incur as part of their military service. Not surprisingly, the doctrine has been asserted by government…
Negligence without causation is like a biscuit without country ham (or blackberry jam). Now, I’m not so sure that juries pay as much attention to the concept as lawyers and judges, but causation is an element of every cause of action in the tort world. This decision out of Michigan…
Did you know that there is a cause of action for malicious harrassment in Tennessee? The malicious harassment statute, Tennessee Code Annotated, section 4-21-701, provides: "(a) There is hereby created a civil cause of action for malicious harassment. (b) A person may be liable to the victim of malicious harassment…
Penny White, Joe Riley and I are on the road again with our 4th annual 15-hour seminar program. Here is our schedule for each seminar: First Day 8:00 – 8:30 Registration 8:30 – 10:15 Tort Law / Comparative Fault 10:15 – 10:30 Break 10:30 – 11:30 Dealing with Difficult Judges…
To what extent are we our brother’s keeper? That is a constant question posed in cutting edge tort cases, and this case in Illinois is no exception. Iseberg sued his two partners because they failed to warn him that a fourth partner, Slavin, had made threats against Iseberg’s life. Iseberg…
I am at a meeting of the Members Consultative Group of the Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm sponsored by the American Law Institute. The meeting is being held in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas Law School. We are discussing "Duty of…
Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers 2008 is at the printer. The printing date is October 18 and the books should be delivered to Brentwood on October 23, 2007. You may recall that the book will be updated during the year via a website called "dayontortsbook.com." I have seen…
Yesterday afternoon I attended the funeral of Judge Bill Cain of Columbia. Judge Cain served on the Court of Appeals and had served as a trial judge. He was a lawyer who loved the law and loved to discuss the subject. He prided himself on his ability to dive into the…
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to decide "whether federal law pre-empts the product liability claims that diabetes patients filed in Michigan state court against pharmaceutical company Warner-Lambert & Co." Read more here.