Day on Torts

I have been in Destin the last few days.  KATA and TTLA had a joint seminar at the Hilton.  I spoke Tuesday morning, had dinner with friends last night, and came back today. Back to work!

Plaintiff settled his sexual harassment and retaliation  lawsuit against defendants and this provision was included in the settlement agreement:  "The parties agree that the terms of this settlement shall be held confidential and that no disclosure of the terms of the settlement, other than the fact of the settlement itself, shall…

Slate has published this article about Monica Goodling and the Regent University School of Law.  Did you know that "[u]nder Ashcroft, career lawyers were systematically fired or forced out and replaced by members of conservative or Christian groups or folks with no civil rights experience. In the five years after…

It is getting worse. Healthgrades reports that the number of errors in our nation’s hospitals rose 3% over the years 2002 – 2005.  From the press release: The HealthGrades study of 40.56 million Medicare hospitalization records over the years 2003 to 2005 … found: • Patient-safety incidents continue to rise in…

The Beasley Allen law firm summarized a report on the number of civil jury trials in Alabama.  Here is my summary of their summary concerning civil jury trials in 2006: Motor Vehicle Negligence Cases:  126 trials    Verdict for plaintiff – 59 Products Liability Cases:  6 trials         Verdict for plaintiff –…

Poor Comcast.  With its blood-sucking monopoly threatened by pending legislation it (a) decides to lower prices; (b) promise that all future employees will have no less than a room temperature IQ; or (c) have technical problems and not broadcast the Lady Vols National Championship basketball game in Williamson County? It…

What causes truck wrecks?  According to Ron Miller, a trial lawyer in Maryland, the Federal Motor Carry Safety Administration’s 2006 report shows  there are approximately 141,000 truck crashes every year. In 77,000 of these truck accidents – more than half – fault was attributed to the truck driver. Ron’s post at…

Amercicans for Insurance Reform have released a report that demonstrates that the "insurance crisis that hit doctors between 2001 and 2004 was not caused by claims, payouts or legal system excesses as the insurance industry claimed." Rather, this report concludes as follows:  "Inflation-adjusted payouts per doctor not only failed to…

In Lane v. Atchison Heritage Conference Center, Inc., No. 94634 (March 16, 2007),  the Kansas Supreme Court held that "mmunity from liability under the recreational use exception to the [Kansas Tort Claims Act] does not depend upon the "primary use" of the property but rather depends on the character of…

The penalty for violating the rules of cross-examination and closing:  reversal. Here is how the Court described the violation: "the cross-examination of [defense expert] Dr. Ramirez went beyond permissible grounds on the issue of bias and amounted to a prohibited attack on Dr. Ramirez’s character when plaintiff’s counsel repeatedly argued…