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 –…
Day on Torts
Comcast
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…
Causes of Truck Accidents in Tennessee
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…
More Data on Rising Insurance Rates for Doctors
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…
A “Recreational Use” Statute Decision out of Kansas
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 Rules of Cross and Argument
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…
More Med Mal Facts
Pardon me, but I have always been a fan of facts. Opinions are like … noses, everybody has one. The Kaiser Family Foundation has analyzed paid claims data and discovered that in 2005 Tennessee had 10.1 paid med mal claims per 1000 active, non-federal physicians. Total paid claims were 156. …
Economic Loss Doctrine
The highest court in Maryland has ruled that the economic loss doctrine did not bar a lawsuit against General Motors alleging that their front seats were unsafe because they collapsed rearward in rear-impact collisions. The claimants sought recovery of the cost of repairing the seats. A quick summary of the…
Another Story Out of the Justice Department
Watch this story from the Washington Post increase the heat on the Justice Department, folks. There will be hearings on this, without a doubt. A sample: "The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered…
Arkansas Strikes Down Part of Certificate of Merit Legislation
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down that portion of legislation requiring a plaintiff in medical negligence cases to file affidavits of merit in medical malpractice cases within 30 days of filing the complaint or face dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint. The Court ruled that the statute imposed a requirement for commencement…