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…
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…
Cardinal Mahoney from LA. You read the story from the LA Times and decide for yourself. An excerpt: "In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before Ratzinger became pope in April 2005, Mahony said [Father] Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal. The tape was…
Tony Snow has a different opinion about the use of the "executive privilege" defense today than he did almost a decade ago. Here is a sample from the folks at The Swamp: ""Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the…
I am pleased to report that this blog received its 500th comment the other day. We are approaching 1000 posts, a milestone that will be reached in June. This blog began in February 2005. I truly enjoy writing it and wish I had even more time to devote to it. …
There have been two bills introduced by Senator Spector that, if passed and signed into law, would be good for those of us who do contingent fee work and for the clients who hire us. S. 813 provides as follows: (a) In General- Section 162 of the Internal Revenue Code of…
The Truck Safety Coalition has released data showing the number of fatal truck crashes by state. Tennessee had 156 fatal crashes in 2005 and 717 in the five-year period from 2001-2005. By comparison, Alabama had 122 fatal crashes in 2005 (706 in five-years), Kentucky had 124 (596), Arkansas had 116…
Here is an interesting article about the admissibility of the testimony of a forensic economist. The article is written to give guidance to defense counsel about how to exclude such testimony.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has issued an opinion in Bennett v. Trevacca Nazarene University. The summary: "We accepted this appeal of a premises liability case to determine whether the “independent contractor rule” adopted in Blair v. Campbell, 924 S.W.2d 75 (Tenn. 1996), relieves a premises owner from liability when a premises…
Larry’s recent column on the med mal issue. Update: link repaired.