The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled on whether expert witness fees may be taxed as costs in federal court. FRCP 54(d) permits a successful party to recover costs in federal court and 28 U.S.C. 1920 permits the recovery of "fees and disbursements for printing and witnesses." The amount recoverable…
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has held that a boyfriend riding a motorcycle could not bring an emotional distress claim against another driver for injuries caused as a result witnessing the death of his passenger (who was also his girlfriend). The issue was "did the trial court err in determining…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a verdict in a case where a bus driver was attacked by a knife-wielding passenger, resulting a bus crash that resulted in several injuries and the death of the bus driver. A trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff passenger. First,…
The Economic Policy Institute has a different take on the impact of "tort reform" on the economy. An excerpt: The legal system for adjudicating tort claims in the United States delivers important bene?ts to the American people. Most notably, these benefits include the compensation of injured persons (including people harmed…
It takes a tremendous amount of time and money to screen medical malpractice cases. Our office reviews over 700 cases per year and rejects over 95 percent of them over the phone. Of the remaining 5 percent most are rejected after review of the medical records and, if appropriate, consultation…
Here is an interesting post from the Virginia Injury Laywer Blog offering an opinion on how to get good settlements in personal injury cases. Permit me to comment on a couple: "1. Don’t just dabble in personal-injury cases; the insurance defense lawyer is too good for that, and he will…
We all know that Batson v. Kentucky applies in civil cases. But a new decision released yesterday from the Tennessee Supreme Court – Zakour v. UT Medical Group – actually discusses how judges and lawyers should apply Batson in real life. This is the meat of the opinion: In this case, the…
Well, as you probably have heard, a woman who participated in a "Hold your wee for a Wii" contest died of water intoxication. According to the Sacramento Bee, "the contestants were given two minutes to drink an 8 ounce bottles of water every ten minutes. The winner was the last…
In a recent post I set out in their entirety the comments of a doctor who told us of the fear he has testifying on behalf of plaintiffs in medical negligence cases. He has written back – and here it is: NOTE: there are a bunch of unusal characters…
Most of us know judges who from time to time have disagreements with their colleagues and know other judges who simply don’t like a judge they have to work with every day. There is nothing unusual about this – judges are people and it is unrealistic for anyone to expect that the…