The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released the "2006 Tennessee Medical Malpractice Claims Report"" which, in fact, is based on 2005 data. Read the entire report here. Some highlights: * There were 5 – that’s right – 5 – claims were resolved by judgment for the plaintiff in…
I am pleased to announce that I have been elected to membership in the American Law Institute. The ALI is the organization that creates the Restatements of the various areas of the law and participated in the creation of the Uniform Commerical Code, the Model Penal Code, and numerous other…
Judge Young from Blount County, who enjoys a good reputation and whom I have always found to be quite pleasant, has popped a plaintiff with over $1,000,000 in sactions for "scorched earth" litigation tactics. According to Knoxnews.com, Judge Young wrote that "[t]he summary judgment record shows that [plaintiff]O’Boyle did not…
Read the story here in the Chicago Tribune.
I have reported on a number of spoliation cases in this blog recently, but this is the first on against an attorney. Plaintiff argued that Plaintiff’s counsel had failed to inspect or secure evidence in the possession of the plaintiff’s decedent’s employer in the underlying products liability action. Plaintiff also filed…
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled that a minor can sue to recover medical expenses paid to treat injuries received by the minor as a result of the negligence of another. Although most of us (at least those of us who represent plaintiffs) have thought this was probably the…
Almost everyone knows that Millberg, Weiss, at one time the country’s leading class action law firm, has been indicted. The allegation is that the firm paid plaintiffs be serve as class representatives. I have followed the story for several years but this article in Fortune (and posted on money.cnn.com) caught my…
Chris Nearn correctly pointed out that my post Saturday had incorrect dates for programs in Memphis and Nashville. I don’t know how I messed that up. Thanks Chris. Here is a corrected post. Thursday and Friday I was in Chattanooga for the first Justice Programs seminar of the year. We…
The Georgia Supreme Court was confronted with this question: "In what circumstances, if any, is evidence of a nurse’s failure to pass a licensing examination admissible in a medical malpractice action against the employing physician?" Plaintiffs’ son Luke was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis resulting in brain damage and quadriplegia. Plaintiffs claimed…
The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an opinion yesterday in the Abbott v. Blount County, Tennessee case. In an opinion by now retired Justice Al Birch, the Court made it crystal clear that an insurance company could not require a plaintiff to get approval of plaintiff’s health insurance company before settling a personal…