The doctors have been claiming that there are shortages in the numbers of physicians and that the shortage is due to laws which hold doctors accountable for negligence that causes harm to patients. (You know, just as if they were truck drivers or other real people.) Well, yesterday’s Los Angeles…
“Are we negotiating or are we telling the truth?” That’s a quote from a defense lawyer friend of mine made while we were trying to resolve a medical malpractice case. I have used it many times over the years. The American Bar Association has issued a Formal Ethics Opinion recognizing…
It is going to be a busy week at Branham & Day. John Branham and Brandon Bass are trying a two-day personal injury case starting Monday morning in Gallatin. I start (what hopefully will be only) a three-day arbitration in a commercial case Tuesday – we have eleven notebooks of…
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that a products liability claim against a catheter manufacturer are preempted. More specifically, the Court held that “tort claims that allege liability as to a PMA-approved medical device, notwithstanding that device’s adherence to the standards upon which it obtained premarket…
The number of products liability lawsuits filed in federal courts is declining. According to an article posted at www.insurancejournal.com, the number of federal products liability lawsuits declined by 14% last year and are on pace to decline 16% this year. Read the article here. The study itself may be found…
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that executors of an estate can sue the decedent’s attorney for malpractice for negligently providing estate planning advice. In Belt v. Openheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate, Inc., No. 04-0681 (May 5, 2005), the executors claimed that poor estate planning cost the estate $1.5M that…
Senators Clinton and Obama have written an article about the need for patient safety for the New England Journal of Medicine. The opening paragraph: “We have visited doctors and hospitals throughout the country and heard firsthand from those who face ever-escalating insurance costs. Indeed, in some specialties, high premiums are…
The male plaintiff said that he slipped, fell, and sustained various injuries on the sidewalk outside of his apartment early one morning. He and his wife brought suit. Defendant found a medical record (from a provider not listed in answers to interrogatories by the plaintiffs) that indicated that plaintiff was…
Lay and Skilling have been found guilty of multiple crimes that contributed to the fall of Enron and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of shareholder value. How much time should these men spend in prison? I know little about the federal sentencing guidelines. But I think back…
I love to ride a jet ski. In fact, I have had a Yahama Waverunner since 1999 and my beautiful wife just bought me the Mac- Daddy Seadoo (which will go 80 MPH and will rock your world). So it was with more than my usual “I-love-torts-so-I-will-read-dang-near-court-opinion-on-the-subject” attitude that I…