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Day on Torts

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HCLA Standard of Care Expert Competent to Testify.

Where plaintiff’s medical malpractice expert was a registered nurse with extensive experience in wound care, the fact that the expert had not practiced in a hospital went “to the weight of her testimony, not to whether she [was] competent.” (internal citation omitted). The trial court’s ruling excluding her as an…

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Defendant physician cannot be compelled to give expert opinion of other healthcare provider’s care.

In a recent HCLA case, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that “a defendant healthcare provider cannot be compelled to provide expert opinion testimony about another defendant provider’s standard of care or deviation from that standard.” In Borngne ex rel. Hyter v. Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority, — S.W.3d —, No. E2020-00158-SC-R11-CV…

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Biomechanical Expert’s Testimony on Medical Causation Rejected

What is the permitted scope of testimony of a biomechanical expert in a car crash case?  The Kentucky Supreme Court has given some guidance on the issue. In Renot v. Secura Supreme Ins. Co., 2021-SC-0281-DG (Ky. June 15, 2023), plaintiff claimed injuries in a motor vehicle collision.  The defendant driver settled…

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Pre-Impact Terror in Plane Crash Litigation

A federal judge in Chicago has agreed to allow a jury to consider whether airplane crash victims experience preimpact terror before their deaths. Faced with no Illinois law directly on point, the federal court determined that the reasoning in  Haley v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 746 F.2d 311, 314-15…

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Amended Complaint Removed Defendants From Suit.

Where plaintiff originally filed a health care liability suit under the GTLA against multiple defendants, but before any responsive pleading was filed plaintiff filed an amended complaint naming only the physician as a defendant, a subsequent notice and order of voluntary dismissal entered as to the defendants not named in…

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Psychologist selected by mother pursuant to court order immune from later HCLA suit.

Court appointed psychologists enjoy immunity in Tennessee. Where a juvenile court ordered that a mother select a new psychologist to replace the existing one in a custody case, the psychologist selected by the mother was entitled to summary judgment based on immunity in a later suit brought by the father…

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Stats About Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases and Verdicts in Dyer County, Tennessee

Information is now available on the number of personal injury and wrongful death trials and jury verdicts in Dyer County, Tennessee (county seat:  Dyersburg) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. There were 64 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in closed in Dyer  County (not including health…

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City ordinance violation does not extend Tennessee’s typical one-year personal injury statute of limitations.

Ordinarily and subject to several important exceptions, the statute of limitations in Tennessee personal injury cases is one year.    One exception to that rule is Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a(2), which addresses situations where the civil defendant faced criminal charges as a result of a incident giving rise to…

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