The death of Natalee Holloway is a tragedy in every sense of the word. It is a tragedy compounded by screaming skulls (as opposed to talking heads) like Nancy Grace, a pseudo-journalist who has successfully managed to purge any gray matter she might have of anything she was supposed to…
The news from the New Jersey Vioxx trials.
The Supreme Court denied cert in a cigarette case yesterday, letting a $50,000,000 punitive damages award stand against Phillip Morris. The compensatory damages in the case were $5,500,000. This will be an encouragement to the plaintiff in the Oregon tobacco case; recall that the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed a $79.5…
The plaintiffs are wrapping up their case in New Jersey. Here is a report of the events of last Friday.
Yesterday I wrote about Carpenter v. Klepper and its discussion about the locality rule. The last third of that opinion is worth reading, too – it addresses the level of specificity required when seeking discretionary costs under Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 54.04(2). Read it for some insight on how…
The locality rule in medical malpractice cases is absolutely ridiculous. It is designed to create an artifical barrier to recovery, to protect doctors and hospitals, particularly those in rural areas, from malpractice suits. It pretends that there is a difference in the standard of care given the size of the…
The “smoking gun” document does not do you any good unless you can find a way to get it introduced in to evidence. You have to determine what foundation must be established to introduce the document into evidence, call the witness or witnesses necessary to establish that foundation, and be…
Here is the latest on the Vioxx trial – with two plaintiffs – currently underway in New Jersey. Recall that this is the case where each plaintiff claims more than 18 months of use of the drug, a critical factor in the minds of all concerned.
Back in 1975 the Tennessee Legislature determined that the only health care providers who could testify against a Tennessee health care provider in a malpractice case where experts from contigious states. This is an assine rule – but it is still the law. You can avoid the contigious state rule…
As I mentioned Sunday, I went to Atlanta Sunday night, locked myself in a hotel room, and spent all day Monday and several hours early Tuesday morning preparing for an argument in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, I am very behind in my work and need…