The House of Representatives is trying to limit the right of tort victims again. This time, the effort is to give even greater power to holders of ERISA subrogation interests. The House has passed a pension bill (H.R. 2830) that included this language: “(a) In General- Section 502(a) of the…
When we think of “tort reform” we usually think of insurance and corporate lobbyists trying to convince legislators to limit the ability of people to sue wrongdoers for personal injuries or wrongful death. But the fight is much broader than that, as evidenced by this press release from the National…
People with injury claims against Guidant are learning more and more about how the company did business – and the news for Guidant is not good. This article reveals that a former employee is talking and says that the company set “unrealistic” goals for production of pacemakers and defibrillators.
When a employee is working on the property of another and is injured there is always a fight over whether the employee can sue the property owner who hired the injured person’s employer to perform the work. Here is a case out of California that the issue this way: “when,…
“An appeal is frivolous when it “has no reasonable chance of success,” Davis v. Gulf Ins. Group, 546 S.W.2d 583, 586 (Tenn. 1977), or is “so utterly devoid of merit as to justify imposition of a penalty,” Combustion Eng’g, Inc. v. Kennedy, 562 S.W.2d 202, 205 (Tenn. 1978).” I see…
Here is a good reason never to refer to someone by a nickname in private unless you would feel comfortable calling him that name to his face.
The Vioxx litigation is heating up in a public way again. There is a trial in state court in Texas involving the death of a 71 year old man – he allegedly took 25 mg of Vioxx daily for seven days sometime in the last 30 days before he had…
I have two depositions today and need a little more time to prepare No post today. I would point out, however, that the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Mid-Winter Convention has a good line-up of speakers and topics this year. The seminar is February 1 in Nashville. See a brochure here.
You should. Or should do something like it. When you produce documents to an opponent it is nice to be able to demonstrate which documents you turned over. “In response to RFP #4 Plaintiff produces documents 0023 – 0045.” By marking each document (or photograph) with a unique number you…
I wrote last week that the Tennessee Supreme Court approved certain changes to the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure (and other rules of procedure). What I did not address is the proposed rule change that was not adopted by the Court. That is the proposed change to Rule 8.01, which…