Ok, for decades I made fun of the fools who dove into a lake on New Year’s Day. Yesterday I did it. My wife Joy and I joined 20+ other folks at Tims Ford Lake in Winchester, Tennessee for the Third Annual Polar Bear Plunge. I now am the proud…
President Bush admitted today that he authorized the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency to listen to telephone calls to and from restaurants that serve pizza. “We must keep our nation free from future terrorist attacks,” argued the President, “and we have irrefutable evidence that two of the…
The New England Journal of Medicine is hardly a tool of the plaintiffs’ bar. So when the Journal criticizes the lack of complete disclosures in reports concerning clinical trials people should stand up and take notice. The editor of the Journal says that some companies “are meeting the letter but…
Isn’t that what you have always heard? Read what can happen when a hospital doesn’t properly sterilize instruments after a procedure on a brain.
Plaintiff settled a case with the hospital concerning care given by the nurses and proceeded to trial against the doctor. Over the plaintiff’s objection, the judge gave this instruction to the jury: “Every physician using ordinary care has the right to assume, until the contrary is or reasonably should be…
Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has a unique writing style. Here is an excerpt of a recent opinion where he addresses the issue of stare decisis; the excerpt gives those unfamiliar with his work a feel for how the man writes (and thinks): “The plaintiffs’ lawyer…
I am honored to report that our firm’s blogs have been awarded the “Law Firm Blogs Award” by Blawg Review. The award recognizes the efforts we have made coordinating our four blogs over the last year. Our other blogs are Tennessee Business Litigation Blog, Medical Malpractice Blog, and Erisaontheweb, a…
A new opinion by the Western Section Court of Appeals in a personal injury case has me scratching my head. The male plaintiff King was hurt in a car wreck. He claimed damages for loss of earning capacity. He was self-employed in the limestone business and his earnings history in…
Today’s Washington Post has this article about another study of the medical malpractice insurance industry. The study shows that insurer’s overestimated their losses from 1986 until 1994 by almost 50%. Insurance companies are permitted to estimate losses today on claims that will be paid in the future. This study shows…
Did you know that court costs are changing in Tennessee effective 1/1/2006? Historically, plaintiffs paid a relatively small filing fee at the beginning of a case and then additional charges accumulated based on the number of pages that were filed. Beginning the first of the year, charges will be made…