Day on Torts

Here is the latest on the New Jersey Vioxx trial. My guess is that we will have a verdict next week.

Georgia passed a tort “deform” statute last year. One part of the legislation required a plaintiff to pay a defendant’s attorneys’ fees if the plaintiff did not obtain a judgment of at 25% higher than a defendant’s last offer of judgment. A trial judge has struck down that provision, saying…

It had to happen sooner or later. Neil allegedly died from medical negligence in New York. His partner, John, filed a wrongful death suit, alleging and proving that he and Neil had participated in a civil union in Vermont several years earlier and insisting that he could maintain a medical…

The Tennessee Supreme Court has just reversed a summary judgment because there was not an appropriate record to permit the Court to determine if summary judgment was appropriate. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the appellee without indicating its reasoning for doing so. The appellee’s motion for…

The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear a case involving a class action certified by a Oklahoma judge involving 420,000 GM vehicles. The lawsuit alleges that the vehicles are equipped with airbags that deploy unnecessarily. The problem is a software glich, later corrected by GM on other vehicles.

Senator Frist’s blind trust is a story that will not die – and now more information is coming forward. Read the latest from the Miami Hearld and the AP.

Where’s the beef? Rep. Rob Briley lead an effort to make medical malpractice insurers and health care providers to reveal to the State of Tennessee what their claims experience was. Malpractice insurers and health care providers fought this type of disclosure for almost two decades and, given what was disclosed,…

You may remember that the Florida voters passed a cap on attorneys’ fees in medical malpractice cases. The constitutional amendment was pushed by Florida’s doctors. Fees are capped at 30% for the first $250,000 and 10% on any amount over $250,000. Lawyers representing patients began asking them if they wanted…

Rueters reports that “in a review of patient specimens, errors in cancer diagnosis were seen in up to 11.8 percent of cases, according to a report in the medical journal Cancer. Moreover, in a substantial proportion of cases, the error caused some degree of harm for the patient.” The article…

Bryant Flury alleged that he was injured when his air bag failed to open. He brought suit against the manufacturer of the truck he was driving at the time of the one vehicle accident. He won a $250,000 jury verdict. The manufacturer appealed on several grounds, including that the subject…