The lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis, a major law firm with its home office in Chicago, had a real bad day recently after its client got hammered with sanctions. Financier Ron Perelman has sued Morgan Stanley for fraud, alleging that it helped appliance maker Sunbeam Corp. conceal accounting woes tht…
Here is a recent law review article that summarizes the state of the law of sanctions in cases involving electronic discovery. The article, entitled “Electronic Discovery Sanctions in the Twenty-First Century,” is authored by a federal court judge and a law clerk.
The Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota has held that a physician has an affirmative duty to inform a child’s biological parents about the risks posed by their child’s genetic problem. The plaintiff’s child was born with an inheritable form of mental retardation known as “Fragile X.” The parents…
Would you think that a doctor who has had 33 medical malpractice payouts in the last decaded would still be practicing medicine? Dr. Michael Sachs in Manhattan is. His record became news after a 42 year old mother died after a nose job performed in his office. The cause of…
Those of you who do any products liability, medical negligence, or commerical litigation know that e-discovery is a hot topic. More and more discoverable data never makes its way to a piece of paper, so a RFP seeking only paper documents will not get you what you hoped to get…
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the mother of a stillborn infant may seek damages for wrongful death and for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The child died as a result of conceded medical malpractice. The misdiagnosis took place several hours before the child died in utero. The mother…
The Insurance Commissioner from the State of Washington has issued a report that examines whether or not there is a medical malpractice insurance crisis in the state. Rather than relying on simple statements from doctors and their insurers the Insurance Commissioner did a closed claim study covering about 90% of…
Coln v. City of Savannah, 966 S.W.2d 34 (Tenn. 1998), is a must-know for anyone handling a slip and fall or trip and fall case in Tennessee. Indeed, it is important reading for anyone handling any type of premises liability case in this state. It is the first Tennessee Supreme…
Can a judge stop a lawyer from arguing the value of pain and suffering to a jury? No. T.C.A. Sec. 20-9-304 gives a lawyer in a personal injury case the right to argue the worth or monetary value of pain and suffering. The argument must conform to the evidence or…
An article in the Washington Post demonstrates an amazing ability of Sen. Bill Frist: the skill to make a medical diagnosis from a videotape. This may surprise some of you who do medical negligence work or address a lot of medical issues in your practice. As lawyers we are all…