Where the Claims Commissioner’s ruling for defendant on a negligence suit did not include conclusions of law regarding both of plaintiffs’ theories, the order of dismissal was deemed deficient and was vacated by the Court of Appeals. In Kim v. State, No. W2018-00762-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 26, 2019),…
A nurse who worked in an administrative capacity in the year preceding an incident underlying an HCLA claim may not be qualified to give expert testimony in the case. A Rule 59.04 motion did not cure the deficiency in the initial affidavit. In Smith v. Methodist Hospitals of Memphis, No.…
Where plaintiff failed to present any proof that the stairs owned by defendant were defective, the trial court’s finding for defendant was affirmed. In James v. City of Dyersburg, No. W2018-00614-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 22, 2019), plaintiff filed a GTLA premises liability suit after falling on stairs outside of…
We have been reviewing data from the 2018 Tennessee Health Care Liability Claims Report, which reports data for claims closed in 2017 as well as other data. Some additional statistics of note: Health care facilities paid 46.44% (738) of all claims paid in 2017. Medical doctors were next at 28.5% (453)…
Yesterday’s post addressed the number of resolved health care liability (formerly medical malpractice) claims in Tennessee in 2017. Today we dive into the data a little deeper. Here are the monies paid for claims closed in 2017: Type of Injury Number Closed …
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released the 2018 Tennessee Health Care Liability Claims Report (“Report”). The 2018 Report was released in 2019 but contains data for 2017. The Report is required as a result of legislation passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2004. Some 1589 claims…
Before granting a motion to dismiss, a trial court should fully consider a pending motion to amend the complaint. In Grose v. Kustoff, No. W2017-01984-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 17, 2019), plaintiffs filed a pro se legal malpractice claim against defendant attorney. Instead of filing an answer, defendant filed a…
When a motion for summary judgment in an HCLA case was based solely on the failure to file a certificate of good faith with the complaint, the trial court rightly considered it a motion to dismiss and allowed plaintiff to take a voluntary dismissal. In Renner v. Takoma Regional Hospital,…
Where an expert in a professional negligence case against an insurance agent admitted that he had very limited experience with a certain type of policy, he was not qualified to testify as to the standard of care regarding that policy type. In Littleton v. TIS Insurance Services, Inc., No. E2018-00477-COA-R3-CV…
A motion for summary judgment cannot be based solely on “unverified reworded statements of some of the factual allegations of the complaint,” along with unsworn, unverified, and unsigned exhibits. In addition, when a defendant asserts their Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination in an answer or in response to discovery…