Day on TortsCheck out this commercial.
I don’t think this type of advertising would impact the lawyer’s credibility before the average Texas jury. Do you?
Articles Posted in Miscellaneous
Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers
Work is underway on the third edition of Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers. Laura Bishop and I have already identified over 30 new sections that need to be added to the book, as well as citations to well over 200 new cases.
If you have come across a topic that you believe should be included in the next edition please send me an email at jday@dayblair.com and we will find the leading case and add it to the book.
It is our hope to have the new book available in April of 2010. Hundreds of lawyers across Tennessee are using the earlier editions of the book and we believe that the new edition will be even more valuable to our fellow lawyers.
Great Blog Posts About Findlaw’s Blogs
Some of you heard me rant about West Publishing Company during the recent Justice Programs seminar. Well, here are a couple great posts about West’s pollution of the blawgosphere.
The controversy arose when Findlaw launched "The New York Personal Injury Law Blog" years after a wonderful blog by the same name was started by Eric Turkewitz.
Here is an excerpt from The Legal Satryricon:
Tennessee AOC Releases 2008-09 Annual Report of the Tennessee Judiciary
The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released the 2008-09 Annual Report of the Tennessee Judiciary. The report includes information about court filings and dispositions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.
Here is some of the important data included in the Report:
1. There were only 10,659 personal injury and wrongful death cases filed in 2008-09. The backlog of cases is neither increasing or decreasing – case dispositions were about the same as filings at 10,768.
Memphis Lawyer Bites Nose of Hair Stylist in Restroom of Memphis Bar
Lawyer Mark Lambert , an attorney with the Cochran Firm in Memphis, has been sued by Greg Herbers, a Memphis hair stylist, over injuries Herbers says he received in an alteration with Lambert in the bathroom of a Memphis bar.
According to the story in the Commercial Appeal, Herbers
entered the restroom around 9 p.m. and noticed the one stall was occupied by two men "performing some activity other than going to the bathroom." Herbers said that when he told the men he needed to use the toilet, Lambert, who was standing at the urinal but appeared to know the men in the stall, became aggressive. Lambert allegedly approached Herbers in a "menacing" fashion and jumped on him, grabbing his head and clawing at his neck. Herbers said the next thing he felt was excruciating pain. He heard teeth crunch and noticed blood pouring from his left nostril.
Wal-Mart Wins Suicide Case in Illinois
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a case against Wal-Mart for selling bullets to a person without requiring her to present an identification card as required by Illinois law. Candice Johnson later used the bullets to commit suicide. Her husband filed suit, alleging that his wife did not have an identification card in her possession and Wal-Mart’s violation of the Illinois statute requiring proof of identification was the proximate cause of her death. He also alleged that she should not have been sold a gun because she had been a mental patient within the previous five years and thus should not have been sold a weapon. The opinion does not say whether Wal-Mart knew of her prior status as a mental patient.
Wal-mart argued that the act of suicide was a superceding cause and thus it was not responsible for the death. It also argued that the violation of Illinois law was not the cause of Ms. Johnson’s death.
The appellate court accepted Wal-Mart’s arguments, saying that under Illinois law suicide is ordinarily an unforeseeable event and thus causation was not present as a matter of law.
Does Ms. Tiger Woods Have A Tort Claim Against the Other Woman?
More information continues to be leaked to the media about Tiger Woods’ alleged mistresses, and news reports indicate that at least one of them has confirmed a long-lasting affair.
What does the law of torts say about this? Alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and reckless infliction of emotional distress immediately come to mind as potential claims that Ms.Nordegren could assert any woman who had a sexual relationship with her husband.
What is alienation of affections? In Tennessee, alienation of affections "is the willful and malicious interference with the marriage relation by a third party, without justification or excuse." Donnell v. Donnell, 220 Tenn. 169, 415 S.W.2d 127, 132 (1967). The cause of action was abolished by statute in Tennessee in 1989.
The Boss in Nashville
There are two reasons there is not a substantive post today. First, I am speaking for three hours at our Justice Programs seminar today and am quite busy.
Second, my wife Joy and I went to see Bruce Springsteen in concert last night in Nashville and I did not get to bed until 12:30 this morning. The Boss gave a great 3-hour show, and included one of my favorite songs, Badlands;
Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.
Got a head-on collision, smashin in my guts man.
Im caught in a crossfire that I don’t understand.
But there’s one thing I know for sure girl:
I don’t give a damn for the same old played out scenes
I don’t give a damn for just the in-betweens.
Honey I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now.
You better listen to me baby:
Talk about a dream; try to make it real.
You wake up in the night with a fear so real.
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don’t come.
Well don’t waste your time waiting
Justice Programs Seminar in Nashville on November 19 and 20
Former Justice Penny White, former Judge Joe Riley and I are presenting our annual seminar program for civil trial lawyers in Nashville this week. Learn more and register here.
Tort Cases Pending Before the Tennessee Supreme Court
F. Chris Cawood v. Linda Booth, et al., E2007-02537-SC-R11-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 25, 2008) has a set of facts you don’t run into every day or, at least, I hope you don’t run into everyday. Here is the description of the case from the opinion of the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The plaintiff, F. Chris Cawood, is an attorney. He represented Tammy Clark (“the Client”) in a divorce case. During the post-judgment phase of that representation, the plaintiff and the Client engaged in a sexual relationship. On occasion, while in the plaintiff’s office, the plaintiff would masturbate in the presence of the Client, following which he would give her a credit on her bill. After she complained to local authorities, the Roane County Sheriff’s Department equipped the Client with concealed audio and video equipment. Thereafter, unbeknownst to the plaintiff, she videotaped him while he was masturbating. During this event, the Client hit him on the buttocks and pinched his nipples. Following this event, the videotape was placed under the control of Linda Booth of the Sheriff’s Department. Booth gave the video to another investigator, Dennis Worley, who happens to be the Client’s uncle. Worley was not involved in the investigation but wanted to see the videotape to ascertain if his niece had done anything illegal. Worley viewed the videotape in an office shared by officers Randy Scarbrough and Jon French. During the viewing, the door to the office was open. The video was viewed not only by Worley, but also by Scarbrough and French, a bail bondsman who was passing by the office, and others. The plaintiff filed suit against Booth, Worley, Scarbrough and French alleging (1) a violation of the Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act of 1994, (2) invasion of privacy by public disclosure of private facts, and (3) outrageous conduct. The trial court granted all defendants summary judgment as to all claims.Plaintiff appeals. We vacate the grant of summary judgment to Booth and Worley on the plaintiff’s outrageous conduct claim. In all other respects, the trial court’s judgment is affirmed.
Hmmm. The appellee’s brief will be filed in December, 2009. Expect an opinion in the Summer of 2010.