Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

The doctors have been claiming that there are shortages in the numbers of physicians and that the shortage is due to laws which hold doctors accountable for negligence that causes harm to patients. (You know, just as if they were truck drivers or other real people.)

Well, yesterday’s Los Angeles Times wrote about the shortage of physicians. Take a look at this:

“The number of medical school graduates has remained virtually flat for a quarter century, because the schools limited enrollment out of concern that the nation was producing too many doctors. But demand has exploded, driven by population gains, a healthy economy and a technology-driven boom in physicians’ repertoires, which now include such procedures as joint replacement and liposuction.”

It is going to be a busy week at Branham & Day. John Branham and Brandon Bass are trying a two-day personal injury case starting Monday morning in Gallatin. I start (what hopefully will be only) a three-day arbitration in a commercial case Tuesday – we have eleven notebooks of exhibits and my opponents claim that they will call over a dozen witnesses. No depositions have been permitted (except for a couple witnesses who could not be physically present for the hearing); the lack of depositions makes trials so much more exciting (and, quite frankly, increases the anxiety level).

Then John Branham and Rebecca Blair start a trial in a commerical case on Thursday; it should be finished in a day-and-a-half.

So, as you trial lawyers might imagine, there has been a flurry of activity at our offices in the last week. Exhibit lists and witnesses lists being prepared. Direct and cross-examnations have been honed. The copy machine has been working like an expresso machine at the Starbucks in Rockefeller Center at 8:30 a.m. My opponent and I are trying to hammer out stipulations, something that therotically should be done earlier but always seems to be done on the eve of trial.

Lay and Skilling have been found guilty of multiple crimes that contributed to the fall of Enron and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of shareholder value.

How much time should these men spend in prison?

I know little about the federal sentencing guidelines. But I think back to Anna Ayala, who got nine years for saying that she found a finger in the chili she purchased at Wendy’s when in fact she planted the finger. (Prior posts.) If that sentence was fair – and I don’t think that it was – then each of these men deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison.

OK, so it is a compromise and settlement of a divorce case. The fact remains that the law of compromise and settlement in Tennessee has been in disarray and the Tennessee Supreme Court has taken a step in the right direction to get it fixed.

In Barnes v. Barnes, No. W2004-01426-SC-R11-CV, ( Filed May 17, 2006) the TSC reversed an appellate court opinion which held that an MDA signed by the parties was not an enforceable agreement. The husband admitted executing the agreement but tried to back out of it two weeks after he signed it.

Read the opinion here.

Here is part one of the speech everyone has been talking about. Here is part two.

No posts this weekend. I haven’t taken a break for a while, and I have to work Sunday to prepare for an argument on a major motion Monday morning.

A great man and a great trial lawyer died on April 27, the day before his 62nd birthday.

Charlie Williams was a true believer in “the cause.” He used his passion for the law to help people in need. He cared about his community and served on many boards and commissions to improve the world around him.

I last spoke with Charlie two weeks ago Thursday afternoon. He called about an issue he had with a case and that grew in to a conversation about the state of our nation. The conversation ended with a discussion about his wonderful daughter and law partner, Annie B. Charlie was (rightfully) proud of his daugher; his face would glow whenever her name was mentioned.

For the quarter – $8,400,000,000

Per day – $93,333,333

Per hour – $3,888,888

Do you ever get that feeling that you just can’t get the words from your brain to come out your mouth – correctly?

You are not alone.

Thanks to The Wall Street Journal Law Blog for telling me about this story.

Here is some interesting data about injuries in the United States from the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control:

* 50 million injuries a year require medical attention

* Cost in medical expenses? $80+ Billion