The high court in West Virginia has refused to vacate legislation that placed a cap on damages for non-economic loss in medical negligence cases.
In McDonald v. City Hospital, Inc., No. 35543 (W.Va. 6/22/2011) the court ruled that the West Virginia Constitution did not limit the power of the Legislature to impose arbitrary limits on damages.
Here are the provisions of the West Virginia Constitution that were at issue in the case:
Ronald Miller has a fascinating post on his The Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog about the value of knee injury cases
Here is an excerpt:
According to a recent Jury Verdict Research study over the last ten years, the average verdict in a serious knee injury case is 359,149. The median knee injury verdict is $114,299. Eight percent of verdicts were over $1,000,000.
Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips has this wonderful post on the injecting basic safety principles into cross-examination.
An excerpt:
ELIMINATING OR MINIMIZING RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH
Steve Frederick had trial consultant Becky Jones (of Modlin and Jones) share 10 tips on trial presentations. Here they are:
Get to the point.
Be concise.
When a new lawyer decided to try his first case by defending a man accused of murder, it is no surprise to any lawyer with a room-temperature IQ that things would not go well. At all.
So, when a mistrial was declared in the case based on the lawyer’s ineptness, some lawyers expressed dismay over the decision of the lawyer to accept representation in the case. Word got around and the new lawyer sued. He sued lots of folks. Including Max Kennerly, author of Litigation and Trial. And Eric Turkewitz of the New York Personal Injury Law Blog. Here is the complaint.
Here is Max’s Motion to Dismiss. It gives you a good feel of the defense to the claims. Here is a post where Eric explains his view of the lawsuit.
Here is a copy of the signed major tort reform legislation in Tennessee. The legislation changes venue rules, places caps on damages (compensatory and punitive), and changes the substantive law in products and consumer protection cases.
More details later.
I know it is not a tort case, but this post from Law and Disorder reports on what can happen before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals when you don’t have your damages proof in proper order.
An excerpt
"I have never seen such an incompetent presentation of a damages case," [Judge Richard A.] Posner said. "It’s not only incompetent, it’s grotesque. You’ve got damages jumping around from $11 million to $130 million to $122 million to $33 million. In fact, the damages are probably zero."
John Stossel is a Fox News reporter ( I use the word "reporter" lightly, especially in conjunction with Fox News) who dislikes lawsuits and the lawyers who file them.
Except when he finds it necessary to file one. Like he did when he was bitch-slapped by a wrestler.
Eric Turkewitz does his usual excellent job covering the story about this hypocrite. Read it here.
"Death by Medicine" is a report by Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD.
The report reveals that "that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer was 553,251."
The report explains that
Regular readers know that I am a Max Kennerly fan. He does it again with post titled "The Truth Self of The Plaintiff’s Trial Lawyer."
An excerpt:
Trial lawyers walk into court with plans, backup plans, and with training and experience in various techniques and methods. Trial, though, has a way of knocking askew the best laid schemes of mice and men; it’s less a choreographed ballet and more a rough mix of strategic adaptation, technical mastery, wit, and endurance.
