Day on Torts

January 24, 2011

Judgment Affirmed in Land Rover Rollover Case

Mr. Pannu was seriously injured when his Land Rover Discovery (Series 1) sport utility vehicle rolled over following a chain of collisions. Pannu alleged a design defect in the SUV and was awarded a judgment of $21,654,000.

The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, affirmed the judgment last week. Read the opinion in Pannu v. Land Rover North America, Inc., B218173 (Cal. Ct. App. 1/19/11) here.

The opinion is of interest to Tennessee lawyers who are interested in products liability cases because (a) it identifies several experts for the plaintiff who offer opinion testimony in rollover cases; (b) identifies the issues one confronts in a "typical" rollover case, (c) has some interesting comments on the opinions of Lee Carr, a frequent expert for the defense in motor vehicle products cases; (d) identifies and discusses the opinions of several other defense experts one is likely to see in these cases; (e) discusses the application of the consumer expectation test (which we also have in Tennessee) to auto defect cases; and (f) discusses the application of the risk-benefit test (which we also have in Tennessee) to the facts.

January 24, 2011

ProAssurance Profits Continue to Climb

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

ProAssurance, a nationwide medical malpractice insurer with 57,000 insureds that is based in Birmingham, has a growing presence in Tennessee. It has done very well the last few years.

In 2005 it had pre-tax income of $109M, about 17% of revenues. In 2009 pre-tax income was $319M, about 52% of revenues. Not bad. Not bad at all. Read more here.

The return on equity in 2009 was 14.2%, and shareholder book value has grown by 278% in the last ten years.

January 20, 2011

State of Tennessee Litigation Statistics From the AOC Annual Report – Part 5

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As mentioned in the last four posts (here, here, here and here), the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Judiciary. The Report Contains statistical data about our court system.

Today we look at damage awards in several counties in the state. There are some obvious problems with the data we are about to share. First, we cannot tell from the Report whether the damage awards were in jury cases or non-jury cases.

Second, we cannot tell if the plaintiff won the case or lost the case from the mere fact that damages were awarded – there may have been a settlement offer in excess in the amount awarded by the fact-finder.

January 19, 2011

State of Tennessee Litigation Statistics From the AOC Annual Report – Part 4

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As mentioned in the last three posts (here, here and here), the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Judiciary. The Report Contains statistical data about our court system.

As mentioned in our earlier posts, there were 263 jury trials and 325 non-jury trials in tort cases in Tennessee last year. The Report tells us which the number of jury and non-jury trials in each county and the number of cases in which damages were awarded in each county. Unfortunately, the Report does not tell us whether the damage awards were in jury or non-jury trials.

Here is some data from the larger counties:

January 18, 2011

Statistics on Tort Cases From the 2009-10 AOC Annual Report on the Judiciary – Part 3

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As mentioned in the last two posts (here and here), the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Judiciary. The Report Contains statistical data about our court system.

Today we look at additional information about tort cases that were filed or tried in state court in Tennessee. "Tort cases" includes medical malpractice cases.

Of the 229 cases that were tried that resulted in damage awards for the plaintiff, the total damages awarded were $91,682,216. This is an increase of a little over $8,000,000 from a year earlier. The average award, then, was $400,359.

January 17, 2011

More Statistics on Tort Cases From the 2009-2010 AOC Annual Report on the Judiciary

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As mentioned yesterday, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Judiciary. The Report Contains statistical data about our court system.

Today we look at information about tort cases that were filed or tried in state court in Tennessee. "Tort cases" includes medical malpractice cases.

There were 10,469 tort cases filed in Tennessee in the year ending June 30, 2010. This is down about 6% from two years earlier – in the year ended June 30, 2008, there were 11,171 filings.

January 16, 2011

State of Tennessee Litigation Statistics From the AOC Annual Report

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released the 2009-2010 Annual Report of the Tennessee Judiciary. Over the next few days I will share some data from the Report.

We begin with medical malpractice cases. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, 429 medical malpractice cases were resolved by judgment, settlement or dismissal. Only 324 new cases were filed.

There were only 30 medical malpractice cases actually tried in state court in Tennessee during the fiscal year. The total awards for the patient in those cases were $7,128,800. Unfortunately, the Report does not indicate the number of cases won by the patient or by the health care provider. Historically, that number is about 20% of all trials.

January 14, 2011

First Defamation Case Arising From A Tweet Goes to Trial

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

That tweet might just get you sued. Courtney Love allegedly fired off a negative tweet about a fashion designer, and now the defamation case against Love is going to trial.

Read more about it at this post from the Connecticut Business Litigation Blog.

January 7, 2011

From Max Kennerly: Philosophy Explains How Legal Ethics Turn Lawyers Into Liars

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

This is one of the best articles I have read in a long time, coming from a man who I have cited often but never met: Max Kennerly.

A short sample:

At these pre-trial events [hearings, pretrial conferences, etc.], the only thing stopping a lawyer from looking the judge in the eye and telling him or her an outright lie is that oath the lawyer made to the government years ago.

January 6, 2011

Important Decision on Removal of Tort Cases to Federal Court

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that the 30-day period for removing a case to federal court does not begin to run until "the plaintiff serves the defendant with a paper that explicitly identified the amount of damages sought."

Moltner sued Starbucks in state court in New York but did not state the amount of damages he sought. Moltner’s lawyer later sent a three million dollar demand letter to Starbucks. Starbucks filed a petition to remove the case to federal court more than 30 days after it received the complaint but less than 30 days after receiving the $3 million demand. The Second Circuit permitted the removal, rejecting the argument that Starbucks should have deduced from reading the complaint that the case sought damages in excess of the jurisdictional amount of the federal courts.

Here is the opinion in Moltner v. Starbucks Coffee Company, No. 09-4943 (2nd Cir. Nov. 2, 2010).