Justice Programs Seminar – Johnson City – This Week
Our Justice Programs seminar series will be held on Nov. 11 and 12 in Johnson City. Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley, and I also will present the two-day programs in Memphis (Dec. 9 and 10), Nashville (Nov. 18 and 19), and Knoxville (Dec. 2 and 3) . Each program provides the fifteen (15) hours required CLE and includes four (4) hours of ethics/professionalism/dual credit on Friday afternoon. You may register for both days (all 15 hours), one and a half days (11 hours), or the Friday afternoon ethics program (4 hours).
Here is what is on the agenda
Tort Law / Comparative Fault – John Day
Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings 2010 – Part 2
Yesterday I wrote about the decrease in the number of medical malpractice case filings since the new law requiring pre-suit notice and a certificate of good faith went into effect October 1,2008. As I mentioned, the total number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed for the one-year period ending September 30, 2010 was 313.
Tennessee has approximately 6,100,000 people. Assuming that there was a single plaintiff in each case (which is almost always true except for loss of consortium claims in injury cases) simple math tells us that there was one claim filed for every 20,000 Tennesseans.
There are 137 hospitals in the state with about 20,000 hospital beds. There are 317 nursing homes with 36,276 beds. There are about 18,560 non-federal licensed physicians. There are also almost 62,000 registered nurses. There are 954 physicians’ assistants, 4853 nurse practitioners and 4,196 dentists. Each of these providers is a potential defendant in a malpractice case. Add to this some number of x-ray techs, ambulance drivers, etc.
Iqual and Twombly Impact Pleading Standards Under FRCP Rule 8
FDCC Quarterly, a publication of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, has published an article on the impact of the relatively recent decisions of United States Supreme Court in Iqual and Twombly.
This is how the authors summarize the holdings of the two decisions:
Together, Iqbal and Twombly held that, to comply with the pleading requirements of Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint must allege well-pleaded factual allegations (and not legal conclusions or bare recitations of the elements of a cause of action) that if presumed true ‘plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.’ Iqbal made clear this test should apply to all civil complaints. [Footnotes omitted.]
Justice Programs Seminar 2011
Our Justice Programs seminar series will be held on Nov. 11 and 12 in Johnson City. Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley, and I also will present the two-day programs in Memphis (Dec. 9 and 10), Nashville (Nov. 18 ans 19), and Knoxville (Dec. 2 and 3) . Each program provides the fifteen (15) hours required CLE and includes four (4) hours of ethics/professionalism/dual credit on Friday afternoon. You may register for both days (all 15 hours), one and a half days (11 hours), or the Friday afternoon ethics program (4 hours).
Here is what is on the agenda
Tort Law / Comparative Fault – John Day
Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings 2010 – Part 1
The preliminary numbers are in for 2010 and demonstrate that the statute providing for the giving of notice and filing a certificate of good faith has dramatically decreased the number of medical malpractice filings in Tennessee. The new law came in to effect on October 1, 2008 and was modified effective July 1, 2009.
You may remember that for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, 644 medical malpractice lawsuits were filed in Tennessee. A whooping 140 of those were filed in September 2008, some of which were filed as lawyers took action to avoid the burden and risks of filing cases under the new law.
For the year ending September 30, 2009, the first year that the new law was in effect, available data indicates that only 263 medical malpractice lawsuits had been filed. Because there were a larger-than-usual number of filings before the new law came into effect, it is fair to say that filings were lower than one would expect in an ordinary year.
Duty of Rental Car Companies to Check Driving Record of Renters
Does a rental car company have the duty to check the driving record of potential customers before renting them a car? Does the fact that the records are available electronically have any impact on whether a duty exists?
The California Court of Appeals recently considered these issues and re-affirmed an earlier ruling that (a) a car rental agency is "not negligent for entrusting a car to a person lawfully qualified and apparently fit to rent and drive it” and (b) "an agency has no duty to ask questions to investigate the driving record of the customer, and that the agency may rely on presentation of a valid driver‟s license as sufficient evidence of fitness to drive, absent a legislative declaration to the contrary."
The court went on to conclude that despite changes in technology car rental agencies "have no duty to conduct an electronic search of the driving records of their customers before entrusting a vehicle to them." The court said that it was the responsibility of the legislature and not the courts to impose such a duty.
Lawsuits Arising From Participation in Athletic Activities
What does tort law tell us about liability for injuries arising during sporting events and, in particular, contact sports? The recent case of Feld v. Borkowski gives us the answer, at least from the standpoint of the Iowa Supreme Court.
Plaintiff and defendant were playing intramural softball . Defendant hit the ball and let go of the bat at the same time. The bat flew through the area, striking and injuring plaintiff (who was playing first base). Plaintiff filed a negligence suit, and defendant sought dismissal of the suit arguing that softball was a contact sport and thus he could only be sued if his conduct was reckless.
The Iowa Supreme Court agreed, saying that
Tennessee Medical Malpractice Filings 2010 – Part 1
The preliminary numbers are in for 2010 and demonstrate that the statute providing for the giving of notice and filing a certificate of good faith has dramatically decreased the number of medical malpractice filings in Tennessee. The new law came in to effect on October 1, 2008 and was modified effective July 1, 2009.
You may remember that for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, 644 medical malpractice lawsuits were filed in Tennessee. A whooping 140 of those were filed in September 2008, some of which were filed as lawyers took action to avoid the burden and risks of filing cases under the new law.
For the year ending September 30, 2009, the first year that the new law was in effect, available data indicates that only 263 medical malpractice lawsuits had been filed. Because there were a larger-than-usual number of filings before the new law came into effect, it is fair to say that filings were lower than one would expect in an ordinary year.
Tennessee Medical Malpractice Filings 2010 -Part 3