Day on Torts

July 1, 2010

Tennessee Court of Appeals Uses Photographs in Opinion

Judge Susano and his colleagues on the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued an opinion yesterday in Usher v. Charles Blalock & Sons, Inc. The opinion addresses some important issues of Tennessee law, but is mentioned here because it utlizies photographs scanned into the body of the opinion to help the reader understand how the wreck occurred.

From time to time, I have seen drawings (and maybe even a photograph) appended to court opinions but I do not recall seeing a photograph inserted into the text of a Tennessee appellate opinion. The photographs help tell the story in this case, and Judge Susano and his colleagues are to be congratulated for using them.

Usher has been assigned Case No. E2009-00658-COA-R3-CV. The opinion was released on June 30, 2010.

June 28, 2010

Trial Fusion Software

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

Trial Fusion is a software program designed to make it easier to keep track of exhibits at trial and publish them to the jury. Read more about it here. A three-minute video explaining the program is here.

June 22, 2010

New Book in the Mail

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

I have good news for all of you who pre-ordered a copy of Day on Torts: Leading Cases in Tennessee Tort Law: the book arrived from the printer on Monday and the vast majority of the advance sale copies were shipped out the same day. The balance of the advance sale copies will be mailed on Tuesday the 22nd.

The new book contains over 650 pages, identifies more than 300 Tennessee tort law subjects, and provides summary of the leading case on each subject to give you a quick, readable synopsis of current state of the law. Many of the summaries include citations to other cases, giving you even more insight and helping narrow the scope of your research.The new book has over 30% more pages than the last edition, and addresses many new subjects. In addition, for the first time, the book has been printed in hardcover and will be supplemented by pocket part.

The price of the book is only $129, plus sales tax and a shipping and handling charge. You can order it here.

June 21, 2010

A Post From the Past

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

Fifty months ago "Steven" and I had an ongoing debate about a post I wrote about the John Ritter case. I have repeated it below:

Steven and I have been having a discussion – it started here. Here is his latest missive:

"My mistake, I did not mean to state that this particular lawyer(s) was sleazy, but that the trial bar in general is sleazy. I will admit that there must be some decent trial attorneys just as there are bad doctors, cops, judges, etc.

June 15, 2010

SVMIC Slashes Medical Malpractice Insurance Rates Effective May 15, 2010

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

You won’t read about this anywhere else.

State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company, the doctor-owned medical malpractice insurer that insures the vast majority of non-university based physicians in Tennessee, has slashed medical malpractice insurance rates.

The average rate decrease, effective for renewals on or after May 15, 2010, is $23.1% at $1M / $3M insurance policy limits. There are different rates of decreases depending on specialty, dividend status, limits, years in practice, and other factors.

June 10, 2010

Preventing Pressure Sores

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

"Pressure Ulcers in the Surgical Patient" is a 38-page study guide prepared for health care providers prepared on behalf of Kimberly-Clark Health Care Education. Although the article focuses on pressure sores and burns that arise in the care of treatment of surgical patients, the information will be helpful to anyone who is handling a pressure ulcer case.

June 10, 2010

“Stop Me Before I Masturbate to Death”

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

I file lawsuits for a living. Thus, I understand that reasonable minds often differ about whether there is liability in a given situation, often because there is a dispute about the facts. I also understand the idea of pushing the legal envelope – of attempting to expand the law to create a cause of action that will advance the overall cause of justice.

But a recent lawsuit threw me for a loop. David Carradine’s widow has apparently sued the French production company that was handling the actor’s last film, alleging that Mr. Carradine would still be alive if he had not been left in the hotel alone the night of his death.

Mr. Carradine was was found dead on June 4, 2009 in his Bangkok hotel room — a likely victim of auto-erotic asphyxia. Allegedly, there is a photo of Carradine (published by a Thai tabloid) which shows a body suspended from a bar in a closet, with his hands bound together above his head. Carradine’s genitals were also tied. It is reported that the family hired a doctor to do a private autopsy and determined that the cause of death was accidental asphyxiation.

June 8, 2010

Creating Hyperlinks in Abode PDFs

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

Ok, so this post is not about tort law. But it is information that tort lawyers (or their assistants) can use.

Sometimes it is handy to create a demand letter or another document and use hyperlinks to allow the reader to quickly and easily view other documents that will be of assistance to the reader.

This blog post from Acrobat for Legal Professionals explains how to do it.

June 7, 2010

Tennessee Legislation – 2010

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

Starting next week I will begin to write about the bills that passed the 2010 General Assembly that are of interest to tort lawyers. There are fewer tort law-related bills in 2010 than there were in 2009, but the changes that have been made are changes you should know about.

June 3, 2010

SCOTUS To Consider Seatbelt Preemption Case

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

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the family of a woman killed in a car accident should be permitted to bring suit against Mazda Motor Corp. alleging that the death was caused by the failure of Mazda to install three-point seatbelts in its 1993 MPV minivan.

Here are the questions presented in the case:

1. Where Congress has provided that compliance with a federal motor vehicle safety standard “does not exempt a person from liability at common law,” 49 U.S.C. § 30103(e), does a federal minimum safety standard allowing vehicle manufacturers to install either lap-only or lap/shoulder seatbelts in certain seating positions preempt a state common-law claim alleging that the manufacturer should have installed a lap/shoulder belt in one of those seating positions?