Public Chapter 787 has changed the law concerning the amount of exemption you receive for personal property if you file bankruptcy. The old law provided for an exemption of $4000. The new law increases the exemption to $10,000.
If you are a plaintiff’s tort lawyer and you think this change will impact your practice in any material way, I suggest you read an article I wrote on case selection.
The Tennessee General Assembly passed several bills that became law effective July 1, 2010. One of those is Public Chapter 752. The legislation revises a deadline for a special definition of governmental entities in governmental tort liability cases against governmental entities in Shelby County. The legislation was designed to protect The Med in Memphis from litigation. The special definition was supposed to expire in 2011. The deadline has been removed and the special definition will apply to all tort cases filed after July 1, 2003.
Note: the Tennessee Supreme Court has declared a portion of the earlier act unconstitutional to the extent that it applied to injuries occurring before July 1, 2003 but impact the rights of plaintiffs who filed after July 1, 2003. The case is Estate of Bell v. Shelby County Health Care Corporation, W2008-02213-SC-S09-CV (Tenn. June 24, 2010).
On June 15, 2010 I reported that SVMIC, the bedpan mutual that insures the vast majority of Tennessee doctors, reduced its rates by 23.1% . I also reported that the company declared a $20,000,000 dividend. The net effect of the dividend means that policyholders with a history of no paid claims will receive another 8% reduction (or so) in rates effective May 15, 2010.
How can SVMIC cut rates so dramatically while paying the highest dividend it has paid in years? There are two reasons. First, as a result of the tort reform passed effective October 1, 2008 (revised effective July 1, 2009) claims have decreased substantially. Fewer claims means reduced claims handling costs, defense fees, court reporter and other litigation fees, and claims payments. Since the law permits insurers to "write off" reserves as they are established, fewer claims means that reserves are lower than these would have otherwise been had there been more claims. A decrease in the need to set aside money in reserves for these "absent" claims increases net income.
And how it has increased. In 2009, SVMIC had a net income (after taxes) of a whopping $71, 968,000, an increase of over 100% from a year earlier.
Hat tip to Abnormal Use: The Unreasonably Dangerous Products Liability Blog for advising me about this Utah lawsuit.
Apparently, a woman followed Google Maps walking directions on her Blackberry, walking across a four-lane highway where she was struck by an approaching vehicle. She sued Google; here is a copy of the suit.
Her lawyer says that the plaintiff f was walking in an area she had never been before, at a time when it was very dark, and that Google failed to warn the Plaintiff that walking routes may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths. Here is an image of the scene from Google. Google says that every software version for mobile devices has had a disclaimer that advises walkers to use caution since Google Maps was launched in 2008.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
