Day on Torts

May 31, 2009

June 2009 Edition of the Tennessee Trial Law Report Available

The June 2009 edition of the Tennessee Trial Law Report should be arriving in the mailboxes of our subscribers on Tuesday, June 2. The Tennessee Trial Law Report is the only newsletter in Tennessee written to meet the complete needs of the tort law practitioner.

This edition includes a summary of 16 different cases addressing various aspects of the law of torts, civil procedure, evidence and trial as decided by Tennessee appellate courts between March 15 and April 15, 2009. The newsletter totals 39 pages, including 19 pages containing the full-text (in addition to our summary) of the most important opinion issued last month.

The newsletter also includes (a) Part 3 of my new, four-part article of the law of jury selection; and (b) a summary of the status of 13 cases of interest to tort lawyers that are pending before the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of Tennessee.

May 29, 2009

Breast Cancer Cases

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

A publication of The Doctors Company ("We were founded by doctors, for doctors.") lists 39 ways for doctors to get sued for for not diagnosing breast cancer or not properly treating it when it has been diagnosed. Here it is.

An excerpt:

Ways to Get Sued for Breast Cancer Involving the History and Physical Examination

May 28, 2009

Trouble With Powerpoint?

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

I came across www.PowerPointforCourt.com, a website that offers a product to teach lawyers and their support staff how to effectively use Powerpoint. The price? $89 for a download.

Here are the chapter headings:

Introduction to Courtroom Technology
Utilizing Synchronized Deposition Videos
Formatting the Master Slide
Header and Footer
Custom Slide Backgrounds – Inserting Your Logo
Inserting Video
Re-Sizing Video
Linking Within a Presentation
Opening a PDF in PowerPoint
Opening a Web Page In PowerPoint
SmartArt Graphics
Text Links
Grouping
Ordering or Layers
The Impeachment Machine (Strategies for Using Video)
Creating Timelines
Cast of Character Exhibits
Bullet Point Summation
Day in the Life Presentations
Presentation Tips
Image Preparation
Working with Audio
Creating an Inhouse Graphic Design Department
Flashing Flash (Inserting in Presentation)
Choosing the Right Equipment
The Importance of an Index Page
Handouts are Essential (General Presentation)
How to Capture and Use Anything (digital)
Creating Legal Illustrations for use in Court
Crime Scene Layouts
Links to Valuable Resources

I have not purchased this product, but am curious to learn if any readers have. Well, have you? Any thoughts about the product you can share with your fellow readers?

May 27, 2009

Cert Petition Denied in Tennessee Products Case

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

The United States Supreme Court denied cert in Flax v. DaimlerChrysler Corporation, the products liability, punitive damages, and negligent infliction of the emotional distress case decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court last year. Here is my post from last July on the decision by the Tennessee court.

May 26, 2009

Unusual Incident Reporting in Tennessee

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

Last year I wrote about the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s 2008 Medical Malpractice Claims Report. The report revealed data from medical malpractice cases settled and tried in Tennessee in calendar year 2007.

The numbers:

Total judgments for plaintiffs

May 22, 2009

Helping Your Clients Understand Ad Damnum Provisions

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

"I’ve got a $1,000,000 lawsuit."

No – you have a lawsuit with a $1,000,000 ad damnum. There is a huge difference between the two.

Tennessee law requires an ad damnum in all cases except medical malpractice cases. An ad damnum must be stated in the initial complaint only in products liability cases; different judges impose different deadlines on when a specific ad damnum must be stated in other types of cases.

May 21, 2009

“Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Pulmonary Embolism”

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

On Tuesday I posted David B. Troxel, MD’s article in The Doctor’s Advocate about VTE. Today, I include another article by the same doctor – this one about diagnosis and treatment of PE.

Here it is.

May 20, 2009

Are iPhones the Standard of Care?

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

To be precise, I am not talking about iPhones. I am talking about the apps for iPhones. There are hundreds and hundreds of iPhone apps for health care providers that permit one to help formulate a differential diagnosis, check for drug-drug interactions, or identify medications.

So, does the standard of care require a doctor to buy and use these apps relevant to his or her field?

Not today. But as time goes on look for the standard of care to include either the knowledge of relevant data that can be gathered from such sources or ready means to access it via iPhone, Blackberry, etc. Medical students are already being trained for the use of these devices, and it is only natural that the standard of care will ultimately incorporate the use of these tools.

May 19, 2009

“Venous Thromboembolism–Risk Factors, Prevention, and Diagnosis”

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

David B. Troxel, MD of the Doctors Company has written a great article about VTE inThe Doctor’s Advocate.. The article reviews the risk factors for VTE, the prevention of VTE, and the diagnosis of DVT and includes a reference to the American College of Chest Physicians’ guidelines.

Read here – and learn.

May 19, 2009

Counting Blessings

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

Last night at about 10:45 EDT I had to occasion to start counting blessings. My advancing age means I do this more and more, and it also causes me to realize that I should have counted those blessings more frequently in years past . I will tell you what gave rise to the time for reflection in a moment, but permit to re-count a few of the blessings of yesterday:

I woke up at 5:30 EDT in the beautiful Mayflower Hotel in our Nation’s Capitol, where I am attending the 86th Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute.
My health remains good enough to permit me a good early morning workout.
I heard a wonderful speech by Judge Pierre N. Leval, Judge of he US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, about ALI and its role in the development of the law.
I heard a moving speech by Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, Attorney General under President Johnson, who forcefully explained his view of the role of lawyers to their clients and how the lawyers who advised President Bush on torture did not fulfill that role. I thought about how much my friend Howard Vogel, an ALI member from Knoxville, would have enjoyed the presentation – one he missed only because he has not one but two grandchildren arriving any day now.
I watched the discussion of Tentative Draft No. 6 of the Restatement of the Law Third – Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm. Yesterday’s discussion involved duty of land possessors. This is the work of Bill Powers (President, University of Texas), Mike Green (Wake Forest School of Law) and the late Gary Schwartz (UCLA). Bill and Mike has worked on the Restatement Third for fifteen years and their work is almost complete. To understand the history-making nature of their work, the Reporter for the Restatement (Second) of Torts was a a guy named William Prosser.
I had lunch with Bob Peck, the lawyer who argued the Williams case before the SCOTUS this year – and won. Bill Wagner, lawyer extraordinaire from Tampa, was there too (and picked up the tab) as was Vincent Johnson (law professor – St. Mary’s).
I listened to the interesting discussion of Tentative Draft No. 2 of the Restatement of the Law Third on Employment Law.
I received a telephone call from Angela at the office of my friend Congressman Bruce Bailey (D-Iowa) informing me that (a) no, the Congressman could not join me for dinner Monday night as I had requested but (b) I could join him at the Bruce Springsteen concert instead.
I stood on the steps of the SCOTUS Building, looked at the Capitol, and thought about how fortunate I was to be a lawyer and live in such a wonderful country. Call me a sap, but there is something about DC that is still very moving to me, despite many visits over many years.
I saw Bruce with Bruce from Suite 368 at Verizon Center – a wonderful show from a man whose music causes one to reflect on his blessings.
I got the chance to talk about some public policy issues with Bruce Braley, and it was refreshing to see a man in the position to make change be so passionate about doing so.
My 17-year old daughter thought the Bruce-invite was neat enough to invite me to be her friend on Facebook, a privilege that I had been previously denied. That act got her a big smile, and a Bruce t-shirt.
My 13- year old son thought it was "cool" that his old man was seeing Bruce. That got him a t-shirt.
Both of those young adults are healthy, as are my wonderful wife Joy and my daughter Kate. Are there greater blessings?

Yes, the music of the Boss causes one to count blessings, and May 18, 2009 goes down as a very blessed day, indeed.