The American Bar Association has a nice paper titled "The Top Ten Malpractice Traps and How to Avoid Them." The paper is excerpted from "Desk Guide Legal Malpractice." Not all of the "traps" are applicable to those who do tort work on a full-time basis, but there is a lot to be learned from this 11-page document.
Here it is.
Evan Schaeffer from St. Louis has two blogs, The Legal Underground and The Trial Practice Tips Weblog. He has written three posts on the latter titled "15 Ways to Ruin a Deposition." Here is his latest and last post (Part 3) on the subject. Here is a link to Part 1 and Part 2.
A sample: "Failing to incorporate your completed deposition into your overall trial plan. After a deposition has ended, do you add the transcript to a giant stack of depositions sitting on your floor? There are a number of other more sensible post-deposition steps you can take. You’ll find seven of them here: ‘Trial-Planning Steps to Take After a Deposition Has Ended.’"
Here is a list of the peanut and peanut butter products that have been recalled.
The February 18, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about fires in the operating room, which happen approximately 650 times per year in the United States.
A sample: "Because each member of the [surgical] team may be focusing on his own role in a procedure, ‘the No. 1 cause of fires is lousy communication’ says Patricia Seifert, editor-in-chief of AORN Journal, the monthly publication of the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses."
Here is a website dedicated to raise awareness about this problem: www.surgicalfire.org.
Tort lawyers have been carefully watching the tobacco lawsuit against Phillip Morris which arose out of the death of 55-year old Stuart Hess. The Florida jury imposed liability several days ago and earlier today awarded $3M in compensatory damages and $5M in punitive damages. Read more here.
Liability insurance companies make money in two major ways. First, they make money on the insurance product – doing good underwriting, setting appropriate rates, and properly managing claims. Second, insurance companies make money holding today’s premiums to pay tomorrow’s claims (and claim expenses). That money is invested, and the investment income and capital gains on the investments are a big part of the net income of insurance companies.
Now, the stock market is in the toilet and the bond market is more complicated than ever. Short-term cash yields virtually no interest, and Treasuries have a very reduced yield. It is reasonable to assume that investment income is down, way down.
So, will rates be increasing? Yes. Will lawyers and juries be blamed? Of course.
Paul Luvera has another great post on his outstanding blog, Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips.
A sample: "Focusing on the bad conduct of the defendant shifts the availability bias and causes the defendant to be the subject to the greater weight of scrutiny instead of plaintiff. Start with defendant’s conduct."
Enjoy.
It was almost three years ago, February 26, 2006, that this Sunday Spoof first appeared. In the last three years, I have added another daughter and a few pounds. But the effort of doctors to limit their responsibility for harm caused by their negligence continues, as does the fiction that doctors are leaving Tennessee because we don’t have caps on damages.
I found this memo at an empty corner table in the bar in the basement of the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, sitting on table next to an empty bottle of Opus and two wine glasses.
To: TMA Director for Tort Reform
State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company’s Winter 2008-09 quarterly newsletter, Risk Points, has an interesting article discussing the diagnosis of appendicitis. This illness occurs in 250,000 people in the United States every year, and the mortality rate increases 500% if the appendix ruptures.
A sample from the article: "Thus clinicians should focus on the time of onset rather than the time the patient first presents for evaluation when deciding whether a ‘wait and see’ approach is warranted. A good habit is a scheduled return appointment or referral within a reasonable time frame for a second evaluation in patients with unconfirmed abdominal pain etiologies When a diagnosis is unclear, it is crucial that your rationale, patient instructions and followup plan are well documented in the chart."
The article begins on Page 2.
It is not uncommon for wrecks involving tractor-trailer rigs to result in serious injury and death. It is also not uncommon for there to be inadequate insurance coverage or other assets to make whole the victims of the trucker’s negligent acts.
Thus, it is not uncommon for lawyers who represent the victims of the these wrecks to look to the conduct of others to see what role they played in contributing to the wreck.
Here is an article from FDCC Quarterly titled "’But I didn’t do it!" Expanding Theories of Vicarious Liability." Written by Robert T. Franklin, General Counsel to the Maryland Motor Truck Association, the article discusses court decisions from around the country against freight brokers and shippers. Those of you who are plaintiffs’ lawyers will not like the tone of the article (it is not particularly complimentary of the plaintiffs’ bar) but there is no reason why you cannot use his research to help you serve your clients.
