Day on Torts

November 5, 2007

Tort Reform Talk Works in Tennessee

A new report issued by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance re-affirms what everyone in the state knows: further restrictions on patient rights are not necessary in Tennessee.

The doctors (and occasionally the hospitals) have beat the tort reform drum for over thirty years, seeking further restrictions on the rights on patients to bring malpractice claims. They launched an attack on Justice Holder’s re-election effort. They write op-ed pieces, talk to their patients, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on political contributions each legislative cycle, and employ more and more lobbyists – all to get the Legislature to give them even more special treatment in the courtroom.

The legislative effort has failed to date, but the jury pool has been contaminated. Those of us who handle medical malpractice cases know this from our experience, but a new report from the Department confirms that experience.

November 2, 2007

Article from North Carolina

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

I think you will enjoy this article from the on-line version of the Fayetteville, North Carolina newspaper. A few excerpts:

"Annual statements of Medical Mutual Insurance Co. of North Carolina filed with the N.C. Department of Insurance from 2001 through 2006 were studied and evaluated by former Missouri Insurance Commissioner Jay Angoff and some of his findings are:

Underwriting gain — the amount they earned on their insurance business — was up by 948 percent in only two years, from $2.1 million in 2004 to $22 million in 2006.

November 1, 2007

E-Discovery Article

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

Here is an interesting article written by Mark Berman that I found on Law.com.

The first few paragraphs:

"Electronic discovery, even more so than traditional paper discovery, offers the opportunity to burden unduly an opposing party with overbroad discovery requests, and three recent New York State court decisions have addressed over-reaching document requests seeking electronically stored information (ESI).

November 1, 2007

Book Website Available

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

The book website is up and running — www.dayontortsbook.com.

Several people received advance copies of the "selected cases" portion of the book and were kind enough to write down their impressions for me to use in a brochure that you will receive any day now. Those comments are as follows:

"John Day’s new book is the most in-depth, comprehensive and thorough analysis of Tennessee tort law compiled in years. Every practicing lawyer should have one!"
Sidney Gilreath, Knoxville

November 1, 2007

Pizza Contaminated with E-coli

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

General Mills Operations, a Wellston, Ohio, establishment, is voluntarily recalling approximately 3.3 million pounds of frozen meat pizza products because they may be contaminated with E. coli and may be linked to an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. Eight cases have been reported in Tennessee.

The products involved include the following:

10.2-ounce packages of "Totino’s The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza Pepperoni."

October 31, 2007

New Book

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

This is an update on my new book, Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers.

The book has been printed and is being shipped today from Florida. I will have it Friday afternoon. I already have orders for the book and will start shipping on Monday.

The new website, wwwdayontortsbook.com, will up and running on Thursday, November 1, 2007. The book can be ordered on this web site. You can also see a Table of Contents and sample chapter at the site.

October 29, 2007

The Price of Not Playing By the Rules

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

The risks of pushing through the envelope at trial are discussed in this opinion from the Ohio Supreme Court:

"In addition to the excessive damages given under the influence of passion or prejudice, the trial court detailed the misconduct of McLeod’s counsel. Civ.R. 59(A)(2). The court described counsel’s conduct as “discourteous” and “theatrical,” including “constant interruption of opposing counsel without bothering to object and obtain a ruling” so that he could “convey to the jury his own idea of what the witness should be saying, thus testifying for the witness, rather then [sic] making a genuine and valid objection to the question.” These interruptions, for example, included statements such as “This is all made up,” and “where did he come up with that, Judge?” and were asserted with no accompanying objection. This type of conduct became so prevalent that the trial
judge admonished counsel during a conference outside the presence of the jury."

…

October 25, 2007

Getting Emails into Evidence

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

You have the smoking gun email. Now, what do you do with it?

The law of discovery, good old fashioned hard work and a little luck can lead to fantastic evidence. But great evidence in your briefcase doesn’t win cases at trial – you have to know how to get that evidence before the factfinder.

This article from www.law.com addresses how to get emails into evidence.

October 22, 2007

Who Says The Law Cannot Be Fun?

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

A judge responds in verse to a claim from a prisoner that he was not provided with a proper diet. The prisoner included a hard-boiled egg as an exhibit.

Thanks to Trial Ad Notes for informing me of the Order.

October 20, 2007

Hail Mary Pass?

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

Pacman Jones, a true embarrassment to Nashville, the Titans, the NFL, and his family, has been sued for his alleged misconduct in Las Vegas which is said to have resulted in the paralysis of a man. I do not pretend to know the facts, do not want to take one second of my life to learn what they are, and therefore will not offer an opinion as to the merits of that case.

The lawyer for the plaintiff has also sued the Titans and the NFL for the incident. According to the Tennessean, "'[t]he fact that the NFL and the Titans did not punish Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones until after Tommy was paralyzed is a proximate cause of Tommy’s injuries,’ attorney Matthew Dushoff said before a news conference in suburban Las Vegas."

The incident did not arise at a football field. Or a team party. Or a locker room. It happened at a strip joint. In the off season.