Pardon me, but I have always been a fan of facts. Opinions are like … noses, everybody has one.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has analyzed paid claims data and discovered that in 2005 Tennessee had 10.1 paid med mal claims per 1000 active, non-federal physicians. Total paid claims were 156. The national average was 17.1 paid claims per 1000 active, non-federal physicians.
Tennessee ranked 12th lowest in the Nation by this measure. We are the fourth lowest in the South Census Region.
The highest court in Maryland has ruled that the economic loss doctrine did not bar a lawsuit against General Motors alleging that their front seats were unsafe because they collapsed rearward in rear-impact collisions. The claimants sought recovery of the cost of repairing the seats.
A quick summary of the 69-page opinion: "Maryland has joined those jurisdictions that recognize an exception to the rule which bars economic loss in tort. As we have seen, the reasoning behind the exception is that the likelihood is so great that severe bodily harm or death will result from the product defect, that we substitute actual present injury or product malfunction with the cost to repair the problem. Assuming that plaintiffs can adequately prove the substantive elements of their claims and objectively quantify the measure of their damages, Maryland has determined that the exception to the economic loss rule advances the practical goal of providing a remedy before the significant loss of life o r limb. To b e sure, in light of the general distaste for aw arding eco nomic losses in tort, if a petitioner has presented enough facts to qualify for the exception to the rule, then he or she has surmounted the grea test hurdle for pleading injury and this court cannot fathom why such economic losses would not qualify as a sufficient injury, or in the case of the Consumer Protection Act, loss for the purpose of pleading those claims."
The case is Lloyd v. General Motors Corp., No. 10 (Md. Ct .App.Feb. 8, 2007). Read it here.
Watch this story from the Washington Post increase the heat on the Justice Department, folks. There will be hearings on this, without a doubt.
A sample: "The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government’s racketeering case.
Sharon Y. Eubanks said Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s office began micromanaging the team’s strategy in the final weeks of the 2005 trial, to the detriment of the government’s claim that the industry had conspired to lie to U.S. smokers.
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down that portion of legislation requiring a plaintiff in medical negligence cases to file affidavits of merit in medical malpractice cases within 30 days of filing the complaint or face dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint.
The Court ruled that the statute imposed a requirement for commencement of an action that was greater than that imposed by Rule 3 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure. The Court went on to say that "[t]he constitutional infirmity in § 16-114-209(b) is the provision for dismissal if the affidavit does not accompany a complaint within thirty days. We do not hold today that the balance of § 16-114-209(b), requiring a reasonable-cause affidavit, is constitutionally infirm. Having said that, it appears that without the time limit of thirty days, the statute largely is duplicative of § 16-114-206 regarding the plaintiff’s burden of proof and medical expert testimony concerning breach of the standard of care in the community."
The case is Summerville v. Thrower, No. 06-501, (Ark. S. C. March 15, 2007). Read it here.
Cardinal Mahoney from LA. You read the story from the LA Times and decide for yourself.
An excerpt: "In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before Ratzinger became pope in April 2005, Mahony said [Father] Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal. The tape was "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur," Mahony wrote, according to papers filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in a lawsuit by four plaintiffs who allege that Caffoe abused them.
In October 2005, in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported that a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe’s bedroom, depicting "improper behavior" with high school boys. But the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity."
Tony Snow has a different opinion about the use of the "executive privilege" defense today than he did almost a decade ago.
Here is a sample from the folks at The Swamp: ""Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration,” the columnist wrote. "Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything.”
Read it all here.
I am pleased to report that this blog received its 500th comment the other day. We are approaching 1000 posts, a milestone that will be reached in June.
This blog began in February 2005. I truly enjoy writing it and wish I had even more time to devote to it.
Thank you for your wonderful comments and your words of encouragement. Please let me know what topics you would like me to cover more frequently and I will do my best to accomodate you.
There have been two bills introduced by Senator Spector that, if passed and signed into law, would be good for those of us who do contingent fee work and for the clients who hire us.
S. 813 provides as follows:
(a) In General- Section 162 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to trade or business expenses) is amended by redesignating subsection (q) as subsection (r) and by inserting after subsection (p) the following new subsection:
The Truck Safety Coalition has released data showing the number of fatal truck crashes by state. Tennessee had 156 fatal crashes in 2005 and 717 in the five-year period from 2001-2005. By comparison, Alabama had 122 fatal crashes in 2005 (706 in five-years), Kentucky had 124 (596), Arkansas had 116 (531), Mississippi had 91 (445) and Georgia had 229 (1162).
Tennessee had 2.62 fatal crashes per 100,000 people, the 15th highest rate in the country. Wyoming was the worst at 6.09. Rhode Island had the best rate at .09. Eight states in the Southeast were amoung the twenty states with the highest death rates.
Another 114,000 persons were injured in truck crashes in 2005.
Here is an interesting article about the admissibility of the testimony of a forensic economist. The article is written to give guidance to defense counsel about how to exclude such testimony.
