Man sues claiming that an energy drink gave him an erection that would not subside.
The drink is called "Boost Plus."
For a list of dealers near you, please call 1-800-4StickUp.
`Negligent Sale of Motorcycle?
Can a motorcycle dealer be held liable for selling a motorcycle to a person who did not have a motorcycle license?
Not in Mississippi. The Mississippi Supreme Court recently considered a case where a dealer sold a motorcycle to an 18-year who it knew was not a licensed operator. A representative of the dealer who knew the buyer was not licensed allowed him to leave the dealership on the bike and saw him operating it in town. The buyer died in a motorcycle wreck three days later.
The Court first rejected a claim for negligent entrustment, saying that it did not exist in the context of a sales transaction. It also found no duty under the common law for selling the motorcycle to an unlicensed driver.
Injunction Prohibiting Defamatory Speech Permissable
The California Supreme Court has ruled that a court may issue an order prohibiting a defendant in a defamation case from repeating statements about the plaintiff that were deemed defamatory at trial.
The concern about such a ruling is that an injunction is a "prior restraint" and would be a violation of the right of free speech. But the California Court thought to the contrary, and said that "preventing a person from speaking or publishing something that, allegedly, would constitute a libel if spoken or published is far different from issuing a posttrial injunction after a statement that already has been uttered has been found to constitute defamation. Prohibiting a person from making a statement or publishing a writing before that statement is spoken or the writing is published is far different from prohibiting a defendant from repeating a statement or republishing a writing that has been determined at trial to be defamatory and, thus, unlawful."
The opinion has a nice collection of law around the country that reaches a similar result. The dissent does a fine job collecting opinions to the contrary.
Fetal Monitoring
A professional liability insurer has posted this information on fetal monitoring for doctors.
The opening paragraph: "Initially, the fetal monitor was developed for the intrapartum period to better evaluate the status of the fetus during labor. Earlier identification of pending acidosis and hypoxia would alert the obstetric team, leading to more timely intervention and thus a significant reduction in the incidence of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Though clinical trials have failed to demonstrate a significant impact on morbidity and mortality, fetal monitoring is now essentially universal."
This is interesting:
Things Not to Say to a Judge
Never tell a judge that she is "a few fries short of a Happy Meal."
Eyewitness Reliability Expert Testimony Permitted
The Tennessee Supreme Court has a reversed its previous position and determined that it will permit juries to hear evidence from qualified experts on the reliability of eyewitness identification. The Court had ruled that such testimony was not admissible in 2000.
Now, in State v. Copeland, the Court has reached a different result. After reviewing advances in the field over the last few years, the Court said:
"In our view, it is far more likely for the jury to accredit the eyewitness than the expert. If eyewitness identification is a cornerstone of the criminal justice system, the jury is its foundation. It is also our view that the test in McDaniel is sufficient to allow the trial court to properly evaluate the admissibility of expert testimony on the reliability of eyewitness identification. To the extent that Coley holds otherwise, it is overruled. The essential role of the judge, as the neutral arbiter in the trial, is to govern the admission of the evidence within the rules, permitting only that expert testimony which substantially assists the jury in its consideration of the issue. The McDaniel test provides the trial judge with the necessary guidelines to properly exercise his or her discretion."
SVMIC Lowers Rates
Good news for all concerned. SVMIC, the doctor-owned professional liability insurer, has announced a rate reduction. You probably won’t read about falling medical liability insurance rates in the newspaper, but you can tell your friends and neighbors that rates are dropping even though the Legislature has not placed caps on damages in medical malpractice cases.
Here are the rate changes, by specialty:
Anesthesiology – 14.1%
Cardiac Surgery – 14.1%
Gynecological Surgery – 14/1%
Family Practice – non-procedural – 9.3%
Orthopedic Surgery – 9.3%
Pediatrics – 9.3%
Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine – 5.2%
Internal Medicine + 3.3%
Infectious Disease, Hospitalists + 3.3%
Gastroenterology + 5.0%
Interventional Cardiology + 5.8%
Pathology +10.0%
Emergency Medicine +15.0%
Most other specialties – 4.5%
Today
I have been in mediations the last two days and have two depositions in a very significant case today. Therefore, I simply do not have time to do a substantive post.
I will take time to say one thing, however. This is my 1000th post on this blog. 1000 posts in 27 months. I must say that I have enjoyed every minute of it.
I hope that this blog has helped you better serve your clients. I know that writing it has helped me serve our firm’s clients.
Tennessee Administrative Rules and Regulations
The Tennessee Department of State has administrative rules and regulations on its website.
Failure to Make Record Causes Reversal
The opening paragraphs of this opinion from the Supreme Court of Missouri sum up the case nicely:
"This case involves a motion to enforce a settlement agreement in a tort action. The Eatons contested the motion alleging they did not authorize the figure offered by their dismissed attorney that was accepted by the defendants.
The Eatons originally filed suit for property damage to their home allegedly caused by groundwater made toxic by waste discharged by a nuclear fuel processing operation conducted by the defendants. They refused to sign a proffered agreement on the basis that they never authorized the settlement figure and had dismissed their attorney.