Day on Torts

Why no posts this weekend? Am I getting lazy?

I had to be in court in Nashville Friday morning to argue a motion in a products liability case and then went immediately to the airport to catch a flight to Boston. I had a great dinner at The Federalist on Beacon Hill Friday night. Work started Saturday morning at 7:30 and was finished at 2:00. I was staying on Arlington Street and walked down to the Wharf to meet an old friend for a cup of coffee. It was 55 degrees in Boston and the people of the city – thrilled at the warm weather – were out in droves.

I went back to the hotel to have a cocktail and then walked back to the North End to have dinner on Hanover Street I love walking in Boston, so I walked back to the hotel about 10:00.

Many tort lawyers in Tennessee also handle worker’s compensation cases. Here, for your reading pleasure, is a summary of the significant worker’s compensation opinions issued by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2005 as prepared by the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Advisory Panel.

Justice Birch resigned yesterday; the effective date of the resignation is August 31, 2006.

Justice Birch has served the State of Tennessee as a judge for 43 years, beginning as a General Sessions Judge, then serving 9 years as a trial judge and 19 years as an appellate judge. [Bio] His service on the Tennessee Supreme Court will be best remembered for his insistence that citizens accused of crimes receive a fair shake in the criminal justice system and his steady opposition to imposition of the death penalty given the current circumstances that give rise to its imposition. He is a man of courage and conviction. His leadership will be missed.

This resignation follows that of Justice Anderson earlier this week.
We now have two openings on our five member court. The Governor will be able to select two judges from panels provided to him by the Judicial Selection Commission. Under our rules, no more than two judges can come from any one Grand Division. Chief Justice Barker is an East Tennessean, Justice Holder is a West Tennessean, and Justice Clark is a Middle Tennessean. Therefore, one of the appointees can come from any Grand Division but both cannot come from the same Grand Division.

The State of Tennessee suffered a blow yesterday when Justice E. Riley Anderson announced that he was stepping down effective August 31, 2006.

Justice Anderson, from Oak Ridge, has served on the Supreme Court for over 15 years and, earlier, served on the Court of Appeals for 3 years. [Bio] He is a compassionate man who understands his responsibility to the people of this State and who fulfilled that responsibility with honor and distinction.

I love his dissent in Carroll v. Whitney, 29 S.W.3d 14, 22 (Tenn. 2000) and Dotson v. Blake, 29 S.W.3d 26, 31 (Tenn. 2000). His opinion in Hunter v. Ura just one year ago helped bring justice and reason to the resolution of medical negligence cases. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this: Justice Anderson will be sorely missed as a member of our Court.

Here is an interesting decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals that discusses the liability of a property appraiser who told the plaintiff that “‘he could not himself perform the appraisal’ but [said] that ‘he would find another appraiser and would supervise and review that appraiser’s work.'” Well, the appraisal was wrong and the “supervising appraiser,” who did not charge for his work, was sued.

The Court reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the “supervising appraiser,” holding that there was a jury issue on the nature of the relationship between the parties and the extent of the movant’s role in the transaction.

Although this case was decided under Massachusetts law, I bring it to your attention because Tennessee has a number of recent decisions on the issue of “gratuitious undertaking.” (For example, see Biscan v. Brown here and cases cited therein.) Massachusetts law on the subject is a little different than Tennessee law, but the opinion is a nice refresher on the topic.