The jury in the Texas Vioxx case is hearing closing arguments today. I will let you know when I hear about the verdict.
UPDATE: Here is an article giving a brief summary of the arguments.
Florida Tort Reform
The Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment to limit attorneys’ fees in med mal cases to 30% of the first $250K in damages and 10% in any recovery about $250K.
So, a $1M verdict would entitle the patient’s attorney to a total fee of $130K. A $2M verdict would result in a fee of $260K. The result: in other than a slam dunk case where no liability or causation discovery was necessary, a plaintiff’s attorney would be working for $100 per hour or less, an amount less than the paralegal rate in major cities.
Florida plaintiffs’ attorneys then starting giving their potential clients the option of waiving their “constitutional right” to a fee cap.
Your Input
Last night I posted the 300th post to this blog in a little less than six months. We have had tremendous success – we have lots of people who visit this site regularly and who have told us that they enjoy what we have to offer.
What can we give you that would help you in your practice? Would you like more information about appellate cases from around the country? Should we spend more time on Tennessee law? Are you interested in the status of the tort reform debate around the country?
Let me know your thoughts. Use the “Comment” link or, if you would rather send me your thoughts privately you can email me at jday@branhamday.com.
Case Involving Suicide Allowed to Proceed
Elizabeth Shin, a student at MIT, committed suicide. Her parents sued MIT and others. A trial judge has dismissed the case against MIT but allowed it to procede against two psychiatrists and two administrators who are not mental health professionals. This article in the Boston Globe has a nice discussion of the legal theory advanced by the plaintiffs and accepted by the trial judge.
The plaintiffs are pushing the envelope on this one. However, as I said to a fellow plaintiffs’ lawyer the other day, there are only two types of lawyers who make common law – those that are stupid and those who take calculated risks.
Let me explain. Some of us take cases with full knowledge that we are going to have to advance the law to get to a jury. Some folks take cases with no idea that they have no right to recovery until they see the motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment. The problem with the latter approach is that some cases do not have the right facts to make good law or the facts are not developed appropriately to make good law. Similarly, if you don’t know you are pushing the envelope it may be hard to muster the best arguments in the time period allowed to respond to a motion.
Results of Mississippi Trial
Paul Minor, a friend and plaintiff’s lawyer from Mississippi, was indicted on a bunch of charges, including bribery. Oliver Diaz, Jr., a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court whom I got to know during some trips to Mississippi, was also indicted.
The trial has been going on for weeks. Last week, Justice Diaz was found “not guilty” on all counts and Paul was found “not guilty” on several counts and the jury was hung on some others.
Some folks say that Paul and the Justice’s most damning sin was that they were Democrats.
Verdict Against Greyhound
A federal court jury in Winchester has returned an $8M verdict against Greyhound for injuries to a passenger after a man attacked the driver who then lost control of the bus. You can read another press report of the story here.
The injuries were substantial; the plaintiff had some $1.6M in medical expenses.
The Plantiff was able to prove that the company knew of at least 43 prior incidents where passengers attacked drivers and yet it had done nothing to protect its drivers.
Should Verdicts Be Required to be Unanimous?
Tennessee and a minority of other states require that all 12 jurors agree on the verdict? This article comments on the practice.
I disagree with the requirement of unanimity. It imposes an unfair burden on the plaintiff, particularly in these times of massive anti-plaintiff sentiment fueled by aggressive campaigns of the insurance, health care, and manufacturing industries.
AIG Needs Tort Reform NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AIG’s recent financial disclosures make it clear that the nation’s property and casualty insurers need tort reform now or they wIll be headed to receivership.
I mean, AIG’s profit was only $3,990,000,000. For the 2nd quarter. As in 90 days. As in a profit of about $44,333,000 per day. As in about $1,850,000 per hour every hour of ewvery day. Which is a little over $30,000 per minute. Which comes to about $513 per second, of every hour, of every day, for 90 days. In a row.
Which is up about 50% from last year.
Brief Writing 101
An appellate lawyer in a big firm got his hand slapped by a 9th Circuit judge for his firm’s choice of words in a brief.
Some examples:
“The district court’s refusal to apply Daubert was erroneous and stands as yet another example of the court’s twisting the substantive law in furtherance of the procedural class action device.”
Tragic Truck Wreck
This article in the Tennessean is a tragic reminder of how quickly a life can be lost as a result of carelessness.
A truck driver for Diamond Logistics fell asleep at the wheel, went into a parking lot at a local market, and killed one man and injured three others.
A review of the records of the driver and Diamond Logistics will reveal whether the trucker was in compliance with the law at the time he was driving and whether Diamond Logistics was aware of a pattern of deviations from the law, if any. We have had considerable success evaluating driver logs and other materials and proving a pattern and practice of unlawful driving leading to hazardous situations. Hopefully, someone will quickly get to the bottom of this situation and find out what happened in the days and weeks preceeding the wreck.