Day on Torts

You cannot count on getting more time to do “discovery” in response to a motion for summary judgment. In Guzman-Ruis v.. Hernandez-Colon the defendant filed motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs received one extension of time to respond, but failed to respond by the extended deadline. Some two months later, plaintiffs requested another extension to conduct further discovery. The court of appeals affirmed the district court’s denial of plaintiffs’ motion, stating that such extensions required due diligence both (a)in pursuing discovery before the summary judgment initiative surfaces and (b)in pursuing an extension of time thereafter. Read the opinion here.

To avoid this problem, start your discovery as early as reasonably possible. If the motion for summary judgment comes early, immediately serve the discovery you need and seek the depositions you need. Make sure your motion for an extension does not just ask for “more time;” be specific about what you need. And, for heaven’s sake, if you get an extension do your best to get your discovery done in the time you have been given.

Dayontorts.com knows no bounds to bring you what’s goin’ down in tort law.

Apparently my man Eminem (is it still cool to say “my man”?)(come to think about it, is is still cool to say “cool”?) wrote a “song” called Brain Damage, and told Rolling Stone that the song lyrics that discussed his childhood experiences with the plaintiff DeAngelo Bailey were true. Plaintiff decided to sue Eminem, thankfully deciding that it was a better course than cappin’ the dude. The suit alleged false-light invasion of privacy and negligence.

The Michigan Court of Appeals held that a claim of false-light invasion of privacy was not made out because the song contains several clues that the lyrics should not be taken literally and, given plaintiff’s admission that he picked on Eminem and did “bully type things” to him, the “substantial truth” test was met.
The negligence claim was dismissed because the plaintiff did not properly raise that issue on appeal.

The Supreme Court Of Mississippi has affirmed a trial court’s denial of motions to dismiss claims brought against a Mississippi bishop and Diocese arising out of priest pedophilia. The Church asserted First Amendment and other claims in an effort to avoid the suit.

A discovery dispute was also resolved by the Court.

Read the opinion here. To those who don’t have time to read the 80+ page opinion (including concuring and dissenting opinions) here is a newspaper article reporting on the case.

Last year former Supreme Court Justice Penny White, former Court of Appeals Judge Joe Riley and I started “Justice Programs.” The company produces seminars for Tennessee lawyers.

Last year was a great success. We had hundreds of people from across the state attend. This year we have expanded our efforts to offer 15 CLE hours in one program, including 3 hours of ethics credit, so that Tennessee lawyers can meet their annual CLE requirement in one program.

For more information see our website