Personal Injury Law

What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer - Part 17

Posted on May 19, 2008
The Willingness and Ability To Delegate.It is not impossible to be a great trial lawyer on your own, with no help from anyone.  But I don't know one.At a minimum a great trial lawyer needs an extremely competent secretary, one who can think for the lawyer  and keep that plates spinning when the lawyer is otherwise occupied...

"I'm Sorry" Avoids Lawsuits

Posted on May 18, 2008
A story that is of no surprise to anyone who knows anything about human beings ... except a decreasing number of doctors and hospitals.

Book Update

Posted on May 17, 2008
Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers 2008 has been updated.  The "Updates" section of the book's website, www.dayontortsbook.com, now includes all new torts decisions through Friday, May 1, 2008.I estimate that the book has been update by at least 75 cases in the past 9 months...

Appellate Argument Tips

Posted on May 16, 2008
This article by Judge Richard Posner (7th Circuit Court of Appeals) does a fine job discussing appellate briefs and oral arguments.A sample:"The second biggest mistake that appellate advocates make—after exaggerating how much the judges know about or are willing to devote time to learning about a given appeal—is to think that they can win by rubbing the judges’ noses in the precedents...

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What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer - Part 16

Posted on May 14, 2008
An Appreciation for the Discretion Vested in the Trial JudgeTrial judges are human.  Each of them have certain strengths and weaknesses.  Some may not have been at the top of their class in law school but know how to preside over the trial of a lawsuit...

Are the Results of Med Mal Trials Accurate?

Posted on May 12, 2008
Here is an interesting post from Torts Prof Blog:"After all the time and money spent, aren’t the results of medical malpractice litigation extremely accurate? Although perhaps better than earlier studies indicated, malpractice results are imprecise...

Part 18 What It Takes To Be A Great Lawyer - Part 15

Posted on May 09, 2008
An Understanding of the Human Condition and What It Takes to Motivate Jurors to ActionYou can't try jury cases if you don't understand how people think.  I am not talking about how  the way other members of the club think.  Nor am I talking about the thought processes or values of  the people you see at every disease ball...

What It Takes To Be A Great Lawyer - Part 15

Posted on May 09, 2008
An Understanding of the Human Condition and What It Takes to Motivate Jurors to ActionYou can't try jury cases if you don't understand how people think.  I am not talking about how  the way other members of the club think.  Nor am I talking about the thought processes or values of  the people you see at every disease ball...

Court Decides Apparent Agency Cases Concerning Hospital-Based Physicians

Posted on May 07, 2008
The Tennessee Supreme Court issued its first two tort law opinions of the year yesterday, both dealing with the same subject: the potential liability of a hospital for the acts of a non-employed,, hospital-based physician.  The Court said  that"to hold a hospital vicariously liable for the negligent or wrongful acts of an independent contractor physician, a plaintiff must show that (1) the hospital held itself out to the public as providing medical services; (2) the plaintiff looked to the hospital rather than to the individual physician to perform those services; and (3) the patient accepted those services in the reasonable belief that the services were provided by the hospital or a hospital employee...

Medical Malpractice Notice and Certificate of Merit Bill Sent to Governor

Posted on May 06, 2008
The Speaker of  the House signed a bill yesterday that makes it more difficult for patients to bring medical malpractice actions.  The Senate Speaker signed the legislation last week and therefore the bill is on its way to the Governor.The legislation requires that a patient give at least 60 days notice to the defendants before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit...

What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer - Part 14

Posted on April 30, 2008
A Healthy Respect for the Judicial SystemGreat trial lawyers have a healthy respect for the judicial system and, if they are jury trial lawyers, for the right to trial by jury and the jury system.  They demonstrate that respect in the way they speak and act around lawyers and non-lawyers...

Chamber of Commerce - Lawsuit Climate 2008

Posted on April 25, 2008
The Chamber of Commerce does an annual ranking of the "lawsuit climate" in the fifty states.  The winning state - Deleware - has the most pro-business climate.  The losing state - West Virginia - has the most anti-business climate...

What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer - Part 13

Posted on April 23, 2008
A Passion for the WorkIt is hard to be a great trial lawyer if you don't like what you do. Most people can quickly determine whether a lawyer – or the cashier at McDonald's – has a passion for the job. You can see that passion  in the face of a great trial lawyer, you can hear it in her voice, you can feel it in his writing...

Indiana Applies Res Ipsa Doctrine in Fire Case

Posted on April 21, 2008
Indiana is not known as a particularly progressive state when it comes to tort law (or anything else for that matter).But not even Indiana could deny a plaintiff the use of the res ipsa doctrine when the plaintiff caught on fire during surgery.You read that right...

New Study: Rollovers and Roof Cruch

Posted on April 18, 2008
Vehicle rollovers result in a significant number of fatalities every year, and there has been a vigorous debate about the roll that roof strength plays in those deaths.  Now, a new study from the Insurance Institute for HIghtway Safety reveals that stronger roofs would save lives...

What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer - Part 12

Posted on April 16, 2008
The ability and willingness to undertake (and share with the client) a cost-benefit analyis throughout the litigation. Things change in litigation.  For example, as mentioned in a least one previous post in this series, almost every deposition changes the value of a case...

Controversial Malingering Test

Posted on April 14, 2008
One of my favorite publications, Lawyers USA, has an interesing article about a new test which allegedly determines whether a personal injury plaintiff is malingering.  It is called the "Fake Bad Scale."The article says that "[a] leading critic of the test, Dr...

Medicare Deaths

Posted on April 11, 2008
"From 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S. Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion, according to the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study."So begins this article found on the MSN website...

What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer - Part 11

Posted on April 09, 2008
The Courage to Tell The Client the Truth Many clients don't want the truth.  A number of them want re-assurance that they are "right," regardless of the reality of the situation. Others demand to know that, at the end of the day, they will prevail...

Important Comparative Fault Case to Be Argued in May

Posted on April 07, 2008
The Tennessee Supreme Court has announced that it is going to hear oral argument in a very important case on Wednesday, May 7th, 11:00 a.m. in Knoxville.  The case is Tennie Martin et al. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. et al. (Franks,  author) (Susano, dissenting) - E2006-01021-SC-R11-CV...

Evidence Article

Posted on March 28, 2008
Regular readers know that one web site I frequent is that of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel.  Its  "Hot Cases" section frequently has cases from other jurisdictions that I find interesting and its quarterly magazine has articles I enjoy reading...

Nursing Home Relief Act Pulled By Industry After Release of Tort Report

Posted on March 26, 2008
Tennessee ranks 12th of the 50 states on the U.S. Tort Liability Index.   The list measures the  tort climate from the standpoint of the business and insurance community, so a rank of "1" is a pro-business, pro-insurance company state and a rank of "50" is that dark, dreary place inhabited by anti-gun, anti-life, pro-child pornography, tree-hugging communists  who serve of juries (hereinafter referred to as "liberals")...

Use of Demonstrative Aids At Trial-Revisted

Posted on March 24, 2008
Did you know that there was a statute that permits you to use demonstrative aids during closing argument (and probably during opening statement as well)?  Here is a  statute for your trial notebook.T.C.A. Sec. 20-9-303 permits a lawyer "to use a blackboard, models or similar devices, also any picture, plat or exhibit introduced in evidence, in connection with his argument to the jury for the purpose of illustrating his contentions with respect to the issues which are to be decided by the jury...

Case Selection

Posted on March 21, 2008
I have written on the subject of case selection on this blog in the past.  Here is a  link  to an article on the subject that I had published recently in Trial  magazine.  (Available only to AAJ members). I gave a speech on this subject recently in Memphis and generally received excellent reviews...

South Carolina Opens Door to Negligent Hiring Claim

Posted on March 19, 2008
The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant employer may not avoid a claim for negligent hiring, training, supervision, or entrustment by simply agreeing that it is vicariously liable for the actions of its employee.In James v. Kelly Trucking Company, the Court said that just because a company is vicariously liable for acts of an employee does not mean that it cannot be liable for its own negligence...

State Found Liable For Beating on UT Campus

Posted on March 18, 2008
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed an en banc ruling of the Tennessee Claims Commission and ruled that the the State was liable for damages suffered by a college student as a result of being beaten after she left a parking garage on the University of Tennessee campus...

Back from Trial

Posted on March 13, 2008
It's over.Rebecca Blair and I have been in trial in Columbia, Tennessee since February 25, 2008.  Our client was a eleven year-old boy who lost his 34 year-old mother to hyperkalemia (an excessive level of potassium which causes the heart to stop) a little over three years ago...

2007 Counsel for Claimants Reports

Posted on March 13, 2008
To those of you who had a medical malpractice judgment or settlement in 2007:  Please remember that  the 2007 "Counsel for Claimants" reports must be completed and sent to the Tennessee Dept of Commerce and Insurance on or before April 1, 2008...

Short Break Update

Posted on March 12, 2008
Well, it has been a longer break than I planned.  The trial started on February 25 and went to the jury shortly before lunch yesterday, March 11.   The jury actually started deliberations at about 12:45 and is returning to the courthouse for further deliberations today at 8:00 a...

Short Break

Posted on February 20, 2008
This blog started three years ago this week.  There have been 1175 posts totaling millions of words made to it.  In the process I have learned in a great deal and I sincerely hope that this blog has helped you represent your clients. I am taking a break for a couple weeks...

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