Personal Injury Law

Asbestos Lawsuit News Military Defense Contractor Faces Class Action Lawsuit

Posted on November 14, 2009
KBR, formerly Kellogg, Brown, and Root and previously a subsidiary of Halliburton, faces injury lawsuits filed by both military and civilian personnel for burning toxic waste, including asbestos, as a cost-saving means of avoiding proper toxic waste disposal...

Memphis, Tennessee Area Nursing Homes well below national standard

Posted on November 12, 2009
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as outlined in a recent article in Memphis? Commercial Appeal, nearly half of the nursing homes in Shelby County, Tennessee scored well below average. Of the 31 nursing homes in the County, 15 received scores of 1-2 stars out of a possible 5 stars...

Recent Tennessee Workers Comp Trial

Posted on November 02, 2009
http://www.hhpfirm.com/lawyer-attorney-1053037.htmlLast week a had a workmen's compensation trial in Nashville, TN. The issue was whether or not my client was an employee or independent contractor. Unfortunately this is an issue that i am seeing more often throughout Tennessee...

Product Liability Lawsuit Blair Chenille Robes' Wrongful Death Fires

Posted on October 31, 2009
In California, Evelyn Rogoff was fixing herself hot tea on an electric stove when her chenille robe caught fire. Her husband attempted to smother the flames. He would die in the pursuing months from the attempt but not before hearing that his wife had passed...

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Insulin Syringe and Catheter Sheath Medical Device Recalls

Posted on October 29, 2009
Yesterday, all Accusure insulin syringes distributed since January 2002 were recalled by device manufacturer Qualitest Pharmaceuticals. The Huntsville, AL-based manufacturer of Accusure estimates the recall affects 250 million insulin syringes. So far, the company has admitted four reports of the needle detaching from the syringe...

How do I get out of a speeding ticket in Tennessee?

Posted on October 25, 2009
Should I pay the ticket or try to fight it? The Government is giving out Speeding Tickets in record numbers. They are also giving out other types of moving violations. Many people who get Speeding Tickets in Tennessee are traveling through the state and are not familiar with the many speed limit changes that occur on Tennessee highways...

Tennessee Asbestos Lawsuits and Injuries Continue, TN Supreme Court Expands Who Can Recover Damages

Posted on October 20, 2009
Last week, a Chattanooga businessman pleaded guilty in federal court on charges of conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act, an offense punishable by up to $250,000 fine and five-year prison sentence. The crime: improper disposal of asbestos. The culprit: Standard Coosa-Thatcher Co...

Device Recall of 5,400 Defective Philips Defibrillators

Posted on October 03, 2009
Philips Electronics, a Dutch company, announced a recall this Tuesday of 5,400 defibrillators for potential defective memory chips. The majority of these defective medical devices being recalled are defibrillators sold in the U.S. These memory chip failures render the device inoperable...

Tennessee Workers are often denied medical treatment under the comp system

Posted on October 03, 2009
There are parts of our workers compensation system that I really like and there are parts that I do not like. One benefit that is wonderful when it works correctly is the right to lifetime medical benefits for your workman's compensation injury. Basically, in Tennessee if you sustain a permanent injury as the result of a work accident you are entitled to medical benefits for that injury for the rest of your life...

Nursing Home Sexual Predators Arrested ? Tennessee Law Blog Follow-Up

Posted on September 24, 2009
SEVIERVILLE, Tennessee ? Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will be pursuing criminal charges against two TN nursing home employees accused of taking pictures of residents in the nude and in degrading situations. Both female former employees of Pigeon Forge nursing home, ages 35 and 50, were arrested yesterday after each being indicted by a grand jury on four counts of health care abuse...

Dangerous Medical Device Recalls ? Medtronic and the FDA

Posted on September 18, 2009
Medtronic, the medical device manufacturer, has had many of its medical products subject to a flurry of Class I recalls and warnings in recent months. These include Medtronic catheters, defibrillators, and pacemakers being issued the FDA most severe warnings for defects that may cause potentially severe injuries...

Limitations on Age Discrimination in Employment in Tennessee

Posted on September 14, 2009
The Higgins firm represents people in Tennessee who have been discriminated against by their employers for protected reasons. Recently, we are seeing many more age discrimination claims. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §621 et seq...

New AMA Guidelines Impact TN workers comp cases

Posted on September 10, 2009
I have been handling workmans compensation cases for almost 20 years now. One thing I have seen over the years is that workers seem to get less and less for their permanent injuries. The latest attack on these benefits has come in the form of a impairment guideline known as the The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition...

Historic Qui Tam Settlement Whistleblowers to Share $102 Million for Revealing Drug Manufacturer Misconduct

Posted on September 09, 2009
Pzifer?s off-label marketing of their anti-inflammatory drug Bextra will cost the pharmaceutical company a record-breaking $2.3 billion, $102 million of which will be split by five qui tam relators (whistleblowers). This most recent whistleblower lawsuit is the fourth illegal marketing lawsuit Pzifer?s settled since 2002...

Minimum Wage Violation - Hooters "Girls" Sue for Uniform Kickbacks and Tip Violations

Posted on September 03, 2009
Over a dozen East Coast Hooters Girls have filed a wage and hour lawsuit suing their employer for violating minimum wage laws. The recognizable orange running shorts and tank top uniforms are part of a wage and hour lawsuit filed by 13 Hooters waitresses (?Hooters Girls,? per company literature)...

Tennessee Speeding Tickets on the Rise

Posted on September 01, 2009
With the Tennessee travel season in full swing, police are out on the highways writing speeding tickets and other traffic violations. People traveling through the State of Tennessee from all over the country are being written speeding tickets, citations, and traffic tickets in record numbers...

Tip Pooling in Vegas Casino Sparks Lawsuit

Posted on August 28, 2009
Tip pooling is the cause of a wage lawsuit between Wynn Las Vegas and its dealers. Disputed is the casino?s policy of sharing dealers tips with their floor supervisors, a pay practice instituted in 2006. According to dealers, the payouts from the tip pool were a way for the casino to pay managers more without having to pay them out-of-pocket, a less-common violation of federal tip pooling law but nevertheless an illegal pay practice if true...

Lowe?s Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Settles for $1.72 Million

Posted on August 27, 2009
Or, to borrow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)?s less modest description from the title of its press release: RAMPANT SEX HARASSMENT COSTS LOWE?S $1.7 MILLION IN SETTLEMENT OF EEOC LAWSUIT Lowe?s, the nation?s second-largest home improvement retailer, has agreed to pay $1...

Chattanooga Nursing Home Admissions Supended

Posted on August 19, 2009
New patient admissions at Life Care Center of Chattanooga Nursing Home have been suspended by the Tennessee Department of Health. The facility recently underwent a complaint investigation and survey and multiple deficiencies were found to exist that jeopardize and potentially jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of residents...

FDA Dangerous Device Recall ? Hospira Medical Equipment Recall for Defective AC Cords

Posted on August 19, 2009
Hospira, Inc., a Illinois medical device manufacturer, has initiated a product recall for medical devices with defective AC power cords. These cords are manufactured by Electri-Cord Manufacturing Corporation. Click for a defective power cord image courtesy of FDA Recall page...

Franklin, TN settles wrongful termination suit with former employee for $2 Million

Posted on August 18, 2009
The City of Franklin, Tennessee has settled a wrongful termination lawsuit filed against it by Joe Williams, a former City Solid Waste Director, according to an article in the Tennessean. The settlement amount included a payment of $2,000,000.00 and a formal apology to Mr...

Tip Pooling Pay Practicies' Legality under Tenessee's New Minimum Wage Rate

Posted on August 15, 2009
Tennessee wage workers? received what will likely be their final minimum wage increase for a while when the federal minimum wage (including tipped employees') increased last month to $7.25. Tennessee, having no minimum wage statutes of its own, followed this last of three annual minimum wage increases begun in 2006...

Important Change to Tennessee Workers Compensation Law

Posted on August 14, 2009
The TN legislature made an important change to the Tennessee Workman's Compensation Law. Specifically, compensation is limited in work comp cases if the employee returns to work with the pre-injury employer at the same rate of pay. However, the employee can re-open the case for more money if they lose their job within a certain amount of time from the settlement...

Dangerous Steroid Supplements - FDA Public Health Advisory

Posted on July 30, 2009
FDA issued a public health advisory on Tuesday warning consumers to immediate stop using and discard all American Cellular Labs supplements. Many of these dangerous steroid supplements were being labeled as dietary supplements, or as containing ?steroid-like? ingredients, when in fact these supplements contain synthetic steroids...

Tennessee Minimum Wage Increases Today - Additional Unpaid TN Overtime Lawsuits Expected

Posted on July 24, 2009
Federal minimum wage (and Tennessee minimum wage) rose today from $7.25 from $6.55 an hour. This affects 30 states, including Tennessee, who either have minimum wage below the federal rate or, like Tennessee, have no minimum wage provisions of their own...

Dog Attack Puts Child in Georgia Intensive Care

Posted on July 15, 2009
Continuing hospital intensive care and an ongoing police investigation are the result of a Augusta, Georgia dog attack of a two-year-old. On July 10, after scaling the chain link fence between his and the neighbor?s house, 4 vicious dogs left the toddler with over 200 stitches and in critical condition after biting him more than 100 times...

Recall of Georgia-Based Pharmaceutical Co. Painkiller

Posted on July 15, 2009
Georgia generic drug manufacturer Brookstone Pharmaceuticals issued a drug recall today after FDA officials discovered potential overdose dangers and corresponding dangers for drug-related injury, such as liver injury, from a manufacturing error. Unlike earlier manufacturing-based drug recalls Tennessee Law Blog has reported, Brookstone Pharmaceuticals of Alpharetta, Georgia did not negligently dose its pills or provide an ineffective product...

Nursing Home Sexual Abuse National News

Posted on July 09, 2009
It?s not a been week since I posted ?Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Disturbing Trend in Tennessee, Neighboring States? on Tennessee Law Blog that national news was made again by another sexual predator lurking in a nursing home. This time, the sexual abuser was an unmonitored male nursing home resident...

Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Disturbing Trend in Tennessee, Neighboring States

Posted on July 02, 2009
Yesterday, a KY nursing home nursing assistant was indicted on accounts of video voyeurism and adult abuse for recording nude video of one of the nursing home residents under her care. The western KY nursing home where this occurred was Dawson Pointe in Dawson Springs and had previously be cited by Kentucky state officials...

Hip Replacement Issues with the Zimmer Durom Cup

Posted on June 10, 2009
Individuals who have had total hip replacement surgery involving the use of a Duron Cup, manufactured and distributed by Zimmer Holdings, Inc. may experience problems due to the failure of the device. The Durom Cup is a metal alloy implant made from a single piece of material...

Tennesseans affected by Fentanyl Patch Recall

Posted on June 07, 2009
On December 31, 2008, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson recalled two lots of 50 mcg Duragesic pain patches due to potential tears in the product. If the product has a rip or tear, there is a potential for direct exposure to the powerful drug within the patch, fentanyl...

Eye Injury Victims Compensated by Contact Lens Solution Maker

Posted on June 06, 2009
Tennessee Law Blog is happy to report that, in a follow-up to an earlier TN law blog on defective product eye injuries caused by ReNu with MoistureLoc, the contact lens cleaner maker Bausch and Lomb has settle over 600 personal injury lawsuits to the tune of $250 million...

Dog Bite Victim the Toddler Son of Famous Linebacker

Posted on June 02, 2009
Child victims of dog bites received national media attention this week with the injury of Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Harrison?s 2-year-old son, James Harrison III, spent six days in a children?s hospital after the family dog, a pit bull, bit the boy on the thigh...

Tennessee wage and hour cases on the rise

Posted on May 31, 2009
Over the past few months our office has had an large increase in wage and hour cases throughout Tennessee. I do not know if it is a product of the current economy or people are just tired of being mistreated. Regardless, it is unfortunate but it is often the case the employers try to increase their profit by cheating the people out of their wages...

Unpaid Wages Recovered by TN Carwash Workers in $130K Wage and Hour Settlement

Posted on May 26, 2009
In a follow-up to a Tennessee Law Blog?s wage and hour reporting last July (Unpaid Wages and Unrecorded Hours Subject of Local Nashville, TN Car Wash Lawsuit), I and my fellow TN employment attorneys at the Higgins Firm are glad to announce a $130,000 settlement between Shur-Brite Hi-Speed Car Wash and 120 of its current and former Tennessee wage employees...

Two Major Workplace Lawsuits in News

Posted on May 19, 2009
Costco employees have filed a unpaid wages lawsuit in California stating the company had repeatedly violated the state?s wage and labor law. Costco faces allegations similar to those Tennessee Law Blog reported last year in the nationwide unpaid overtime lawsuits against Wal-Mart stores...

Tennessee consumers may be in danger from recalled Hydoxycut Products

Posted on May 13, 2009
Just a couple of years ago a company called MuscleTech produced dietary supplements with ephedra that was believed to have caused strokes, heart attacks and death. That company went into bankruptcy and put new dietary supplements on the market under known as Hydroxycut...

TN Supreme Court Case Affirms New Cause of Action

Posted on May 09, 2009
The Tennessee Supreme Court has established that a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress is a separate stand alone cause of action. Okay, so what does that mean and what is the big deal? Generally, each insurance policy has a limit of coverage for each person...

Nondiscriminatory Pay ? After Ledbetter, the Next Steps to Stopping Sex-Based Pay Discrimination

Posted on April 28, 2009
Today marks a critical point in the year, a date that should make us as a Tennesseans and as U.S. citizens not simply ashamed but motivated to action. April 28 (known as Equal Pay Day) marks the point into the year a woman would have to work to in order to catch up with her male counterpart's pay in 2008...

Nursing Home Lawsuit Caps Fail TN House of Reps

Posted on April 23, 2009
Following up to earlier Tennessee Law Blogs' call to arms: Victory! Despite the best efforts (and money) of nursing home industry lobbyists, the measure to place limits on nursing home abuse/neglect cases died in the Tennessee House of Representatives today in subcommittee thanks to elected officials like Rep...

Tennessee Burn Victims Not Justly Compensated by Comp Act

Posted on April 19, 2009
I have represented a number of burn victims in my legal career. To no surprise these cases usually involve painful life changing injuries. Among the cases we have handled, I have had burn cases arise in products liability claims, apartment fires and Workman's compensation cases...

Kentucky and Tennessee Nursing Home Deaths Make News

Posted on April 16, 2009
Nursing home deaths from abuse or neglect in Tennessee do not always make the nightly news, especially while an investigation is ongoing. Perhaps the recent reporting of nursing home deaths in this week?s news comes on the crest of TN nursing home industry's anti-lawsuit legislation or maybe, finally, nursing home deaths from negligence are being treated with the importance they deserve...

False Claims Act (Qui tam) Law) under Review, Congress to Expand Whistleblower Incentives in Fed Fraud Lawsuits

Posted on April 07, 2009
To ensure stimulus package moneys are properly used, the False Claims Act may see its greatest expansion since the False Claims Act Amendments of 1986. The False Claims Act, also known as Lincoln?s Law for the laws established to reduce the rampant fraudulent billing during the Civil War, was created to punish misuse of government funds and recover lost government moneys by establishing a financial incentive for whistleblowers...

Tennessee Nursing Home Bill in TN House Vote Today

Posted on March 31, 2009
Tennesseans with loved ones in a TN nursing home should be very concerned with a bill pending vote later today in the Tennessee House of Representative. The bill, called the ?ChooseCareTN Act,? threatens to put a price tag on nursing home neglect and abuse in the State of Tennessee...

Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Deaths ? 13 Admitted Fatalities from Defective Heart Device

Posted on March 24, 2009
Deaths from defective Medtronic heart devices continue despite recall in 2007. When Medtronic first announced its recall of Sprint Fidelis leads, the company acknowledged five defective device-caused deaths. This month, Medtronic updated its defective Sprint Fidelis death count to thirteen, nine of which due directly to defibrillator failure from faulty Sprint Fidelis leads...

Tennessee Consumer Protection Act Under Fire

Posted on March 21, 2009
For more than 30 years the TN consumer protection act has been the law in Tennessee. This law protects consumers from fraudulent, deceitful and misleading business tactics. Now the legislature wants to gut the act and take away much of its power. Why the legislature is worried about protecting criminal business and not their citizens is beyond me...

FDA Recalls Two Defective Medical Devices Baxter Infusion Pumps and Covidien Pediatric Trach Tubes

Posted on March 16, 2009
Recalls, recalls, recalls--FDA officials were busy working with manufacturers of dangerous medical devices last week to inform the public of potentially injurious medical products it has decided must be removed from market. Included in these FDA recalls were Baxter International?s Colleague Volumetric Infusion Pumps and Covidien?s tracheostomy tubes for children...

Drug-Injury Lawsuits Supported in 6-3 Supreme Court Decision

Posted on March 09, 2009
Tennessee drug injury liability lawsuits, drug injury lawyers, and those injured by prescription drug side-effects across the U.S. received surprising support with last week?s Supreme Court decision ruling against drug manufacturer Wyeth. The 6-3 decision in Wyeth v...

TN Nursing Home Neglect Damages Restored by Appeals Court

Posted on March 03, 2009

Tennessee Overtime Cases on the Rise

Posted on February 24, 2009
Our firm has filed several new Tennessee cases over the past few months involving employees who are not being paid overtime. It seems that some employers are cutting corners in these hard economic times. It is too bad that some are doing so illegally and at the workers expense...

Natrecor?s Qui Tam Lawsuit , Latest in Fed's Medicare Fraud Recovery Cases

Posted on February 23, 2009
Johnson & Johnson executives received bad news last week when the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) stated it would pursue two False Claims Act (whistleblower) lawsuits regarding the heart drug Natrecor. These government fraud whistleblowers' lawsuits claim Natrecor was illegally marketed for off-label use...

Wage, Hour Lawsuits Continued ? Wal-Mart Settles Yet Another Unpaid Wage Lawsuit

Posted on February 20, 2009
Wal-Mart wage employers in South Carolina filing a class action wage and hour lawsuit will find justice for their unpaid wages--justice to the tune of a $49 million settlement. This latest wage and hour lawsuit settlement, by no means the first for Wal-Mart (check out the $352M wage and hour lawsuit settlement last year), Carter v...

Tennessee Overtime Issues

Posted on February 17, 2009
I am not sure if it is the economy or just some strange coincidence but it seems my office is fielding more calls than usual with regard to workers not receiving overtime pay. Most people know that they are to receive overtime pay if they exceed 40 hours in a work week...

Potential Dangerous Prescription Drugs under Federal Safety Investigation Listed on FDA Site

Posted on February 13, 2009
The FDA website recently published names of potentially dangerous drugs under review. Among these potentially dangerous prescription medicine side effects are bleeding caused by a diet drug, suicidal ideationfrom an antipsychotic prescription medicine, and possible birth defects from popular antidepressant drugs...

Tennessee Bouncer Assaults Bar Patron

Posted on February 12, 2009
Our firm has been retained by two men who was violently assaulted by a security guard at a Nashville club. The bar is Cadillac Ranch in downtown and the assault occurred on February 7, 2009. We are looking for witness who may have been at the club when the event occurred or who has witnessed any similar events or fights at the club...

Defective Saw Injuries Client

Posted on February 09, 2009
We represent a client who was injured as a result of what we believe was a defective miter saw. Specifically, our client was using a miter saw when a bolt failed and the blade came free cutting into our client's leg. This appears to be a classic products liability case...

Harrassment Retaliation Lawsuit from Nashville Local in Sexual Harassment Case Will Get Its Day in Court

Posted on February 03, 2009
Discriminated workers and workplace discrimination lawyers in Tennessee and across the U.S. received a boost last week when the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became law, allowing discriminated employees facing unequal wages to sue for disparate pay. (Read more in last week?s Tennessee Law Blog?s Pay Discrimination Law Passes Senate)...

When a Tennessee tenant can get their security deposit back

Posted on February 03, 2009
We are currently representing people in Tennessee that have had their apartment security deposits retained by their landlord. We believe some apartments have been keeping security deposits as a matter of routine and fraudulently accusing tenants of damaging the apartments...

Pay Discrimination Bill Passes U.S. Senate

Posted on January 26, 2009
Workplace discrimination lawyers in Tennessee and across the U.S. were expectantly watching coverage or checking our Blackberries for live reports last week as Senate voted 61-36 for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. This important piece of legislation plugs a two-year hole in workplace pay discrimination law and Tennessee employees' rights put there by a 2007 Supreme Court decision...

Nursing Homes Attempt to Change Tennessee Law - Put Price Limit on TN Nursing Home Injury, Neglect & Abuse

Posted on January 21, 2009
Nashville Business Journal reports Tennessee nursing home officials are pressuring Tennessee Legislature to limit damages awarded to plaintiffs in courts. Tennessee remains 1 of 16 states without caps on damages on how much abused TN nursing home residents, or their survivors, may recover, leaving such decisions to Tennessee juries and Tennessee judges to determine...

TN Circuit City employees may be able to reopen work comp claims

Posted on January 19, 2009
With the unfortunate news of more layoffs from another large company, Circuit City, it is important for all Tennessee employees to be informed of potential help they may have in these hard times. One benefit many employees are unaware of is the ability to reopen an old workers compensation claim if you are laid off...

Zyprexa (Eli Lilly) Discussing $1.42 Billion Drug Settlement

Posted on January 15, 2009
Atypical antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, after an 18-month drug injury investigation into manufacturer Eli Lilly's unsafe off-label marketing to vulnerable elderly and young patients, is expected pay a $1.42 billion settlement, $362M of which will go to 32 states, including Tennessee, and the District of Columbia...

Tennessee Supreme Court addresses work comp issues

Posted on January 07, 2009
The Tennessee Supreme court recently attempted to clarify an issue we often see in workers compensation cases. This issue arises when someone has a pre-existing problem, such as arthritis, and a work accident causes the condition to become worse. The issue becomes is the now work related pre-existing injury that is not covered under the TN comp act or is it compensable...

Two Big FDA Drug and Device Recalls Extend into New Year

Posted on January 05, 2009
FDA drug and medical device officials are continuing their efforts into 2009 with FDA recalls of two dangerous products: the pain patch Duragesic (fentanyl) and a Class I Recall of the ophthalmic medical device Healon D. In both cases, the FDA recall was limited to specific lots of affected, and dangerous, medical products...

Numerous Wal-Mart Wage-and-Hour Lawsuits Settled

Posted on December 26, 2008
Wal-Mart, in an exciting follow-up to Tennessee Law Blog?s Wal-Mart wage and hour lawsuit story posted earlier this month, said Tuesday that it will settle its numerous unpaid wage lawsuits in Tennessee and across the nation. These unpaid Wal-Mart wage and hour lawsuits? damages amount to at least $352 million and are largely the result of Wal-Mart managers forcing Wal-Mart employees to work off-the-clock...

New National Nursing Home Rating System Confirms Poor State of Tennessee's Nursing Home Care

Posted on December 26, 2008
In the first government effort on a federal level to rate our nation's nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its evaluation of 16,000 U.S. nursing homes. That same day The Tennessean was quick to jump on what experienced Tennessee nursing home lawyers have known for years: Tennessee nursing homes are some of the worst in the nation...

Tennessee Lawyer John Higgins discusses speeding tickets

Posted on December 23, 2008
Lawyer John Higgins discusses your legal options in relation to speeding tickets in Tennessee. If you have questions regarding a speeding ticket contact John Higgins at TNJUSTICE.COM

Tennessee Nursing Homes Rated Under New System

Posted on December 22, 2008
The federal government has implemented a new nursing home rating system. Ratings on Tennessee Nursing homes has now been released. In the next few days I will submit a blog explaining the new system and how Nursing Homes have been rated in Nashville and throughout the state...

LENDERS WHO MADE BAD LOANS ARE BEING SUED BY THEIR INVESTORS

Posted on December 18, 2008
Subprime loan fraud litigation continues to find new classes of plaintiffs. In the latest class actions, lenders are being sued by their investors. People who bought stock in Countrywide Home Loans and New Century Mortgage have brought class action lawsuits against the lenders for their reckless lending activities, according to an article by Alison Frankel of The American Lawyer...

Alleged Sexual Assault at Tennessee Nursing Home

Posted on December 15, 2008
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating reports of possible nursing home abuse at a Tullahoma, TN care facility where a condom was allegedly found in a 88-year-old resident?s bed. The female nursing home resident is presently being treated at a local Tennessee hospital for numerous infections...

Wal-Mart May Get Off Easy with a $54.3M Wage and Hour Settlement for Overtime and Break Violations

Posted on December 10, 2008
In an ongoing class action wage and hour lawsuit, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may be given a break, despite breaking employment law by having its employees work overtime and skip breaks without pay. Filed in Minnesota court in 2002, the lawsuit alleges break and wage violations and represents about 100,000 current and former hourly Wal-Mart employees who claim they were forced to work without pay before and after their shifts so Wal-Mart managers could meet profit and productivity goals...

Tennessee Workers May re-open their work comp claim

Posted on December 06, 2008
This week alone more than 1000 workers in Tennessee have lost their job. Many of my prior workers compensation clients have called to see if there is anything that can be done other than unemployment benefits Sometimes we can give these folks some more financial help...

A Difficult Tennessee Workman's Compensation Case

Posted on December 06, 2008
This week I tried a fairly unique worker's compensation case in Nashville. My client is a strong hard working lady who has been employed in a hospital all of her working life. After years of working in the hospital my client developed a severe latex allergy...

Dietary Supplement Recall ? Undeclared Substances in Recalled Appetite Suppressants

Posted on December 04, 2008
In my years of writing Tennessee Law Blog and warning Tennesseans of dangerous products, I have avoided publicizing dietary supplement recalls, partly because dietary supplement recalls are so common, partly because I prefer to use this pace to warn readers of the far more dangerous and larger betrayal of trust found in Tennessee pharmaceutical drug injuries and recalls...

Knoxville Nursing Home put on Special Focus List

Posted on December 01, 2008
Hillcrest West nursing home in Knoxville, Tennessee has been flagged by the Federal government as a chronically poor performer which recently placed the facility on its Special Focus Facility list. According to a recent article by Scott Barker in the Knoxville News Sentinel, of the 319 nursing homes in Tennessee, Hillcrest West is one of only three that received this designation by the U...

Etowah, TN Nursing Home Abuse Halts Admissions

Posted on November 28, 2008
Etowah Health Care Center, a 120-bed nursing home in Etwoah, TN, has been ordered by Tennessee Department of Health to cease admissions after alleged physical nursing home abuse by one female nursing home staff member. Fines against the nursing home for violating residents? rights have been levied and local investigations into the criminal abuse concluded...

Whistleblowers Help Federal Government Recover $694.5 Million from Drug and Device Manufacturers? Fraud in 2008

Posted on November 17, 2008
The 2008 fiscal year concluded with $694.5 million settlements from medical device manufacturers and drug pharmaceutical companies accused of misusing government moneys. Of this $694.5 million, $644.5 million came from False Claims lawsuits. These qui tam-driven lawsuits are designed as an incentive for whistleblowers to report their employers' abuse of federal moneys, whether through fraudulent billing, outright theft, or other misuse of federal funds by corporations...

Tainted Heparin Seized & Covidien Insulin Syringes Recalled

Posted on November 10, 2008
FDA officials were busy in the final days of last week as U.S. Marshals under FDA orders seized tainted heparin from Celus Labs in Cincinnati on Thursday. Meanwhile, after three months on market, FDA officials stepped in to help healthcare device manufacturer Covidien recall dangerously mislabeled insulin, a potentially lethal packaging error that has already led to at least one injury...

Laid off Tennessee Workers may be able to open old comp cases

Posted on November 09, 2008
As a result of our struggling economy many Tennessee Workers have been laid off from work. In fact, over the past couple of months Whirlpool, GM, and Summit have announced layoffs and closings leaving hundreds of Tennesseans without employment. One benefit that many of these workers may have that they are unaware of is they can often reopen old workmans compensation cases to obtain more money for their injuries...

Chattanooga Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Posted on November 04, 2008
Thirty-three year old cerebral palsy sufferer, Robert A. Young, died while under the care of a Chattanooga health facility, though if you'd asked his family members for the month after his death, they'd say he was doing fine. That's because that's what the Chattanooga facility's staff told with each call, though they knew of Young's death...

Helping your Personal Injury Lawyer

Posted on October 31, 2008
Everyone knows the lawyer's role in a personal injury or wrongful death case. The lawyer However, it is important to remember that the client can play an important role in maximizing the success of the case. When I meet with my client I will explain to them how they can make me a better attorney on their case...

Five Deaths Force Thoratec HeartMate II Heart Pump Recall

Posted on October 27, 2008
Following 5 deaths and 27 confirmed instances in which defective electrical wires in their heart pump implant lead to serious injury and death, Thoratec Corp is requesting all patients with the HeartMate II mechanical heart pump have their implants checked...

Tennessee Highway Patrol Faces Sexual Harassment Lawsuit for Retailiation and Sex Discrimination of Employee

Posted on October 21, 2008
Nashville circuit court received Friday a sexual harassment lawsuit against Tennessee Highway Patrol from Martha Sanders, a woman who conducts sexual harassment training for THP, and her attorney. This harassment lawsuit follows an investigation earlier this year into charges of sexual harassment against the Tennessee agency...

Tennessee Truck Accidents- matters to consider

Posted on October 20, 2008
It seems to me that too often lawyers and the public think of truck accident cases just like in other car wreck case. Unfortunately, this failure to consider a truck accident case as unique often a tragic mistake. In doing so, the trucking company may escape responsibility for putting an unsafe vehicle on the road, pushing a driver to the point of exhaustion and/or putting profits over public safety...

Memphis Tennessee Whistleblower?s False Claims (Qui Tam) Lawsuit Cites Medtronic?s Promotion of Off-Label Usage

Posted on October 16, 2008
Medtronic, the major medical device maker who has appeared numerous times this year in Tennessee Law Blog?s defective drugs and medical device blogs, now finds itself in a whistleblower (False Claims) lawsuit filed by a former Tennessee employee Ami Kelley, a Nashville, TN Medtronic attorney...

Tennessee Employees Are Often Incorrectly Classified as Independent Contractors

Posted on October 14, 2008
It seems that my office is seeing a bigger trend of employers classifying their workers as "independent contractors" in an effort to avoid providing benefits. We often see these cases when someone is hurt on the job and they are denied Workman's compensation benefits upon the grounds that they are an independent contractor...

Tennessee Sexual Harassment Suit before Supreme Court Expected to Expand Retaliation Protections for All Workers

Posted on October 10, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court, whose 2008-09 term began last week, announced this week its sympathy for a Nashville, Tennessee employee who filed a Title VII anti-retaliation lawsuit (workplace anti-discrimination protections) when her employer fired her allegedly for testifying about her sexual harassment by her boss...

TN Department of Heath Fines Murfreesboro Nursing Home, 90% of Nursing Homes Nationwide Cited for Violations

Posted on October 03, 2008
A Tennessee nursing home investigation uncovered violations in administration and nursing services for Boulevard Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, a 100-bed nursing home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Health has suspended all new admissions and imposed a $1,500 penalty and recommended a federal penalty of $4,000 a day until the major violations are corrected...

Medtronic Issues Another Class I FDA Recall

Posted on September 29, 2008
A little over a week has passed since the medical device manufacturer Medtronic issued its Class 1 Recall for its automated external defibrillators (AEDs), this AED recall following a number of dangerous Medtronic medical device recalls Tennessee Law Blog has reported...

5 Years Since Tennessee Nursing Home Fire

Posted on September 27, 2008
It has been five years since 16 people died in a nursing home fire at the NHC home in Nashville. The fire brought to the forefront the need for facilities to have mandatory fire evacuation plans and better systems to get residents to a safe place in case of a fire...

Medtronic Recalls Another Dangerous Medical Device from Market, LIFEPAK CR Plus Automated External Defibrillators

Posted on September 18, 2008
FDA has issued a Class I recall for LIFEPAK CR Plus automated external defibrillators (AEDs) produced by Medtronic?s subsidiary Physio-Control, Inc. This urgent medical device recall was issued for 249 LIFEPAK CR Plus units manufactured between 4/2004 and 8/2007 and distributed until the end of 2007...

Nashville Security Guard Charged with Murder

Posted on September 12, 2008
A Nashville, Tennessee grand jury has issued a second-degree murder indictment against security guard Jeremy Holmes in the death of Adam Villegas. This unfortunate case began when Holmes got into an argument outside the Marathon Sports Bar in Nipper's Corner...

Spinal Injuries from Off-Label Use of Medtronic's Infuse Bone Graft Drowned by Medtronic's Recent Defibrillator Coverage

Posted on September 10, 2008
Medtronic, the medical device giant best known for its heart and diabetes technologies, has recently released a flurry of press releases regarding the FDA?s approval of its software to detect cracks in potential defective Medtronic defibrillator leads...

Teen Suspects in Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Case

Posted on September 02, 2008
Last Friday, Minnesota shocked the world of nursing home abuse with a report of 15 residents who had been sexually and emotionally abused in heinous and humiliating ways by four nursing assistants. While abusive nursing home staff working in collusion is not unknown in nursing home abuse cases, what was most shocking was who these four abusers were: teenage girls...

Doctors Rarely Report Suspected Nursing Home Abuse

Posted on August 26, 2008
Apparently, ?Do no harm,? means keeping a tight lip on suspected nursing home abuse if you?re among the thousands of U.S. doctors who every year fail to report the abuse found to affect an estimated 2.1 million older Americans. This according to the Providence Journal, Rhode Island's most prestigious newspaper in article reviewing the recent failures in the medical community on reporting elder and nursing home abuse...

Concerns about Tennessee security guard companies

Posted on August 24, 2008
Many of Nashville's elderly and disabled citizens have much to fear due to rising crime rates at the apartment complexes where they live. There are seven high-rise public housing towers who's incidents of criminal activity have increased substantially in recent days...

Tennessee Firefighter Awarded $1.5 Million Compensation after Amputation to Madison County Doctor's Malpractice

Posted on August 19, 2008
The Jackson Sun reported this weekend on the conclusion of a Tennessee medical malpractice trial that awarded a former Henderson County volunteer firefighter $1.5 million in compensation for a Tennessee doctor's post-operation negligence that lead to the amputation of his left leg...

Los Abogados del Pueblo

Posted on August 17, 2008
Muchos hispanos vienen a los estados unidos a trabajar y a buscar una mejor vida y a aprovecharse de las oportunidades que se encuentran aqui. Muchos de ellos de dedican a la construccion o a trabajar en una fabrica. De vez en cuando, se pasara un accidente en el trajabo que deja al trabajador en un estado de incapacidad...

FDA Recall of Boston Scientific's Artery Stents

Posted on August 15, 2008
FDA officials and manufacturer Boston Scientific are recalling three types of Boston Scientific's carotid artery stents and delivery systems NexStent Monorail, NexStent Carotid Stent, and Monorail Delivery System for unnecessary and potentially lethal dangers posed to heart surgery patients...

Pill Manufacturing Oversight Recalls Actavis Generic Drugs

Posted on August 13, 2008
Sixty-five different potentially dangerous generic drugs manufactured by Actavis Totowa, LLC, one of the world?s largest generic drug manufacturers, were recalled from market last week. Regulators found that the company?s Little Falls, NJ plant didn't meet safe manufacturing standards for pills...

FDA Review of Recalled Heparin Deaths Conservative, Insults Victims of the Baxter-Chinese Blood Thinner

Posted on July 31, 2008
I?ve been covering the tainted, dangerous Baxter-Chinese heparin recall, in our Tennessee Law Blog since the story broke in February. While dangerous heparin remains, its circulation is finally diminishing. From 1 January to 31 March, 93 heparin-related deaths were reported to the FDA, and yesterday FDA officials stated that they?ve completed their review...

Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Sparks Drive for New Laws

Posted on July 25, 2008
Earlier this month, Tennessee Law Blog reported on a nursing home sexual abuse case just across the Tennessee border in Hopkinsville, KY. There, a male attendant confessed to sexually abusing two nursing home residents, one who was mentally incoherent and the other physically handicapped; this was suspect not to be the only instances of sexual assault...

Over Half A Million Commercial Drivers Keep On Trucking with Commercial Licenses Despite Full Disability

Posted on July 23, 2008
Tennessee big rig truckers know that every two years commercial drivers need a physical to renew their commercial driver?s license or ?CDL?. This CDL examination ensures the driver is in good health--or at least in good enough health to drive a big rig or a school bus...

Evidence Destroyed in Tennessee Railroad Accident

Posted on July 21, 2008
Recent events make it imperative that people who are injured in train wrecks need to act extremely fast to preserve video evidence. Routinely, railroad companies keep surveillance footage of their tracks and trains as they run routes. This surveillance footage can be invaluable to a person attempting to establish what happened in any particular train collision with a vehicle or pedestrian...

Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuits Reveal Corporate Fraud

Posted on July 16, 2008
In various nursing home abuse articles for Tennessee Law Blog and my various appearances on Tennessee Mornings, I have attempted, as a successful nursing home abuse lawyer, to communicate how nursing home lawsuits and fear of lawsuits help deter future cases of abuse and neglect in Tennessee nursing homes...

High Court Upholds Crime Victims' Right to Sue for Damages Caused by Inadequate Premise Security

Posted on June 04, 2008
Just west of Tennessee, down Texas way, an Oklahoma hospital will have to answer for its lack of adequate security on its premises after four years of appealing a crime victim's lawsuit. Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided 5-4 that St. John Medical Center in Tulsa would have to defend itself in a lawsuit filed by one of its nurses...

Dangerous Contact Lens Solution Recall ? Tennessee Lawyers and Lawsuits

Posted on May 30, 2008
It is estimate that hundreds of contact lens wearers and dozens of Tennesseans injured by ReNu with MoistureLoc and Complete MoisturePlus contact lens solutions remain unaware of the recall of these 1-step lens cleaning solutions and the serious injuries these solutions caused...

Tennessee man shot by security guard

Posted on May 20, 2008
Recently, Adam Villegas, as killed while trying to leave Marathon Sports Bar in Nashville, Tennessee. According to police, a security guard employed by SecurityWise, shot Villegas through the open driver's side window of his Saturn Ion after the men argued in the parking lot...

FDA Proposes New Dangers: Removing the Right to Sue

Posted on May 19, 2008
FDA officials ate crow last week as actor Dennis Quaid spoke before the House Oversight panel. Quaid, whose newborn twins nearly died after being given unsafe heparin, spoke passionately against FDA officials' claims that FDA-approval was the ultimate, end-all proof that a drug?s safe...

ReNu Contact Lens Solution Lawsuits

Posted on May 15, 2008
Expensive, uncomfortable, and potentially debilitating. That?s the cure. The cause is the blinding infection Fusarium keratitis and the culprit is ReNu with MoistureLoc, a contact lens causing eye injury in Tennessee and the other 49 states. FDA and ReNu recalled all ReNu with MoistureLoc products over a year ago, but cases of eye injury continue to arise and Tennesseans in Nashville and throughout Tennessee continue to seek legal aid and representation to recover moneys for corneal transplant surgery (also known as corneal grafting or penetrating keratoplasty)...

Chinese Heparin Recall Continues

Posted on May 15, 2008
Follow-up to Tennessee Law Blog?s 02-05-08 Heparin Recall Article. Concerned that not all health care providers have recalled their medical products containing unsafe Chinese heparin, FDA officials again notify health care professionals about the FDA heparin recall...

FDA Recall: Digitek Medication Puts Nashville, TN Heart Medicine Patients at Risk

Posted on May 08, 2008
FDA officials announced a nationwide recall of the heart drug Digitek (digoxin), last week. Nashville patients with heart problems were made safer by the recall of these generic heart drug tablets used to treat abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure...

New Tennessee Medical Malpractice Law Passed

Posted on May 01, 2008
For years the medical and insurance lobby in Tennessee has been trying to place financial caps on medical malpractice cases. In attempting to sell this legislation the lobbyist argued that it would stop "frivolous" lawsuits. Our legislature, however, realised that a cap would do nothing to prevent frivolous cases...

Tennessee Nursing Home in Trouble

Posted on April 18, 2008
Nursing homes in Tennessee are regulated by the Tennessee Department of Health (TDOH). TDOH takes an active role in investigating complaints made by nursing homes residents and the friends and families of residents. TDOH also performs annual surveys on nursing home facilities to ensure that proper care is being given to residents and to attempt to reduce the risk that residents will suffer from neglect or abusive behavior from staff members at the facility or from other residents within the facility...

Some laid off Tennessee Workers can reopen work comp cases

Posted on April 17, 2008
Aluminum manufacturer Aleris International Inc. announced that it will close its alloy facility in Shelbyville, Tenn. Unfortunately, this is just another plant closing in Tennessee. It is important to note that some of the workers who lost their jobs and have a previous workman's compensation claim may be able to re-open their case...

Tennessee Nursing Home Punished by State

Posted on April 09, 2008
This week the Tennessee nursing home industry pushed legislation to give them limited liability for the neglect of residents. It is amazing that the industry has the guts to ask for a special law created just to limit their liability when there has been record fines and citations of inadequate care this year...

Tennessee Age Discrimination cases rising

Posted on April 01, 2008
After the past few years the state of Tennessee and my office has seen more age discrimination cases. There is some debate as to why. The most commonly given reason I hear for the rise in job related age discrimination is that the work force is simply getting older...

Right to re-open a Tennessee workers compensation case

Posted on March 25, 2008
There are many considerations in determining the value of a workman's compensation claim. One of the most crucial factors is whether the "cap" applies. The is a limit in Tennessee on an award if the employer goes back to work for the same employer. Basically, if an employee returns to work for the same employer, making the same or greater hourly wage as before the injury, then their permanent disability is limited to no more than 1...

School assaults

Posted on March 04, 2008
This week I was interviewed by a local news station, Fox 17, to discuss the sexual assaults which recently occurred on school buses. Unfortunately, my office has handled several inadequate security cases and school liability cases. These cases never come to my office until the damage has been done...

Baxter Heparin Recall - Update

Posted on March 04, 2008
Baxter International Inc. has announced the recall of all remaining, potential lethal doses of its heparin products including its possibly defective: Sodium injection multi-dose Single-dose vials HEP-LOCK heparin flush This completes the series of heparin recallsTennessee Law Blog has been covering...

Two Big Qui Tam Cases Settle This Week, Reveal Nature of False Claims Lawsuits

Posted on February 23, 2008
Amendments to The False Claims Act in 1986 as well as Tennessee?s own Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act (TMFCA) allow qualified whistleblowers to earn a portion of the government?s recoveries (called ?qui tam provisions?) when whistleblowers, known as ?relators,? appropriately report their company?s defrauding the government...

Tennessee Legislature Considering Nursing Home Immunity Bill

Posted on February 23, 2008
The Tennessee Legislature is considering a bill that would cap any nursing home neglect or abuse jury award to $300,000.00. Apparently, the legislature does not believe that we as citizens are smart enough to sit on a jury and award a sum that is in proportion to any neglect suffered by a nursing home resident...

FDA Recalls Dangerous Heparin Made in China

Posted on February 15, 2008
FDA recall of Baxter International?s drug heparin made the front page of yesterday?s Wall Street journal after FDA officials confirmed four deaths from the blood-thinner. The culprit appears to be a Chinese plant producing the active ingredient in heparin...

FDA Recalls Medtronic Infusion Pump (SynchoMed EL Implantable) ? Dangerous Device Causes Injury or Death

Posted on February 08, 2008
Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer who has formerly warranted a dangerous device warning in the pages of this Tennessee Law Blog, has been issued a FDA Class I Recall for a series of its defective infusion pumps. (For explanation of why defective infusion pumps are dangerous, check out Tennessee Law Blog?s defective device article on the dangerous Alaris Pump modules...

Tennessee Politicians' Price Tag on Nursing Home Abuse

Posted on February 01, 2008
As I write, your Tennessee representatives in Nashville are hearing arguments for putting limits to the amount of monetary awards clients can receive in Tennessee nursing home abuse lawsuits. Proponents are using the same rhetoric as they use elsewhere, ignoring nursing home deaths, neglect, and physical abuse in Tennessee nursing homes, that makes the abuser (the negligent nursing home) the victim...

Ortho Evra Injuries ? Dangerous Drug Warning

Posted on January 25, 2008
Ortho Evra contraceptive patch users should be aware of injuries caused by the transdermal (skin) birth control patch. FDA investigations have revealed Ortha Evra contraceptive users have a significantly higher risk of developing serious blood clots (aka ?venous thromboembolism? or VTE) than women taking oral contraceptives...

FDA Publicizes OTC Drug Dangers to Children

Posted on January 18, 2008
Children?s OTC cold medication was the subject of the FDA?s public warning issued yesterday, a subject that has been awaiting strong censure for many years. The FDA report states ?Over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold products should not be used to treat infants and children less than 2 years of age because serious and potentially life-threatening side effects can occur from such use...

Benzene Attorneys Protect Against Dangerous Carcinogens

Posted on January 14, 2008
Benzene lawsuits have been big news lately in Texas, Tennessee, and Florida--some good news and some bad news. Good news is these benzene lawsuits are having their day in court; bad news is these benzene lawsuits are occurring because government oversight of its citizens? safety is lax--forcing personal injury lawyers to step in and clean up the carcinogens through lawsuits after the cancer has been caused, soil contaminated, damage done...

Wackenhut accused of billing government for services not provided

Posted on January 08, 2008
News 4 in Nashville ran a story that Wackenhut has billed the government for security services that were not provided. If this is true they have billed us as tax payers for nothing. I think we would all agree that billing someone for work you do not perform is nothing more than stealing...

FDA Issues Safety Warning for Duragesic Pain Patch

Posted on January 06, 2008
The Duragesic pain patch and other, generic pain patches similar to Duragesic have received a second safety warning from FDA regulators. FDA officials have issued this second warning to doctors and patients using the Duragesic pain patch due to many injuries and deaths reportedly caused by the drug fentanyl...

FDA Product Recall Resource

Posted on January 02, 2008
A few weeks ago I reported on a dangerous medical device FDA recall involving infusion pumps. In that Tennessee Law Blog, I wanted to include more information on FDA recalls but didn?t have the luxury of space or time. As a Nashville plaintiff?s attorney, I feel it is my place to make the public aware of FDA recalls and other dangerous products so that I might offer my services to the injured, just as I do whenever a Tennessee client suffers physical damage from a workplace injury or defective products or financially from workplace discrimination or denied social security...

Nursing Home Complains about oversight

Posted on December 31, 2007
I recently read an article on our local paper, The Tennessean. The article was from a lawyer who represents nursing homes. He was complaining as to how costly litigation is for the nursing home and that he believes the government is being to picky on their inspection of the homes...

Dangerous Medical Device - Infusion Pump Recall

Posted on December 26, 2007
Cardinal Health, an $87 billion global manufacturer of medical equipment, announced today the voluntary recall of all Alaris Pump modules shipped prior to September 27th. These Alaris Pump modules (also known as the Medley Pump module) have dangerously defective spring mechanisms which can make these defective medical devices dangerous and deadly...

Tennessee Workplace and Indirect Discrimination

Posted on December 19, 2007
There?s a certain conception of workplace discrimination that I?d like to correct in this week?s Tennessee Law Blog. Too often Tennessee workers whom HHP partner Attorney Rick Piliponis and I have met with do not realized that they were being discriminated against, though they were passed over for promotions or denied benefits, because no one was mean to them or made inappropriate comments...

Tennessee Man Charged in Nursing Home Rape

Posted on December 09, 2007
There appears no getting away from nursing home abuse this month as nearly 300 Nashville nursing home residents look for new homes and facilitated care after Medicare and Medicaid was cut this week form McKendree Village for nursing home violations. Meanwhile, state representatives heard from Tennessee nursing home care advocates this week on the need to put more emphasis on home and community-based care, as I discussed in this previous nursing home abuse blog...

Another Tennessee Nursing Home Blog (McKendree Village)

Posted on December 03, 2007
For this week?s Tennessee Law blog entry, I?d hoped to define workplace discrimination under Tennessee employment law and discuss how many recent class action discrimination cases are not the result of meanness or maliciousness on the part of an employer...

Correcting Tennessee Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

Posted on November 26, 2007
Nursing home abuse--like most widespread, longstanding problems--unfortunately doesn?t make the news very often. It?s usually only publicized when some new Tennessee nursing home is closed because of care violations, staff abuse, or general neglect. That?s why I found it refreshing when NewsChannel 5 (Nashville) reported Friday on the general issue of Tennessee?s negligent nursing home care and not just on a single nursing home's violations...

Legal Help for Aviation Accident Injury Victims

Posted on November 21, 2007
The day before Thanksgiving, and many of us are rushing to write our blogs and last minute correspondences before we board a commercial airline and trust our lives to those tin birds whose wings don?t flap. But I feel safe flying. As Superman says in the movies, ?Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel...

Veterans Home Cited for Neglect

Posted on November 12, 2007
The recent citations Tennessee Veterans? Home in Murfreesboro has received for nursing home neglect have been receiving some news coverage of their own today, perhaps because it is Veterans Day, perhaps because of the two women greeting the patriotic parades today in downtown Nashville with pictures of two veterans who had fallen not during combat but, according to their survivors, from neglect in the Murfreesboro veterans? home...

False Claims Act Recovers $2 Billion in 2007 Fiscal Year

Posted on November 07, 2007
This last fiscal year (10/01/06 ? 09/30/07), federal False Claims lawsuits (which I?ve previously written about here, here, and elsewhere) recovered over $2 billion in taxes through settlements and judgments, according to figures released last week by the U...

Tennessee Arbitration Agreements

Posted on November 06, 2007
Next month I will be flying to New York with my client and two witnesses to arbitrate a case that occurred in Tennessee. We have to argue this case out of state and pay thousands of dollars to a private arbitrator chosen by the company that injured my client...

Tennessee Mornings Follow-Up: TN Non-Compete Contracts

Posted on October 31, 2007
Leaving the Tennessee Mornings studio earlier today, I realized there were still a few points that I wasn?t able to cover on-air concerning Tennessee non-compete contracts. Unfortunately, I still don?t have the time right now to go into most of them...