Personal Injury Law

SVMIC - 2008 Financial Results - Part 3

Posted on July 16, 2009
This is the third post about State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company's 2008 financial results.  Click on the links to see Part 1 and Part 2. New malpractice claims asserted against SVMIC insureds dropped 2.5% in 2008.  The company reports that 83% of all cases were resolved in favor of it's policyholders on a company-wide basis...

SVMIC - 2008 Financial Results - Part 2

Posted on July 15, 2009
Our last post discussed State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company's  $251,321,000 policyholder surplus.  This post will discuss other aspects of the company's finances. As of December 31, 2008, SVMIC had total assets of $1,324,500,000 assets...

Use of the Exhibit Stamp in Adobe

Posted on July 14, 2009
The Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog has a great post called "Add Dynamic Exhibit Stamps in Acrobat using a free stamp set."  The electronic exhibit stamp has  both a static graphic element and a changing numeric or alphabetic element and permits you to electronically stamp documents with exhibit numbers or letters...

ER Docs in Arizona Get Special Treatment in Courtrooms

Posted on July 13, 2009
Torts Prof lets us know that the elected representatives in Arizona believe that ER doctors should not be held responsible for their negligence unless the patient can prove his case by clear and convincing evidence.

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

SVMIC - 2008 Financial Results - Part 1

Posted on July 13, 2009
SVMIC continues to enjoy wonderful profitability, even as the number of physicians it insures declines. SVMIC - State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company - is a physician-owned insurance company that was created over 30 years ago.  It has grown from a company with paid-in capital of $7,500,000 to a entity with a policyholder surplus (think: net worth) of $251,321,321...

David Mills Does It Again - A Reader Supplies the Caption

Posted on July 13, 2009
David Mills, appellate lawyer and cartoonist from Ohio, supplied the cartoon.  A reader supplied the caption.  In fact, lots of readers suggested captions, and David choose this one. I must admit that I was a fan of a caption suggested by Kpawss ("Surprisingly, a lineal descendant appeared during probate...

Thoughts About Efficiency in Law Practice

Posted on July 12, 2009
For lawyers, time is money.  For lawyers who charge hourly rates, inefficiency may result in more fees on the front end but will result in a clients over time. For contingent fee lawyers, efficient practice increases profitability.  This blog post from Litigation Cost Control reminds us of the efficiencies that come from the use of forms and checklists...

Do You Want to Go Paperless in Your Office?

Posted on July 11, 2009
Or at least move in that direction?   Here is a great post from a lawyer who has figured out how to do it. An an excerpt: In the three years that I've been practicing as a solo lawyer I have been completely paperless. Before that, when I worked in a large firm, I kept the files that I worked on by myself in a completely paperless form...

Motion to Compel Defense Counsel to Wear Shoes Without Holes in the Souls

Posted on July 10, 2009
You read the title correctly.  Apparently Bill Bone in Florida believes that his adversary "wears shoes with holes in the soles when he is in trial."    He believed that defense counsel did so "as a ruse to impress the jury and make them believe that [his adversary] is humble and simple without sophistication...

Post-Sale Duties

Posted on July 10, 2009
The current Brooklyn Law Review contains this article by Ken Ross and J. David Prince provides an overview of the post-sale duty sections of the Restatement (Third) of Torts:  Products Liability. The article provides an overview of the Restatement (Third)'s post-sale duty sections...

Motion to Compel Defense Counsel to Wear Shoes Without Holes in the Soles

Posted on July 10, 2009
You read the title correctly.  Apparently Bill Bone in Florida believes that his adversary "wears shoes with holes in the soles when he is in trial."    He believed that defense counsel did so "as a ruse to impress the jury and make them believe that [his adversary] is humble and simple without sophistication...

West Virginia Rejects Claim That Ford Should Have Used Laminated Glass in Side Window

Posted on July 07, 2009
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has ruled that a products liability claim was preempted by FMVSS 205, a safety standard that it says permits vehicle manufacturers to make a choice between tempered glass and laminated glass in side windows...

Medical Research, Anyone?

Posted on July 07, 2009
Here is a list of medical sites created by  from Exposing Deceptive Defense Doctors by Dorothy Sims as posted here.   *www.nlm.nih.gov/ This is the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health, with a great search site. * www.guidelines...

Georgia Supreme Court Reverses Med Mal Verdict Because of Error in Jury Instructions

Posted on July 06, 2009
Georgia has a pattern jury instruction called the "hindsight" instruction.  It provides as follows: In a medical malpractice action, a defendant cannot be found negligent on the basis of an assessment of a patient's condition that only later, in hindsight, proves to be incorrect as long as the initial assessment was made in accordance with reasonable standards of medical care...

GM Allowed to Escape Responsibility to Victims in Pending Tort Cases

Posted on July 06, 2009
Here is a copy of the court order in the GM bankruptcy that makes tort victims stand in line with other general creditors of the company. The discussion of successor liability issues begins on Page 50.  Here is key language from Page 60 and 61:     This Court fully understands the circumstances of tort victims, and the fact that if they prevail in litigation and cannot look to New GM as an additional source of recovery, they may recover only modest amounts on any allowed claims—if, as is possible, they do not have other defendants who can also pay...

A Tort Lawyer Looks at the Death of Steve McNair UPDATED

Posted on July 06, 2009
Nashville is mourning the death of Steve McNair, former quarterback of the Tennessee Titans. McNair was murdered during the early morning hours of Saturday, July 4.  It is not completely certain who murdered him, but news reports indicate that the police are not looking for suspects and appear to be exploring whether McNair's 20-year old girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, killed McNair and then shot herself in the head...

A Tort Lawyer Looks at the Death of Steve McNair UPDATE NO. 2

Posted on July 06, 2009
Nashville is mourning the death of Steve McNair, former quarterback of the Tennessee Titans. McNair was murdered during the early morning hours of Saturday, July 4.  It is not completely certain who murdered him, but news reports indicate that the police are not looking for suspects and appear to be exploring whether McNair's 20-year old girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, killed McNair and then shot herself in the head...

Off Topic - Palin Resigns

Posted on July 04, 2009
Advice to Governor Mark Sanford:  Remember the words of Elmer Fudd.  "Shhh. Be vewy, vewy quiet." 

Article about Requirements for Pleading Facts in Complaints

Posted on July 03, 2009
Last fall I wrote about the new standard for pleading in federal court announced in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly,  550 U.S. 544 (2007).    Now, a new article by Andrée Sophia Blumstein appearing in the July 2008 edition of the Tennessee Bar Journal studies Twombly in more detail and comments on the decision in Ashcroft v...

Post-Sales Duties

Posted on July 03, 2009
The current Brooklyn Law Review contains this article by Ken Ross and J. David Prince provides an overview of the post-sale duty sections of the Restatement (Third) of Torts:  Products Liability. The article provides an overview of the Restatement (Third)'s post-sale duty sections...

Maxwell Strikes Back

Posted on July 02, 2009
Maxwell Kennerly's Litigation and Trial blog is a must-read for lawyers who practice civil litigation of almost any type.  His posts are timely, thoughtful, and relevant. Take this post, "'How Other Countries Judge [Medical] Malpractice,'" By A Law Professor Who Doesn't Know Medical Malpractice Law", in which Maxwell appropriately blasts an editorial by a torts professor who needs a reality check...

GM Will Reman Liable for Future Products Claims

Posted on July 01, 2009
The New York Times reports that General Motors wil not be let off the hook for  future products liability claims when it emerges from bankruptcy. 

Article on the New Medical Malpractice Notice and Certificate of Good Faith Legislation

Posted on July 01, 2009
My article on the new medical malpractice notice and certificate of good faith legislation (which goes into effect today, July 1) made the cover of the July edition of the Tennessee Bar Journal.  Here is the article. Anyone who practices in the field of medical negligence needs to become familiar with this legislation...

New Look

Posted on July 01, 2009
Technical glitches added a couple days to the process,  but Rob and the folks at LexBlog completed the transition to the new format yesterday.  I hope you enjoy it.

Closing Argument Requires Reversal

Posted on June 30, 2009
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has reversed a $2.4 million jury verdict for the plaintiff because of misconduct by plaintiff's counsel during closing argument. In the words of the Court:  "We are compelled to reverse and remand for a new trial because of pervasive and improper remarks by Mr...

Closing Argument Requires Reversal

Posted on June 30, 2009
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has reversed a $2.4 million jury verdict for the plaintiff because of misconduct by plaintiff's counsel during closing argument. In the words of the Court:  "We are compelled to reverse and remand for a new trial because of pervasive and improper remarks by Mr...

"Other Bad Act" Evidence in Medical Malpractice Cases

Posted on June 29, 2009
Sometimes a lawyer representing a patient in a medical malpractice trial may want to introduce evidence of "bad acts" of a health care provider or a provider's expert witness.   This article   from the Medical Malpractice Newsletter published by the Hinshaw & Culbertson tells us how the defense is going to attempt to keep that information from the jury.

John, Where Have You Been?

Posted on June 29, 2009
Nowhere.   Nowhere different, anyway.  But I have not been blogging because, as you can see, the look of my blog has been changed with the assistance of the great folks at Lexblog.  The transfer of information and the final set-up on the blog takes a couple days, meaning that I could not post any material whatsoever...

"Other Bad Act" Evidence in Medical Malpractice Cases

Posted on June 29, 2009
Sometimes a lawyer representing a patient in a medical malpractice trial may want to introduce evidence of "bad acts" of a health care provider or a provider's expert witness.   This article   from the Medical Malpractice Newsletter published by the Hinshaw & Culbertson tells us how the defense is going to attempt to keep that information from the jury.

John, Where Have You Been?

Posted on June 29, 2009
Nowhere.   Nowhere different, anyway.  But I have not been blogging because, as you can see, the look of my blog has been changed with the assistance of the great folks at Lexblog.  The transfer of information and the final set-up on the blog takes a couple days, meaning that I could not post any material whatsoever...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.