Summary Judgment: Another Post-Hannan Tennessee Supreme Court Case

Yesterday the Tennessee Supreme Court issued its opinion in Mills v. CSX Transp., Inc., No. E2006-01933-SC-R11-Cv (Tenn. Dec. 7, 2009). While this is a FELA case, it offers further explanation and clarification of when summary judgment is appropriate in a Tennessee state court action. Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/094/SC%20Charles%20D%20Mills%20v%20CSX%20Transportation.pdf

Miranda Rights

The United States Supreme Court recently heard a case from Florida regarding an accused's Miranda rights. The case is Florida v. Powell. Here's a link to a story about that case:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_miranda

Summary Judgment: New Tennessee Supreme Court Case

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued its opinion in Stanfill v. Mountain, M2006-01072-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Dec. 3, 2009). The opinion offers a good discussion of our state's recently clarified summary judgment standard, which is discussed in my November 8 and 15, 2008 posts to this blog.

Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/094/SC%20Robin%20Lee%20Stanfill%20et%20al%20v%20John%20T%20Mountain%20et%20al%20OPN.pdf

Chief Justice Holder wrote a separate opinion, which concurs in part and dissents in part with the majority opinion, to wit:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/094/SC%20Robin%20Lee%20Stanfill%20et%20al%20v%20John%20T%20Mountain%20et%20al%20DIS.pdf

Computation of Time Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to Change December 1, 2009

Here's a link to an article written by Professor Paine on the matter, to wit:

http://www.tba2.org/journal_new/index.php/component/content/article/369?ed=24

NPR Blog: "Docs Case for Tort Reform Harder to Make"

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2009/11/docs_case_for_tort_reform_gets.html

Slip-and-Fall Case: Summary Judgment for Defendant Reversed

The Court of Appeals just reversed a grant of summary judgment for the defendants in a slip-and-file case. The case is Burks v. The Kroger Co., M2008-02664-COA-R3-CV & M2008-02667-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 23, 2009).

Here's the link:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/CURRENT/Elizabeth%20Burks%20v%20The%20Kroger%20Company%20OPN.pdf

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving holiday.

I spent some time yesterday thinking about this past year and the year to come. I am very thankful for many things in my life; I have truly been blessed by God. And for that, I am grateful.

Unfavorable Sixth Circuit ERISA Opinion

The United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, recently issued an opinion that is unfavorable to tort plaintiffs who have had their medical care paid for by an ERISA plan. The case is The Longaberger Co. v. Kolt, 09a0399p.06 (6th Cir. Nov. 16, 2009).

The opinion is a must-read for all tort-practitioners because of one very important thing: the court specifically disallowed a reduction for attorney's fees from the amount paid back to the ERISA plan.

Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/09a0399p-06.pdf

Admissibility of Autopsy Reports, Etc.

I found this statute while lookinig for something else and thought I'd share it, to wit:

The records of the division of post mortem examination, the county medical examiner, or transcripts of the records certified to by the chief medical examiner or the deputy medical examiner or the duly appointed representative of the chief medical examiner, and the reports of the toxicology laboratory examinations performed by the testing laboratory or transcripts of the reports certified to by the director of the testing laboratory or the director's duly appointed representative, shall be received as competent evidence in any court of this state of the facts and matters contained in the records or reports.

T.C.A. § 38-7-110(a) (emphasis added).

The Return to Notice Pleading in Federal Court

Here's a recent article on this subject that I found interesting:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202435525918&rss=newswire