Medical Malpractice: Yet Another Opinion on the Locality Rule Post-Shipley

The Tennessee Court of Appeals from the Western Section recently issued its opinion in Kennard v. Townsend, No. W2011-01843-COA-RM-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 2, 2012). The summary from the opinion is as follows:

This case is before us upon mandate from the Tennessee Supreme Court for reconsideration of our previous opinion, Kennard v. Townsend, No. W2010–00461–COA–R3C, 2011 WL 1434625 (Tenn. Ct. App. April 14, 2011), in light of the Tennessee Supreme Court's decision in Shipley v. Williams, 350 S.W.3d 527 (Tenn. 2011). In our previous review of this medical malpractice case, we upheld the trial court’s exclusion of Appellant’s medical expert under the locality rule, and further affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment against the Appellant. Because the qualifications of Appellant’s expert were not considered in light of Shipley, and because the admission of expert testimony is a matter of discretion in the trial court, we vacate the orders excluding the testimony of the Appellant’s expert and the grant of summary judgment, and remand for reconsideration in light of the Shipley decision. Vacated and remanded.

(Emphasis and bolding in original.)

Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/kennardviopn.pdf