New Premises Liability Case

The Middle Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals just issued its opinion in Freemon v. Logan's Roadhouse, Inc., No. M2007-01796-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2009).

The opinion does a great job of explaining (1) the proper standard for granting summary judgment after Hannan and Martin; (2) when a duty arises in the context of a premises liability case; and (3) determining if a plaintiff's degree of negligence is, as a matter of law, greater than that of a defendant (which would prevent a plaintiff from recovering under out system of modified comparative fault).

Here's the link to the slip opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/091/Freemon%20v%20LogansOPN.pdf

Sentinel Event Statistics

This link will take you to a document of the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations that contains sentinel event statistics through last year. There's some pretty interesting stuff there.

Here's the link:

http://www.jointcommission.org/NR/rdonlyres/241CD6F3-6EF0-4E9C-90AD-7FEAE5EDCEA5/0/SE_Stats12_08.pdf

Firm News

It the interests of full disclosure, I wrote the Amicus Curiae Brief for the Tennessee Association for Justice in Thomas v. Oldfield, which is the subject of my Feb. 2, 2009 post.

Phil Campbell of Memphis, Tennessee helped a great deal with editing the brief. Phil's sharp intellect and keen eye were a blessing. Thanks Phil!

Totally Unrelated to the Law...

This post has NOTHING to do with the law. It does, however, have something to do with the enjoyment of life thought art. Clifford Bailey is one of my favorite artists. Here's a link to his Web site: http://www.cliffordbailey.com/. Check it out. I think you'll like his work.

Firm News

We won yesterday! We got a favorable jury verdict at trial for our clients in the Bedford County Circuit Court in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The jury did a great job of listening to the issues and coming up with a verdict.

Yesterday also reaffirmed my faith in the civil justice system and juries. The jury heard all the evidence, weighed it, and rendered a verdict after carefully deliberating over the issues. The system works.

Additionally, defense counsel and I proved that you can disagree with each other and still get along, which is how it should be.

Lastly, I want to congratulate everyone who worked on this case. It was truly a team effort. Thanks to all.

Another Locality Rule Opinion

The Middle Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals just issued another medical malpractice opinion concerning the locality rule. The case is Grisham v. McLaughlin, No. M2008-00393-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2008). The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment due to the plaintiffs failure to comply with the locality rule, which is codified at Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-115(a).

The parties' names may ring a bell to some of you. They should. This is the second time this case has been to the Court of Appeals over a summary judgment issue. The first time the trial court was reversed for not giving the plaintiff enough time to respond to the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

This new opinion stresses the importance of complying with the locality rule. which may be done by showing the the proffered expert practices in the same community or a similar community as the defendant. A community may be proven to be similar by showing the size of the community, the existence or non-existence of teaching hospitals, etc. Grisham, No. M2008-00393-COA-R3-CV, slip op. at 4.

Here's the link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/091/GrishamLOPN.pdf

The Discovery of a Defendant's Liability Insurance Information in Tennessee State Court

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued its much-awaited opinion today in Thomas v. Oldfield, M2006-02767-SC-R11-CF (Tenn. Feb. 2, 2009). With a few exceptions, the Court held that a defendant's liability insurance information is not discoverable.

Here's the link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/091/ThomasJGOpn.pdf

New Med Mal Case

The Middle Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals recently issued a new med mal opinion. The case is Cox v. M.A. Primary and Urgent Care Clinic, No. M2007-01840-COA-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 30, 2009).

The case is noteworthy because it offers a post-Hannan analysis of summary judgments in a medical malpractice context. (For the uninitiated, Hannan v. Alltel Publ'g Co., which is discussed in my Nov. 8, 2008 post, is the case that recently reaffirmed Tennessee's standard for granting summary judgments).

The Cox case also held that: "[t]he standard of care applicable to a physician assistant is that of the supervising physician in the community in which the supervising physician practices." Cox, M2007-01840-COA-CV, slip. op. at 6.

Here's the link to the case:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/091/Cox%20v%20MA%20PrimaryOPN.pdf

Another Post-Hannan Summary Judgment Case

The Court of Appeals recently decided Condra v. Bradley County, Tenn., No. E2007-01290-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 28, 2009). This case offers an analysis of when a court is to grant summary judgment to a party, particularly in a GTLA case.

Here's the link to the case:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/091/condrajopn.pdf

New Case on Hospital Lien Statute

The Court of Appeals has held that a hospital's lien is not reduced by one-third for plaintiff's attorney's fee when the recovery is sufficient to pay the hospital's lien and the attorney's fee. The case is Breazeale v. Hensley, E2008-00234-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 28, 2009).

Here's the link to the case:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/091/breazealewrOPN.pdf

Inauguration Day

This is a proud and hopeful day for all Americans. Whether you voted for Mr. Obama or not, he is now our president. We need to support him as best we can.

May God continue to bless America.

Frivolous Medical Malpractice Cases Don't Make It To Trial

Here is a great article by Gerry Spence. This may be a re-post, but it's worth reading again.

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_64607.asp

A Great Web Site

The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin's Web site has many useful tools and a lot of information. I discovered it today.

Here's the link: http://www.tarorigin.com/index.html

Third Anniversary!

Wow! This blog is three years old. I started it in January 2006.  Thanks to all of you who read this blog on a regular basis. I appreciate it.

ABA Principles for Juries and Jury Trials

The American Jury Project, on behalf of the American Bar Association, promulgated the Principles for Juries and Jury Trials. This information -- especially Principle 11 -- might help improve the trial process, if it is shared with the judge before trial.

Here's the link, to wit:

http://www.abanet.org/juryprojectstandards/principles.pdf

New Med Mal Opinion

I spoke too soon about not posting anything till January. The Court of Appeals issued a medical malpractice opinion in Geesling v. Livingston Reg'l Hosp., LLC, No. M2007-02726-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 18, 2008).

The opinion stresses the importance of complying with the locality rule, which is codified at Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-115.

Here's the link to the opinion:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/084/Geesling%20v%20Livingston%20OPN.pdf

Happy Holidays!

Folks,

I'm not going to post anything till early January unless something major comes up. This is because I'm going to enjoy the holidays with my family and friends. I hope you can do the same.

Tony

Summary Judgment & Comparative Fault

The Middle Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Allen v. Historic Hotels of Nashville, LLC, No. M2007-02423-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 9, 2008).

This opinion does an excellent job of describing the proper standard for granting summary judgment in Tennessee as recently refined by our Supreme Court in Hannan v. Alltel Publ'g Co., E2006-01353-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Oct. 31, 2008) (see Nov. 8, 2008 post).

The opinion also does an excellent job of describing the interplay between comparative fault and Tennessee Code Annotated section 20-1-119.

This is a must-read opinion for any Tennessee litigator.

Here's the link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/084/AllenElmer.OPN.pdf

New Saving Statute Case

Talk about dodging a bullet!! Whew!

Plaintiff in this case originally filed suit in general session court and then voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit. Plaintiff's counsel sent two orders dismissing the case, one via facsimile and the other via U.S. mail. The judge signed both orders and both orders were entered by the clerk. However, only the order that was sent via U.S. mail, which was entered AFTER the order that was sent via facsimile, was returned to Plaintiff's counsel. Plaintiff's counsel relied upon the order he received for purposes of refiling the lawsuit under the saving statute, Tennessee Code Annotated section 28-1-105. The second lawsuit was refiled in circuit court. The trial court dismissed it as being time-barred under 28-1-105. The Court of Appeals reversed.

The case is styled Williams v. Cliburn, No. M2007-01763-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 1, 2008). Here's the link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/084/Williams%20v%20CliburnOPN.pdf

P.S. Please note the precedential value of the case, which is noted in footnote 1 on page 2 of the slip opinion.

A Legal Citation Web Site

Here's a site to use if you don't have your Bluebook handy, to wit:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/

Hope this helps. Good luck!