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.