Tennessee Legislative History

Oftentimes, when a statute is ambiguous, a determination must be made as to the legislative intent behind it to construe the law. This link provides you with information needed to research legislative history in Tennessee, which will assist you in determining the legislative intent behind a law.

Here's the link:

http://state.tn.us/tsla/legislative.htm

More Problems at a VA Hospital

Here's a link to a story from yesterday's New York Times, to wit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/21radiation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Medical Malpractice, Wrongful Death & Bankruptcy

The Middle Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals just issued its opinion in Gordon ex rel. Gordon v. Draughn, No. M2008-02224-COA-R10-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 16, 2009).

The opinion offers an excellent analysis of appellate court jurisdiction during an extraordinary appeal, judicial estoppel, and related civil procedure matters, among other things. Specifically, it addresses the issue of a parent's standing to bring a claim for the wrongful death of his or her child due to medical malpractice after the parent has filed for bankruptcy.

Here's the link to the opinion:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/092/Gordon%20v%20Draughn%20OPN.pdf

Tennessee Evidence Law: Four New Amendments Effective July 1, 2009

Tennessee evidence law will have four new amendments effective July 1, 2009. Rules 404(a)(1), 703, 803(26), and 804(b)(2) are the subjects of those amendments. You can read about them at this link, to wit:

http://www.tba2.org/journal_new/index.php/component/content/article/294?ed=19

Medical Malpractice: New Legislation II

Governor Bredesen signed the new medical malpractice legalisation into effect on June 11, 2009. Here is a link to the summary of the bill. I will have a link to the actual bill he signed later on.

http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billinfo/BillSummaryArchive.aspx?BillNumber=HB2233&ga=106

Free Legal Research

http://www.plol.org/Pages/Search.aspx

Medical Malpractice: New Legislation

Tennessee's Medical Malpractice Act has just been recently amended, again, by the General Assembly. The bill is on its way to the Governor. It is anticipated that he will sign it. Once he does, I will have more information for you.

For purposes of information, the bill clears up some of the uncertainties from the prior amendments (Act of Apr. 24, 2008, ch. 919, 2008 Tenn. Pub. Acts 93, codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 29-26-121 to -122) having to do with notice, extension of the statutes of limitations and repose, etc.

Appellate Practice in Tennessee

My friends Donald Capparella and Amy Farrar wrote these two articles on appellate practice. They are excellent articles that will help out a lot if you have an appeal coming up.

Here's the links:

http://www.dodsonparker.com/publications/Tips%20for%20Becoming%20a%20Better%20Appellate%20Advocate-%20Writing%20the%20Brief.pdf

http://www.dodsonparker.com/publications/Tips%20for%20Becoming%20a%20Better%20Appellate%20Advocate-%20The%20Oral%20Argument.pdf