Happy New Year!!

I hope you have a great 2010.

Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff Survives Summary Judgment with a Negligence Per Se Claim

The Tennessee Court of Appeals just issued its opinion in Watkins ex rel. Watkins v. Affiliated Internists, P.C. No. M2008-01205-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 29, 2009). The plaintiff was able to survive summary judgment with a negligence per se claim. The court held as follows:

Thus, we must respectfully disagree with the trial court’s finding that TENN. COMP. R. & REGS. 0880-2-.18(7) cannot support the Plaintiff’s claim of negligence per se. We find that it constitutes a standard of care, and that the trial court erred in denying the Plaintiff’s motion to amend the complaint to allege a claim of negligence or negligence per se based on the breach of that standard.

Id., slip op. at 31 (emphasis added). As you can surmise, the defendant failed to comply with the above-referenced rule/regulation. See id.

Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/094/John%20Mark%20Watkins%20v%20Affiliated%20Internists%20and%20TK%20Pardue%20MD%20OPN.pdf

Harris v. Horton: Petition to Rehear Filed

I posted about Harris v. Horton on December 15, 2009. A petition to rehear under Rule 39(a) of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure was filed yesterday.

The current cite to the case, as of December 28, 2009, is as follows: Harris v. Horton, No. M2008-02142-COA-R3-CV, 2009 WL 4801719 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 14, 2009), petition for reh'g filed (Dec. 28, 2009).

Municipal Codes in Tennessee

Here is a link to Tennessee municipal codes, which has been updated as of December 12, 2009, to wit:

http://mtas-notes.ips.utk.edu/public/web.nsf/Web/View+Codes

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a great Christmas. I'm looking forward to spending this one with my family.

Interference with and Mishandling of Human Remains; Invasion of Privacy; and Reckless Infliction of Emotional Distress

The Court of Appeals released its opinion yesterday in Harris v. Horton, No. M2008-02142-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 14, 2009). The opinion has to do with the causes of action of interference with and mishandling of human remains under the Restatement (Second) of Torts section 868 (1979); invasion of privacy under the Restatement (Second) of Torts sections 652B & 652D (1977); and reckless infliction of emotional distress under the Restatement (Second) of Torts section 46 (1965).

Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/094/Debbie%20Harris%20et%20al%20v%20Don%20Horton%20and%20Robertson%20County%20opn.pdf

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