What happens when a personal injury plaintiff files a bankruptcy petition? What happens if that plaintiff fails to disclose in the bankruptcy petition that he has a personal injury claim that has not yet been filed? How does a bankruptcy court discharge affect the plaintiff’s rights to later file…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that the 30-day period for removing a case to federal court does not begin to run until "the plaintiff serves the defendant with a paper that explicitly identified the amount of damages sought." Moltner sued Starbucks in state court…
FDCC Quarterly, a publication of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, has published an article on the impact of the relatively recent decisions of United States Supreme Court in Iqual and Twombly. This is how the authors summarize the holdings of the two decisions: Together, Iqbal and…
A lawyer called me the other day and asked me if a lawyer’s communications with his or her private investigator are privileged under Tennessee law. The answer is "yes," as provided in T.C.A. § 24-1-209: Communication between an attorney and a private detective or investigator hired by such attorney, while acting…
Effective July 1, 2010 a party to a litigation may serve papers in Adobe PDF format via electronic mail to the attorney’s email address. The process is a little more cumbersome than it need be, but it is a step-forward toward increasing the efficiency of law practice and reducing cost.…
The judges in Shelby County have adopted new local rules of court. Here is a copy.
Yesterday I discussed a portion of the opinion S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc. v. Morris, Appeal No. 2008AP1647 (Wis. Ct. App. Div. II Dec. 2, 2009) concerning the assertion of the Fifth Amendment in civil litigation. I wanted to bring to your attention a footnote (Footnote 1) that addressed the failure…
The Ohio Court of Appeals has ruled that a trial judge committed error by ordering production of a personal injury plaintiff’s medical records without first doing an in camera review to determine if the records should have been turned over to the defendant. The opinion is interesting to Tennessee lawyers…
What do you do when a party to a lawsuit intentionally refuses to follow the rules? One judge in Washington State knew what to do: the judge struck the defendant’s answer, entered judgment for $8,000,000, and awarded attorneys’ fees. Last week the Washington Supreme Court had upheld the award. The…
Winning pre-trial motions means that you have to get relevant data before the Court in the right way. Following the right procedure is not only the way you win motions you should win but is also the way you create a record for a possible appeal. Rule 43.04 of…