The April 2009 edition of the Tennessee Trial Law Report is in the mail. This edition includes a summary of 11 different cases addressing various aspects of the law of torts, civil procedure, evidence and trial as decided by Tennessee appellate courts between February 15 and March 15, 2009. The newsletter totals…
The Judicial Selection Commission and the Judicial Evaluation Commission are in a wind-up period after the General Assembly let them die last year. (I serve on the later commission as an appointee of former Lt. Governor John S. Wilder.) Both commissions will die on June 30, 2009 unless the General Assembly takes…
The rules of civil procedure in Tennessee ordinarily require that a plaintiff make a "short, plain statement.." There is an exception – Rule 9 of the TRCP requires pleading with particularity when fraud or mistake are alleged. Nothwithstanding the general rule, some people believe that more is better. Here is an…
Yesterday (March 15) was the 111th birthday of William L. Prosser, author of the torts text used by most of us in law school and Reporter for the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
All weekend I heard the drone of certain business reporters and various members of the Republican Party that President Obama was responsible for the declines in the stock market over the last six weeks. Well, the market went up 5.8% yesterday. Should the President get the credit for that increase? Of…
Lawyer and cartoonist David Mills shares his craft on Courtoons. An example: I confess to extreme jealously of lawyers who have talent is any aspect of the world of art or music.
The March 2009 edition of the Tennessee Trial Law Report is in the mail. This edition includes a summary of 20 different cases addressing various aspects of the law of torts, civil procedure, evidence and trial as decided by Tennessee appellate courts between January 15 and February 15, 2009. The…
Here is an animation of the crash of US Airways 1549 landing in the Hudson River prepared by Scene Systems. The simulation includes the audio from the pilot and air traffic control. Scene Systems creates animations for litigation of all types.
Tort lawyers have been carefully watching the tobacco lawsuit against Phillip Morris which arose out of the death of 55-year old Stuart Hess. The Florida jury imposed liability several days ago and earlier today awarded $3M in compensatory damages and $5M in punitive damages. Read more here.
Today’s USA TODAY includes an interesting article titled "How much ‘truth’ is too much?" written by Rod Dreher. The article addresses the impact of the Roman Catholic Church’s sex abuse sandal on the life of the author, who investigated and wrote about it. Readers who know me know that our firm filed…