This is the fifth in a series of posts about changes in Tennessee statutory law of interest to tort lawyers. For other changes click on the Legislation 2009 category. Tennessee has a "Ski Area Safety and Liability Act" codified at TCA Section 68-114-101 et seq. Public Chapter 85 changes the…
For the last five or six years my friend Bill Marler, food poisoning lawyer extraordinaire, and I have worked together on food poisoning cases. Bill knows this area like the back of his hand and is widely understood to be the lawyer with the greatest expertise in this field. One thing I really…
Stripper allegedly kicks patron in the head. Strip joint manager says dancer kicked him after he "violently slapped … her buttocks." The stripper did not return calls to WPTV, the Florida TV station that reported this story. Patron claims permanent injury and sues strip joint. There is no indication whether the…
"Yeah, the facts demonstrate a Shoney’s buffet of negligence, but there is no proof that any of that negligence caused any harm. So what?" This case out of Illinois is a classic example. Russell was found severely injured at the bottom of some steps. When found he said "I fell over…
I write a quarterly column on tort law for the Tennessee Bar Journal. The column for the May edition of the publication discusses Tennessee’s recreational use statute, Tenn. Code Ann. §70-7-101 et seq, An excerpt: The Tennessee Supreme Court has interpreted the recreational use statute as one that gives rise to…
CNA has issued a white paper titled "Slip and Fall Control Techniques for Commercial Real Estate Owners." The report indicates that more than one million people are injured each year in slip or trip and fall incidents and 16,000 people die from falls. CNA adds this: With the aging baby boomer generation,…
The U.S. Supreme Court has issued the opinion in Wyeth v. Levine, the product liability case against the manufacturer of Phenergan. Wyeth appealed from an adverse jury verdict saying that Levine’s failure-to–warn claims were pre-empted by federal law because Phenergan’s label was approved by the FDA. The USSC held that federal…
In slip and fall cases in Tennessee, one must either prove that the defendant created the condition or knew or should have known about the condition. The latter may be proved by showing a pattern of conduct, a re-occurring incident, or a general or continuing condition indicating the dangerous condition’s existence. …
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed an en banc ruling of the Tennessee Claims Commission and ruled that the the State was liable for damages suffered by a college student as a result of being beaten after she left a parking garage on the University of Tennessee campus. To…
The Supreme Court of Florida recently issued an interesting opinion. In Williams v. Davis, No. SC05-1817 ( Fl. S.Ct. Nov. 21, 2007) the Court initially notes that "all property owners owe a duty … not to permit the growth of foliage on their property to extend outside the bounds of…