Tennessee law has an unusual rule concerning expert witnesses in health care liability cases – the "contiguous state rule." Usually, the rule hurts patients because it limits the pool of expert witnesses available to testify on their behalf. Sometimes, however, it comes back to bit health care providers. An ophthalmologist…
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released the 2013 Health Care Liability Report. Unfortunately, the report bears the date on which it is issued rather than the year the data used to generate the report is based. In any event, the data confirms what most of us…
The New York Times had a nice obituary about the life and death of Bob Gibbons, a fine trial lawyer and gentleman from Austin, TX.
What constitutes "excusable neglect" under Rule 59 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure? Ms. Hayes, who goes by the stage name Shania Twang, entered into a written contract with Mr. Cunningham to perform in a musical show in Branson, Missouri. The show was to run a little over 5 months,…
These days, almost all Tennessee nursing homes and rehabilitation centers include arbitration agreements in their admission documents. In this case, enforceability became an issue because the arbitration agreement was signed by the patient’s sister who did not have a power of attorney. Moreover, it was undisputed the patient did not have…
Nashville is the home of country music, and country music is filled with wonderful stories. I envy the ability of country music songwriters to tell a complete story in three minutes, purposefully injecting a handful of magical words called "the hook" to make that story stick in your mind and heart…
During the last five years the Tennessee General Assembly has passed dozens of bills that can be properly classified as "tort reform" statutes. Over fifty cases have already interpreted these statutes. My latest book, Compendium of Tennessee Tort Reform Statutes and Related Cases (2nd ed. 2013) has the full text of all…
Tennessee medical malpractice (now called "health care liability") cases remained essentially flat for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, according to data recently released by the Administrative Office of the Courts. For the twelve month period ending June 30, 2013, there were a total of 385 health care liability…
Pre-suit notice in Tennessee health care liability cases continues to be a huge problem for victims of medical malpractice. In this case, Plaintiff sent notice, included all of the necessary forms and paperwork, and attached it to the complaint – but it turned out to be sent to the wrong…
The fights over the Tennessee health care liability pre-suit notice statute, T.C.A. Sec. 29-26-121, have steadily increased and now loom over virtually every Tennessee health care liability lawsuit. In short, motions to dismiss cases are being filed because of the alleged failure of the plaintiff’s lawyer to perfectly comply the statute. In many…