Does a plaintiff have the right to amend a complaint while a motion to dismiss is pending and no answer has been filed? Yes. Rule 15.01 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure provides a party may amend its pleading “once as a matter of course at any time before…
Those of you who are interested in the interaction between the law of comparative fault and the law of subrogation (or at least my view on how the two should interact) may wish to read “Made-Whole Made Fair: A Proposal to Modify Subrogation in Tennessee Tort Actions” published in the Belmont…
Where plaintiff only named one provider as a defendant in an HCLA case, but sent pre-suit notice to forty healthcare providers, a HIPAA-compliant medical authorization was required to be sent with her pre-suit notice. Further, a HIPAA form that left blank the section stating who could disclose records to defendant…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has adopted proposed amendments to several rules of civil procedure. Rules 5 and 5B have been amended to account for changes in the court system given the expansion of e-filing across the state. Rule 33 has been amended in the hope of eliminating gamesmanship in answering…
How do you authenticate a Facebook account? A Georgia court affirmed a prosecutor’s successful efforts to have excerpts of a criminal defendant’s Facebook account admitted into the evidence. The defendant (Nichols) claimed that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting Facebook records that included several private messages that the…
The Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure permit a Tennessee personal injury or wrongful death plaintiff to serve discovery with a complaint. Ordinarily, responses to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and requests for admissions are due 30 days after service. However, if they are served with the complaint the defendant…
In a Tennessee HCLA case, the statutorily required certificate of faith must be a separate document and cannot simply be contained within the complaint. In Dotson v. State, No. E2019-00325-COA-R9-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 3, 2019), plaintiff filed a healthcare liability case against the state based on the alleged negligence…
A compensatory damages personal injury award, by settlement or judgment, is not taxable under federal law if the case arises out of personal physical injury or sickness. This is true even if the award includes monies for pain and suffering and lost wages. The support for this view is Section…
The second edition of Tennessee Law of Civil Trial is now available for purchase. The new edition updates the first edition of the text published five years ago. The 500-page book is designed to help lawyers prepare for the procedural issues that arise from jury selection through post-trial motions. It also…
The absolute privilege against a Tennessee defamation claim given to some state officials “for statements made in the course of their official duties” does not extend to district attorneys general. In Burns v. State of Tennessee, No. E2018-02174-COA-R9-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 26, 2019), plaintiff was the lead investigator for…