The noncompliant Dr. Evans strikes again. For the third time, the Tennessee Court of Appeals heard a case revolving around the exclusion of Dr. Martin Evans as plaintiffs’ standard of care expert due to his failure to provide certain financial documents. In Buman v. Gibson, No. W2015-00511-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App.…
In Goetz v. Autin, No. W2015-00063-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 10, 2016), plaintiff filed a rather unclear complaint that appeared to assert four causes of action: (1) defamation, (2) malicious prosecution, (3) abuse of process and (4) intentional infliction of emotional distress. The trial court dismissed the entire complaint for…
In late 2015, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the nuanced approach previously used to distinguish ordinary negligence from medical malpractice. In Ellithorpe v. Weismark, No. M2014-00279-SC-R11-CV, 2015 WL 5853872 (Tenn. Oct. 8, 2015), the Supreme Court held that the statutory definition of “health care liability act” contained in the amendments…
In Fuller v. Banks, No. W2015-01001-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 3, 2016), plaintiff filed a premises liability action based on a fall she sustained when the railing on the stairs at her rental home gave way. Plaintiff had been leasing the premises for almost a year, and the stairs were…
A recent Court of Appeals case affirmed a trial court’s ruling that a voluntary dismissal with prejudice does not constitute a “favorable termination” for the purpose of a malicious prosecution claim. In Fit2Race, Inc. v. Pope, No. M2015-00387-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 29, 2016), the underlying claim initially started during…
A recent Court of Appeals case serves as a great reminder of the importance of disclosing the correct experts in a timely fashion in a Health Care Liability Action. In Mikheil v. Nashville General Hospital, No. M2014-02301-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 29, 2016), plaintiffs filed an HCLA case against several…
Erin Andrews won a jury verdict yesterday in Nashville for $55,000,000 in her case against the company that owned and managed a local hotel. What happens next? Andrews’ lawyers will prepare a judgment reflecting the jury’s verdict. Look for a fight over whether joint and several liability or several liability…
In Choate ex rel. Clayton v. Vanderbilt Univ., No. M2014-00630-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 25, 2016), the Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for a property owner when a patient was injured while attempting to get on a scale at a dialysis clinic. Plaintiff was the decedent patient’s former spouse…
In Brown v. Mercer-Defriese, No. E2015-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 25, 2016), plaintiff was touring a home that she was considering renting when she tripped over a threshold/step. The threshold joined two rooms in the house, and the elevation difference from one floor to the other was three inches. The…
The following is taken from an article in Clinical Advisor: A new study has revealed mostly good news for anesthesiologists – since 2005, anesthesia-related medical malpractice claims have decreased dramatically, particularly in inpatient situations. The study, “Comparison and Trends of Inpatient and Outpatient Anesthesia Claims Reported to the National Practitioner…