Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

There is no better way to spend a rainy day than update a book (or so says the dullest man in America).

Day on Torts :  A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers has been updated.  Seven new cases have been added to "electronic pocket part" of the book.  To update the  book, scroll  to the relevant section here and open it to find links to important cases that have been decided since the book has been published.

Still don’t own a copy?  Order here.  Want to get a feel for what you are buying?  Read a sample chapter.

Today I am in Memphis for the last of our fourth annual Justice Programs seminars.  Former Justice Penny White, former Judge Joe Riley and I  created a company to offer "annual review" type CLE and ethics for civil trial practioners and it has done great.  We have  a great crowd in Memphis and in fact have had a great crowd across the state this year.

There is nothing like teaching substantive law at a CLE program to keep your knowledge level where it needs to be in your law practice.  It takes scores of hours to prepare for my talks on tort law and civil procedure, but I find that the preperation helps me serve my clients.

To those of you who joined us at a Justice Programs seminar this year:  Thank you.  To those of you who missed us I encourage you to give us a try.  I think you will find that our program gives you much more than CLE credit – it gives you information you can use to better serve your clients.

Updates to A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers – 2008 have been posted on the book’s website.  The updates are available in the "free updates" section of the site.  To utilize this service, simply scroll down to the relevant chapter and section and click on it to see if there are any new cases in the relevant subject matter.

Book sales are brisk.  Two good-sized firms who handle primarily personal injury work have purchased a copy for virtually every lawyer in the firm. 

Recall that the book contains the leading Tennessee tort case on 233 subjects; here is a table of contents for that section of the book.  The book also contains selected statutes of interest to tort lawyers and a complete set of the Tennessee rules of civil procedure, evidence and appellate procedure. 

Read this heart-warming article by a doctor from Memphis as published in the November 12, 2007 Commercial Appeal.

Thanks to Lang Wiseman from Memphis for alerting me to the article.

The book website is up and running —  www.dayontortsbook.com.

Several people received advance copies of the "selected cases" portion of the book and were kind enough to write down their impressions for me to use in a brochure that you will receive any day now.  Those comments are as follows:

"John Day’s new book is the most in-depth, comprehensive and thorough analysis of Tennessee tort law compiled in years. Every practicing lawyer should have one!"
                                                                                                         Sidney Gilreath, Knoxville

This is an update on my new book, Day on Torts: A Handbook for Tennessee Tort Lawyers.

The book has been printed and is being shipped today from Florida.  I will have it Friday afternoon.  I already have orders for the book and will start shipping on Monday.

The new website, wwwdayontortsbook.com, will up and running on Thursday, November 1, 2007.  The book can be ordered on this web site.  You can also see a Table of Contents and sample chapter at the site.

A judge responds in verse to a claim from a prisoner that he was not provided with a proper diet. The prisoner included a hard-boiled egg as an exhibit.

Thanks to Trial Ad Notes for informing me of the Order.

Pacman Jones, a true embarrassment to Nashville, the Titans, the NFL, and his family, has been sued for his alleged misconduct in Las Vegas which is said to have resulted in the paralysis of a man.  I do not pretend to know the facts, do not want to take one second of my life to learn what they are,  and therefore will not offer an opinion as to the merits of that case.

The lawyer for the plaintiff has also sued the Titans and the NFL for the incident.   According to the Tennessean, "'[t]he fact that the NFL and the Titans did not punish Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones until after Tommy was paralyzed is a proximate cause of Tommy’s injuries,’ attorney Matthew Dushoff said before a news conference in suburban Las Vegas."

The incident did not arise at a football field.  Or a team party.  Or a locker room.  It happened at a strip joint.  In the off season.

I know you remember the Feres doctrine.  The Feres doctrine comes from the decision in Feres v. United States, 71 S.Ct. 153 (1950) and provides that soldiers cannot sue the government for injuries that they incur as part of their military service.  Not surprisingly, the doctrine has been asserted by  government contractors who do work for the military and who seek immunity for their actions.

In McMahon v. Presidential Airways, Inc., No. 06-15303  (llth Cir. Oct 5, 2007) the widows of three soldiers who died in airplane crash in Afghanistan sued the entities that owned an operated the plane.  Feres   was rasied as a defense, but it was not the sole defense.  Here is the table of contents for the 72-page opinion:

I. Derivative Feres immunity

Penny White, Joe Riley and I are on the road again with our 4th annual 15-hour seminar program. 

Here is our schedule for each seminar:

First Day