Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

Have you ever been struggling with an evidence issue and wanted to avoid standing up to grab a copy o fthe Federal Rules of Evidence?

Here is a copy.

And here is a copy of the Tennesse rules.

"What duty  does an HIV-positive individual have to avoid transmitting the virus? What level  of awareness should be required before a court imposes a duty of care on an HIVpositive  individual to avoid transmission of the virus? What responsibility does the victim have to protect himself or herself against possible infection with the virus?"  Those are questions raised in a recent case before the California Supreme Court.

Why did Bridget sue her husband? : "Bridget [the wife] allege[d] that John [her husband] became infected with HIV first, as a result of  engaging in unprotected sex with multiple men before and during their marriage,  and that he then knowingly or negligently transmitted the virus to her. John, who  now has full-blown AIDS, allege[d] in his answer that Bridget infected him and  offers as proof a negative HIV test conducted in connection with his application for life insurance on August 17, 2000, six weeks before Bridget discovered she  was infected with HIV."  Bridget sued John for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress,  fraud and negligence.  John not only alleged that Bridget gave him HIV but also alleged that fault should be assessed against her because she did not insist that he wear a condom.

The case went up a discovery issues:  what scope of discovery should be permitted the alleged negative HIV test results six weeks before Bridget’s diagnosis?  And what about the right to privacy? Of course, the scope of discovery is in some ways depend on the viability of the various causes of action and that is where the Court got into substantive tort law.

A website has been launched that will help doctors and the public identify patients and lawyers who filed medical malpractice cases.

Here is a nice summary: "The LitiPages.com Attorney Database allows victims of medical malpractice to screen prospective attorneys and, if they so choose, avoid lawyers who consistently fail to obtain jury verdicts for their clients. The LitiPages.com Patient Database allows physicians to identify individuals who have demonstrated unrealistic expectations of the health care system through their participation in a medical malpractice lawsuit whose merit was not supported by a jury verdict. Finally, LitiPages.com also provides informational resources to patients who have been the victims of legal malpractice. "

Why is the site necessary?  "A physician may feel that a patient who has filed a medical malpractice suit and lost a trial before a jury of their peers harbours unrealistic expectations of their physician and probably of the health care system at large. In the same way, a physician may feel that a patient who files a medical malpractice case only to later withdraw it (or have it dismissed) likewise must have held unrealistic expectations of their physician. The patient who files "shotgun" lawsuits against every doctor listed in their chart when only one (if any) of those doctors was negligent may be perceived by a physician to be out of touch with medical reality. Accordingly, a responsible physician who feels that a patient’s behaviour demonstrates unrealistic medical expectations has both a right (and arguably a responsibility) to refuse elective care to that patient. The attorneys who counseled such patients and filed their cases must subscribe to similarly unrealistic expectations of physicians and of the health care system in general. Appropriately, a physician who feels that an attorney’s behaviour demonstrates unrealistic medical expectations has the right to refuse elective care to such an individual."

The Tennessean reports that the new federal courthouse in Nashville will be named for Senator Frist.

The same Senator Frist who has repeated tried to keep medical malpractice victims from being able to access to the civil justice system.

The same Senator Frist who, after diagnosising Terry Schaivo via videotape, gave the federal courts jurisdiction over a lawsuit brought by her parents (the so-called Palm Sunday Compromise).

This was another interesting day at the ATLA Convention.

This morning I went to a breakfast featuring Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR).  He gave a good talk, not particularly dynamic but very informative and given with obvious conviction.  Senator Smith’s remarks included telling us about the relatively recent suicide of his son, a young man who suffered from manic depression.  He gave each of us a copy of his book about his son; I have already started to read it and find it well-written, informative, and profoundly sad.  I had not met Senator Smith before the speech but found him to be an intelligent, pleasant man who appears to have an understanding of who he is and what he stands for.

I heard James Carville speak at lunch.  Carville is an dynamic speaker who can really pump a crowd already leaning toward his views.  He is very bright and truly believes what he says but tends to use outrageous examples and words to drive his point home.   I have had the pleasure of seeing Carville speak three or four times and meeting him twice.  He is much more reserved in person and it is easy to understand why candidates seek his advice.

I am in Seattle at the ATLA Convention.  I arrived here last Thursday.  I spent Friday and Saturday doing board work for the National Board of Trial Advocacy and Sunday morning meeting with a group of lawyers on a case that we are working on together.  I finally got the opportunity to get in a little CLE yesterday afternoon and will be enjoying more of that today.

The weather is beautiful here – mid-70s during the day and sunny.

Those of you that are ATLA lawyers know that there will be a vote here Wednesday on whether to change ATLA’s name.  I do not have a sense on whether the name change will pass but ATLA leadership seems confident that it will.

Here is a list of those starting with the letter "A":

AAMA American Architectural Manufacturers Association

AAMA American Apparel Manufacturers Association

LexBlog provides us various types of service  for our four blogs.  Yesterday they upgraded our software and therefore we couldn’t blog until the end of the day.   And by the end of the day (I left the office at 6:00, came back at 7:45 and left at 9:15) I was ready for bed.

However, today is a new day and we are ready to rock ‘n roll.

I am off to Seattle to the ATLA Convention.  I attended by first ATLA Convention in Seattle over 20 years ago.  It is a very nice city and I am really looking forward to the trip.

I am happy to report that this blog has reached the 750-post milestone. The blog began in February, 2005 and has grown to appoximately 500 unique vistors per business day (only a couple hundred on weekends).

The experience has been a very positive one. It takes me back to the time I started the Tennessee Tort Law Letter over a decade ago. At the time I thought I had a good grasp on tort law, but after I started reading every tort decision released in Tennessee I began to realize what I didn’t know. Now I make more of an effort to keep up with tort law developments nationally so that I can share what I learn on this blog – and once again find out how much there is to know.

The goal of this blog has always been to help lawyers keep up-to-date with developments in tort law in Tennessee and across the nation. In the coming months I am going to make an effort to add to the Blue Chippers List – people seem to like this feature. If there is other information you would like me to seek out and share please let me know.

I am at my cabin right now struggling with problems with the “internets.”