Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

This speech, by the General Counsel of Boeing to Boeing executives, is a fine example of a lawyer who is trying to steer his employer in an appropriate direction.

One sample: “We as the leaders of the Boeing Company get to choose what kind of culture we are going to have. And we make these choices every day by what we do and frankly what we choose not to do. But the consequences of all those choices are our collective responsibility.”

There are more of these people out there than some plaintiff’s lawyers would like to admit. Thanks to the WSJ Law Blog for letting me know about this speech.

Drake Holliday, a Legal Aid attorney in Nashville for 30 years, died February 2.

Drake was one of those people who refused to turn his back on the poor. When President Reagan cut back on legal services to the poor, Drake stuck it out and continued to help thousands and thousand of Tennesseans. He knew poverty law, and he used to help people fight back.

He was active in political campaigns for men and women who believed that the poor deserved a fair shake. He was particularly active in Bill Purcell’s political career, helping him get elected to the State House (where he later served as Majority Leader) and later as Mayor of Nashville.

William Childs, author of the Torts Prof Blg, assembled the thoughts of several bloggers concerning the President’s comments about the lack of OBs in rural areas. He was kind enough to include my prior post on the subject.

I attended and spoke at the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association’s Mid-Winter Convention yesterday. Gary Gober of Nashville was the Program Chair and put together a fine program, as usual.

Gary is but one example of many plaintiffs’ lawyers who are “givers” rather than “takers.” Gary was President of TTLA over 20 years ago, but still gives of his time and money to support the work of our Association. There are many others who fall into this category, men and women, some past officers and some future officers, who step up to the plate time and time again to help advance the cause of civil justice in this state. Some give knowledge, some give time, some give money, and some give all of the above – and each of us is indebted to every single one of them.

On the other hand there are “takers.” There are lawyers who spend thousands of dollars advertising for clients but refuse to give money to support legislative efforts designed to support the rights of those clients. There are lawyers who make a good living representing plaintiffs but refuse to give time or money to support the association. There are lawyers who seek the help of the association or its members when they are need, but turn away when asked to help. These men and women thrive off the efforts of others, giving nothing, taking whatever they can, and smile all the way to the bank.

Last night I attended a reception for the General Assembly that was sponsored by the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. Several state senators told me that they thought that the legislative special session could end in a couple days.

The House and Senate have passed different “ethics” bills, which means that a conference committee has to attempt to come up with a consensus bill that each body then must vote on. There are some huge differences to work out, although there is no doubt that a bill will be passed.

The end of the special session means the beginning of the ordinary session, which means that we will see a major fight by hospitals, doctors, and their insurers to avoid accountability for medical negligence. This session will be the biggest battle on the issue since the mid-80s.

Why no posts this weekend? Am I getting lazy?

I had to be in court in Nashville Friday morning to argue a motion in a products liability case and then went immediately to the airport to catch a flight to Boston. I had a great dinner at The Federalist on Beacon Hill Friday night. Work started Saturday morning at 7:30 and was finished at 2:00. I was staying on Arlington Street and walked down to the Wharf to meet an old friend for a cup of coffee. It was 55 degrees in Boston and the people of the city – thrilled at the warm weather – were out in droves.

I went back to the hotel to have a cocktail and then walked back to the North End to have dinner on Hanover Street I love walking in Boston, so I walked back to the hotel about 10:00.

Justice Birch resigned yesterday; the effective date of the resignation is August 31, 2006.

Justice Birch has served the State of Tennessee as a judge for 43 years, beginning as a General Sessions Judge, then serving 9 years as a trial judge and 19 years as an appellate judge. [Bio] His service on the Tennessee Supreme Court will be best remembered for his insistence that citizens accused of crimes receive a fair shake in the criminal justice system and his steady opposition to imposition of the death penalty given the current circumstances that give rise to its imposition. He is a man of courage and conviction. His leadership will be missed.

This resignation follows that of Justice Anderson earlier this week.
We now have two openings on our five member court. The Governor will be able to select two judges from panels provided to him by the Judicial Selection Commission. Under our rules, no more than two judges can come from any one Grand Division. Chief Justice Barker is an East Tennessean, Justice Holder is a West Tennessean, and Justice Clark is a Middle Tennessean. Therefore, one of the appointees can come from any Grand Division but both cannot come from the same Grand Division.

Many tort lawyers in Tennessee also handle worker’s compensation cases. Here, for your reading pleasure, is a summary of the significant worker’s compensation opinions issued by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2005 as prepared by the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Advisory Panel.

The State of Tennessee suffered a blow yesterday when Justice E. Riley Anderson announced that he was stepping down effective August 31, 2006.

Justice Anderson, from Oak Ridge, has served on the Supreme Court for over 15 years and, earlier, served on the Court of Appeals for 3 years. [Bio] He is a compassionate man who understands his responsibility to the people of this State and who fulfilled that responsibility with honor and distinction.

I love his dissent in Carroll v. Whitney, 29 S.W.3d 14, 22 (Tenn. 2000) and Dotson v. Blake, 29 S.W.3d 26, 31 (Tenn. 2000). His opinion in Hunter v. Ura just one year ago helped bring justice and reason to the resolution of medical negligence cases. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this: Justice Anderson will be sorely missed as a member of our Court.

Here is an interesting decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals that discusses the liability of a property appraiser who told the plaintiff that “‘he could not himself perform the appraisal’ but [said] that ‘he would find another appraiser and would supervise and review that appraiser’s work.'” Well, the appraisal was wrong and the “supervising appraiser,” who did not charge for his work, was sued.

The Court reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the “supervising appraiser,” holding that there was a jury issue on the nature of the relationship between the parties and the extent of the movant’s role in the transaction.

Although this case was decided under Massachusetts law, I bring it to your attention because Tennessee has a number of recent decisions on the issue of “gratuitious undertaking.” (For example, see Biscan v. Brown here and cases cited therein.) Massachusetts law on the subject is a little different than Tennessee law, but the opinion is a nice refresher on the topic.