Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

I ran into fellow blogger David Swanner of the South Carolina Trial Law Blog in Toronto. He was kind enough to grab me as I was walking along oblivious to my surroundings and introduce himself. He has a great blog and a great collection of powerpoint presentations from various lawyers. He will give you a copy of the powerpoint presentations if you ask.

The Convention was a real treat. I have attended the last 21 ATLA Annual Conventions and I have learned many valuable things at each one of them. ATLA has a new commitment to educating the public of the value of the civil justice system. It will be a long, expensive process but, I suggest, one worth the effort. We have to win back the hearts and minds of the jurors.

If you represent plaintiffs and are not a member of ATLA you should join. Not only will you get a great return on your money, but you will also help support the good fight.

Here is a link to an interesting blog about probate litigation.

We were involved in a significant will contest several years ago that ended up going to the Tennessee Supreme Court (Rule 11 denied) and then, believe it or not, to the United States Supreme Court (cert. denied). It was interesting work and, quite frankly, alot of fun.

The blog looks good, too!

Well, I am still in Toronto at the ATLA Convention. The Covention has been great; it is wonderful to see old friends and meet new ones.

The word here is that the Vioxx trial in Texas is going great for the plaintiff. I have been receiving daily transcripts and from my review it seems like plaintiff’s lawyer Mark Lanier is scoring a lot of good points.

That being said, the first few trials in a products case usually result in defense verdicts. If this one does, people with “good” cases should not lose faith.

Colin Farrell does not want Nicole Narain, a former Playboy Miss January, to distribute a 15-minute video tape showing the two of them engaged in sexual activity.

They entered into an oral agreement to keep it private.

He alleges that she was about to market the tape, so he filed suit against her and her alleged potential co-distributors. Here is some (but not all) of the complaint. You can see a photograph of the defendant there, too.

Three teenage girls turned into the driveway of Mr. William Cherry around midnight because they were lost and low on gas. The driver says she turned into a driveway at the suggestion of the 911 dispatcher that she had called for help. Cherry, fearing that the occupants had come to rob him, allegedly fired a warning shot and then three shots that hit the car. Allegedly, the last two shots were fired as they were backing out of the driveway.

Mr. Cherry received pretrial diversion in a criminal case; the charges against him were reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

The Tennessean now reports that the girls have sued him for emotional injuries arising from the incident. At least two of the girls have sought counseling.

OK, I know that it is off topic but I can’t help myself.

First, the President said that he would “take care” of anyone who violated the law concerning leaking information about a CIA agent.

Yesterday, the President said he would fire anyone convicted of a crime concerning the matter.

Here are the talking points the RNC is distributing concerning the Rove controversy.

Now you have another reason not to watch Fox News – you got its spin on the Rove story right here.

Another long week ….

I am at our cabin which is located about 80 miles south of Nashville. We are on Tim’s Ford Lake, a 10,000 acre, 34 mile long TVA lake created by the waters of the Elk River. My wife is preparing for a products liability trial that starts in federal court on July 25 so I am here trying to juggle 2 kids, 2 of their friends, and our black lab, Doobie.

It remains to be seen what percentage of my already diminished sanity level I will have on Monday morning. If it rains I will be in rehab in Arizona by Sunday.

The Florida Supreme Court has held that a person may not file a spoliation of evidence lawsuit against an adversary who has lost evidence concerning his or her personal injury claim. However, the trial court may give an adverse inference instruction on the point. Read the opinion here.

This decision is consistent with the law of most jurisdictions.

Thanks to Abstract Appeal for advising us about this decision.

The only thing more frustrating than a lawyer who lies in memos and briefs is a judge who refuse to call down the lawyer that did it. Part of the judge’s job is to rein in people who knowingly misquote cases or misquote the evidence in cases.

I am not talking about lawyers who make an argument based on decision that could be distinguished by the dimmest dimwit in the Bar. That is poor lawyering, but it is not dishonest. And there is nothing wrong with taking the strongest view of the facts supported by the record, particularly if you are entitled to take that position under the case law.

I am talking about people who routinely insert material into memoranda of law and briefs that is not true. That will stop if judges are willing to call the offending lawyer down on it.