Have you checked out my new blog, “Practical Procedure and Evidence?”
The blog concentrates on Tennessee procedure and evidence issues, although occasionally I review out-of-state decisions that I think may be of interest to Tennessee lawyers. Thirty-seven posts have already been published on a variety of topics of interest to Tennessee civil practice lawyers.
Stop by for a visit. And add it to your bookmarks.
Where an Tennessee HCLA plaintiff’s HIPAA authorization had an error in the “purpose” section, but the potential defendants only included two physicians who were employed by the third potential defendant health system and plaintiff asserted that the defendant health system was the only potential defendant who possessed any relevant medical records, the Court of Appeals vacated dismissal based on the noncompliant HIPAA authorization and held that plaintiff should have been allowed “to conduct limited discovery to determine whether [defendant health system] had been prejudiced by Plaintiff’s failure to provide a HIPAA-compliant medical authorization[.]”
In Hayward v. Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority d/b/a Erlanger Health System, No. E2022-00488-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. April 27, 2023), plaintiff filed an HCLA claim against defendants related to a bladder surgery and related complications. Before filing suit, plaintiff sent pre-suit notice to three potential defendants, including two physicians and one health system (“Erlanger”). A HIPAA authorization was included with the pre-suit notice pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-121(a)(2)(E).
After suit was filed, Erlanger filed a motion to dismiss based on the HIPAA authorization being noncompliant. Specifically, Erlanger pointed out that the purpose section of the HIPAA authorization, which is one of the six core elements required on a HIPAA authorization, only permitted disclosure of records to plaintiff’s attorney. Erlanger argued that this prevented the potential defendants from obtaining records from each other and that dismissal was thus appropriate.
My newest article, “Gender-Affirming Care Creates Tort Liability,” as published in the Tennessee Bar Journal.
Information is now available on the number of tort trials and jury verdicts in Rutherford County, Tennessee (county seat – Murfreesboro) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. The data is some of the most shocking data that comes from the recently released Tennessee case filing statitics
There were 69 tort cases closed in Rutherford County (not including health care liability act cases) and 1 (that is correct – 1) tort trial.
As the graph below demonstrates, that one trial was a jury trial, and it was lost by the plaintiff:
Information is now available on the number of tort trials and jury verdicts in Putnam County, Tennessee (county seat: Cookeville) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
There were 93 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in Putnam County (not including health care liability act cases) and not a single trial. Here is how that compares with prior years:
Is it possible that this is correct? That Putnam County, home to 80,000 people that is the home of miles and miles of Interstate 40, has not have a single personal injury or wrongful death trial in the last six fiscal years?
Information is now available on the number of tort trials and jury verdicts in Williamson County, Tennessee (county seat – Franklin) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
There were 255 tort cases closed in Williamson County (not including health care liability act cases) and 4 tort trials. Here is how that compares with prior years:
A couple observations. First, note that despite huge increases in population (and traffic volume) Williamson County personal injury and wrongful death filings are less than they were five years ago.
Information is now available on the number of personal injury and wrongful death trials and jury verdicts in Maury County, Tennessee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
There were 157 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in Maury County (not including health care liability act cases) and no personal injury or wrongful death trials. Here is how that compares with prior years:
Over the years, about 1% of closed cases result in a trial When your client asks you “what are the odds my Maury County personal injury case will go to trial” you can say that, on average, 99% of filed cases are resolved (through voluntary dismissal, dismissal on motion, or settlement) before a jury verdict or judgment is announced.
Where defendant moved to dismiss a defamation suit under the Tennessee Public Participation Act (“TPPA”), and the trial court failed to take into account the third step of the TPPA burden-shifting framework which considers whether a defendant can establish a valid defense to the claims, the case was remanded for further consideration of the third step in the analysis.
In Pragnell v. Franklin, No. E2022-00524-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. April 18, 2023), plaintiffs filed a defamation suit against defendants, who were plaintiffs’ former employer. Plaintiffs were financial advisors, and when they left defendants’ company, SEC regulations required defendants to file a U5 form online as to plaintiffs’ departure. Plaintiffs asserted that the U5 forms initially filed by defendants stated that plaintiffs left the company voluntarily, but that after a dispute arose and plaintiffs filed suit against defendants in chancery court, defendants changed the U5 forms to state that plaintiffs were discharged for violating “client privacy rights, misrepresentation, and selling away.” Plaintiffs thus filed this defamation suit based on the statements in the revised U5 forms.
Defendants filed a motion to dismiss based on the TPPA, Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-17-101, et seq. Defendants argued that they were required to file the amended U5 forms upon discovering additional information about plaintiffs’ employment, that the statements contained therein were true, and that the case was subject to dismissal under the TPPA.
Information is now available on the number of tort trials and jury verdicts in Sumner County, Tennessee (county seat: Gallatin) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
There were 236 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in Sumner County (not including health care liability act cases) and 5 trials. Here is how that compares with prior years:
Of the five cases that were tried, two were jury trials and three were nonjury trials. . The plaintiff made a financial recovery in two of the five trials cases. Note: the fact that the plaintiff recovered in about 60% of the cases does not mean the plaintiff “won” about 40% of the cases. Why? Because we do not know whether the plaintiff’s recovery exceeded the pretrial offer. We can say that in Shelby County last year defendants received a defense judgment in about 60% of the cases that were tried. Here is the data in a graph:
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