13 Wednesday Dec 2017
Most Popular South Carolina Blawgs, Blawg Search, Justia
https://blawgsearch.justia.com/blogs/countries/united-states/south-carolina
For my paralegal friends in South Carolina, here’s the top legal blogs in South Carolina sorted by popularity. There’s a little bit of everything here, and several caught my eye. It will take a while to digest it all. I recommend bookmarking this site, and visiting it often. -CCE
14 Saturday May 2016
Posted in Litigation, Personal Injury, Probate and Trusts, Product Liability, Special Needs Trust, Trusts
≈ Comments Off on Another Use For A Special Needs Trust.
Using a Special Needs Trust in the Settlement of a Product Liability Lawsuit, by Thomas M. DeMicco (NY Metro) and Phil Quaranta (NY Metro), Product Liability Advocate Blog
Product liability cases frequently involve severe and even catastrophic injuries. As a result, product liability defense counsel and insurance adjusters must be familiar with the prospects for use of a special needs trust as a potential tool in the settlement of severe injury cases. Special needs trusts are frequently proposed as a component of the settlement of severe injury cases.
The purposes of the special needs trust are to allow a severely injured plaintiff to continue to receive social security benefits and to be protected from lien holders.
02 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Evidence, Insurance Defense, Litigation, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Torts
≈ Comments Off on Seventh Circuit Rules On The Weight Of Scientific Evidence.
Tags
Brian O'Connor Watson, Causation, Neil Loyd, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Product Liability & Mass Torts Blog, Robert H. Riley, Scientific Evidence, Toxic Torts
Seventh Circuit Ruling On Scientific Evidence Closes Some Doors But Opens Others, by Robert H. Riley, Neil Loyd, and Brian O’Connor Watson, Product Liability & Mass Torts Blog
Exposure to potentially harmful substances at some level is a fact of modern life. These substances are everywhere — in the air we breathe, in the food we eat, and in the water we drink — and many of these substances are naturally occurring. It is impossible to have zero exposure to all of them.
For both science and law, however, the issue is not whether someone has some detectable exposure. Rather, it is whether the dose was sufficient (in quantity and duration) to cause harm.
06 Monday Apr 2015
Posted in Discovery, E-Discovery, Litigation, Personal Injury, Requests for Production, Slip and Fall
≈ Comments Off on Slip-and-Fall Evidence Spoilation A Slippery Slope?
Tags
Ball In Your Court Blog, Craig Ball, Doug Austin, eDiscoveryDaily Blog, Personal Injury, Slip and Fall, Sua Sponte
Slippery Slope: Harrell v. Pathmark, by Craig Ball, Ball In Your Court Blog
https://ballinyourcourt.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/2318/
One e-discovery blog I never fail to read is Doug Austin’s eDiscoveryDaily. It’s hard to come up with a post every day; yet, Doug makes it look easy. Each post is a quick read with little editorializing; and, Doug faithfully includes a link to the opinion. That last may seem a small thing; but, some bloggers don’t do it (or only share the full text of the decision with paying customers). There’s no substitute for reading the case.
Today, Doug posted on Harrell v. Pathmark, (USDC EDPA, February 26, 2015), where the Court dismisses the plaintiff’s slip-and-fall injury claim on summary judgment. I don’t think the Court got it wrong on the merits; but, in weighing in, sua sponte, on the e-spoliation issue, I’m reminded of the maxim, ‘hard cases make bad law.’ . . .
21 Saturday Mar 2015
Posted in Elder Abuse, Elder Law, Health Law, Health Reform, Litigation, Medical Malpractice, Negligence, Nursing Home Abuse, Personal Injury, Skilled Nursing Facilities, Wrongful Death
≈ Comments Off on Kentucky’s Bill To Prevent “Frivolous” Nursing Home And Other Medical Abuse Claims, But Is That The Problem?
Tags
Elder Abuse, Frivolous Litigation, Health Care Provider, Kentucky, Medical Malpractice, Nursing Homes
Senate OKs Bill For Review Panels In Medical Lawsuits After Lively Debate Between Doctors, Lawyers, Others, by Melissa Patrick, Kentucky Health News
http://kyhealthnews.blogspot.com/2015/02/senate-committee-oks-bill-for-review.html
The Senate has approved a bill that advocates say will help weed out ‘frivolous’ medical malpractice lawsuits and speed up litigation for legitimate suits.
‘Right now, Kentucky has one of the nations most litigation-friendly environments, making our commonwealth a prime and profitable target for personal injury lawyers preying upon our health care providers,’ Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, a physician and sponsor of Senate Bill 6, told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. Opponents disputed that claim.
The Senate passed the bill Thursday 24-12. It is not expected to pass the House.
The bill would establish panels of three medical experts, two chosen by each side and the third chosen by the other two, to review suits against health-care providers to determine if the case has merit before the lawsuit can proceed. Panel findings would be admissible in court but not legally binding.
The Republican-controlled Senate passed a very similar bill last year but it got nowhere in the Democrat-controlled House, and its prospects are similar this time. However, Wednesday’s committee meeting provided a detailed and lively explication of the issue, lasing almost two hours.
Vanessa Cantley, a Louisville personal injury attorney, told the committee that most medical malpractice cases are legitimate. She cited a Harvard University study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that concluded ‘portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown’ and reported that 97 percent of claims for medical injury evaluated over a decade were deemed to be meritorious.
However, Michael Sutton of Louisville, a civil defense attorney, said defendants win 80 per cent of medical malpractice suits.
Cantley said there are 2,700 deaths in Kentucky each year due to purely preventable medical error, but, according to the state Department of Insurance, fewer than 500 lawsuits a year are filed by abuse and neglect victims. . . .
19 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Admissibility, Authentication, Damages, Discovery, Evidence, Motor Vehicle, Negligence, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Relevance, Torts, Wrongful Death
≈ Comments Off on Seat Belt Use Evidence Now Admissible In Texas.
Tags
Comparative Negligence, Contributory Negligence, Damages, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Seat Belts, Texas
TX: Evidence of Seat Belt Non-Use is Admissible to Apportion Responsibility, by Christopher J. Robinette, Torts Prof Blog (with hat tip to Jill Lens (Baylor)!)
For years, evidence of seat belt use was prohibited at trial. The Texas Supreme Court changed that rule of law with this case. This ruling will have a major impact on this area of the law. -CCE
The Texas Supreme Court case, which was announced on Friday, is Nabors Wells Services, Ltd. v. Romero. The case (pdf) is here: Download TX Sup Ct = Seat Belt Admiss From the opinion:
We hold relevant evidence of use or nonuse of seat belts, and relevant evidence of a plaintiff’s pre-occurrence, injury-causing conduct generally, is admissible for the purpose of apportioning responsibility under our proportionate-responsibility statute, provided that the plaintiff’s conduct caused or was a cause of his damages.
21 Sunday Dec 2014
Posted in Attorney-Client Privilege, Cross-Examination, Defense Counsel, Depositions, Direct Examination, Discovery, Interrogatories, Litigation, Making Objections, Negligence, Personal Injury, Plaintiff's Counsel, Privilege and Confidentiality, Trial Tips and Techniques
≈ Comments Off on May Defense Counsel Ask Plaintiff Whether He Was Referred to Doctor?
“Did Your Attorney Refer You to that Doctor?” by Daniel E. Cummins, TORT TALK Blog
In a recent Delaware County Court of Common Pleas decision in the case of English v. Stepchin, No. CP-23-CV-786-2014, 101 Del. 424 (C.P. Del. Co. Nov. 12, 2014 Kenney, P.J.), President Judge Chad F. Kenney upheld a defense attorney’s right to inquire of a personal injury plaintiff whether or not plaintiff’s counsel had referred the plaintiff to her treating physician.
This issue came before the court on a Motion for a Re-Deposition of the plaintiff by defense counsel.
At the original deposition, plaintiff’s counsel objected to the defense counsel’s question to the plaintiff as to whether or not plaintiff’s counsel had referred the plaintiff to her treating physicans. Plaintiff’s counsel asserted that such discovery was barred by the attorney-client privilege.
In his Opinion issued on the matter, President Judge Kenney held that, ‘whether counsel referred Plaintiff to her treating physicians does not constitute legal assistance so as to justify properly invoking the attorney-client privilege.’ More specifically, the court found that whether an attorney referred his client to a medical provider for treatment cannot be considered to have been a communication from an attorney to his or her client associated with the rendering of a legal opinion or the provision of legal services so as to invoke the applicability of the attorney-client privilege.President Judge Kenney also stated that any asserted privilege ‘failed to outweigh the interest of the accessibility of material evidence to further the truth-determining process’ at a trial of a personal injury matter.
The Court granted Defendant’s Motion and ordered a 2nd deposition limited to the issue of who referred Plaintiff to her treating physicians.
Anyone wishing to review this decision, may click this LINK.
31 Friday Oct 2014
Posted in Class Actions, Damages, Litigation, Motor Vehicle, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Torts
≈ Comments Off on Are Cars Safer Now? Unfortunately, Not So Much.
Tags
Air Bags, Auto Safety, Car Accident, Guardrails, Honda, Product Liability, Product Recall, Shrapnel, The Pop Tort.com, Toyota, Trinity Industries
The Latest Innovations in Auto Safety: Shrapnel and Harpoons, The Pop Tort.com
Since when did cars become war zones?
Of course they used to be. Back in the 1950s and 1960s when, during car crashes, ‘Drivers were impaled on rigid steering wheel columns.… Unpadded dashboards and the sharp edges and ashtrays gouged out eyes’ and cars ‘crumpled like a Japanese lantern’ in rollover accidents. But all that changed when eventually, the auto industry decided that safety ‘sold’ and cars became safer.
But if we’ve learned one thing over the last few years, it’s that with every new safety innovation comes a new opportunity to cut corners.
First to today’s lead story in the New York Times, a tabloid-sounding article called ‘It Looked Like a Stabbing, but Takata Air Bag Was the Killer.’
Hien Tran lay dying in intensive care this month after a car accident, as detectives searched for clues about the apparent stab wounds in her neck.…
When Ms. Tran crashed her car, the air bag, instead of protecting her, appeared to have exploded and sent shrapnel flying into her neck, the Orange County sheriff’s office said. On Monday, in an unusual warning, federal safety regulators urged the owners of more than five million vehicles to ‘act immediately’ to get the air bags fixed.…
But the urgent request was bound to create confusion among owners. Honda said it did not have enough parts to fix the cars immediately. Toyota said it would in some cases disable the air bags, leaving a note not to ride in the front passenger seat.
They’re kidding, right? . . .
17 Tuesday Jun 2014
Posted in Discovery, Insurance Defense, Interrogatories, Litigation, Motor Vehicle, Negligence, Personal Injury, Product Liability
≈ Comments Off on How To Draft Interrogatories.
Drafting Interrogatories, by Megan E. Boyd, Lady (Legal) Writer
There are five types of discovery. Each has its own strength and weakness. Knowing when, and how, to use each effectively narrows the issues of the case and may even provide sufficient evidence for a successful summary judgment motion. This post discusses one of the most common and useful forms of discovery – interrogatories. -CCE
Interrogatories (a fancy name for a list of questions) are sent as part of the discovery process in litigation and allow parties to gain information relevant to the litigation. Many attorneys send interrogatories before they engage in other types of discovery, such as depositions, because interrogatory responses often help an attorney narrow down the types of questions the attorney will ask during a deposition. . . .
02 Friday May 2014
Posted in Animal Law, Damages, Litigation, Personal Injury, Punitive Damages, Torts
≈ Comments Off on Trailer Park Duck Is Repeat Offender With Dangerous Propensities.
Lawsuit Alleges Duck Attack, by Kevin Underhill, Lowering The Bar Blog
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2014/04/duck-attack.html
KATU in Portland reports that a woman who says she was attacked by a duck at a trailer park has sued the duck’s owner.
Plaintiff alleges in part that said duck was a repeat offender.
According to the complaint (which KATU was kind enough to post), Cynthia Ruddell alleges that she was just stepping out of her motor home ‘on or about May 7, 2012,’ when she was suddenly attacked by a local duck. . . .
16 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in HITECH Act, Litigation, Medical Records, Motor Vehicle, Negligence, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Torts, Wrongful Death
≈ Comments Off on Keeping Medical Records Costs Down.
Tags
Doctors, Health Care Provider, Hospitals, Litigation and Trial Blog, Max Kennerly, Medical Records, Patient's Rights
Defeating The Medical Records Paper Copy Scam, by Max Kennerly, Esq., Litigation and Trial Blog (with hat tip to Evan Schaeffer, The Trial Practice Tips Blog!)
Mr. Kennerly explains why obtaining medical records need not be expensive, and provides a sample letter with citation to legal authority. -CCE
Hardly a day goes by without a letter from my office either requesting medical records or paying for them. Some days, I sign more than a dozen. It’s perhaps the most common thread among all my cases: the vast majority of my clients have been physically injured in one way or another, and at a bare minimum, I need the records from their doctors and hospitals to show the diagnoses they have and the treatment they have received.
Every patient has a right to receive their medical records, and by law should be able to obtain those records promptly at no markup, with no padded fees, and no unnecessary charges from the hospital or the records company. But if there’s money to be made, someone will try to make it, and over the past decade a whole cottage industry has developed around the “business” of trying to cheat patients trying to get their medical records. Sometimes health care providers outsource this ‘business’ to third-party companies, and sometimes the hospitals and health systems play the con game themselves. . . .
22 Saturday Mar 2014
Posted in Damages, Evidence, Forensic Evidence, Litigation, Motor Vehicle, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Uninsured Motorist
≈ Comments Off on How To – Investigating Traffic Accidents.
Tags
Car Accident, Dick Warrington, Documentation, Evidence, Evidence Collection, Fender Bender, Forensic Evidence, Forensic Magazine, High Speed Chase, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Traffic Accidents
Evidence Collection in a Traffic Investigation, by Dick Warrington, Forensic Magazine
This post is an excerpt from Mr. Warrington’s post, Investigating the Fender Bender (http://tinyurl.com/o979zk5). I recommend it, and the links to more information on this subject that you will find at the end of the post. -CCE
Most of the time traffic accidents are fairly standard—the typical fender bender where one person runs into another. The officer on duty responds, assesses the situation, and completes the proper paperwork. But sometimes officers deal with much more serious, complex situations. Dealing with a hundred car pile-up, for example, is quite challenging, since it’s like carrying out multiple investigations simultaneously. When responding to multiple car accidents, hit and runs, fatalities, and high speed chases, officers can benefit by calling in Crime Scene Officers to assist with the investigation.
Because this type of case usually involves extensive damage to property, serious injuries, and/or fatalities, lawsuits will likely result. Questions of liability, product failure, etc. will also come up. Given these facts, it’s important to work together to conduct a thorough investigation. Since the CSO’s responsibilities include documentation, evidence identification, and evidence collection, we’ll look at each of those areas. . . .
22 Saturday Feb 2014
Posted in Cross-Examination, Damages, Exhibits, Experts, Litigation, Motor Vehicle, Personal Injury, Plaintiff's Counsel, Product Liability, Trial Tips and Techniques, Video Deposition, Witnesses
≈ Comments Off on More On Why Lawsuits Are So Expensive.
Tags
Accident Reconstructionist, Cross-Examination, Daubert Rule, Engineer, Expert Witness, Filing Fees, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Video Deposition
Why Lawsuits Are So Expensive, Pt. II, by Gregory H. Haubrich, Foshee & Yafee, Butter’s Blog
http://greghaubrich.com/2014/02/13/why-lawsuits-are-so-expensive-pt-ii/
In my previous edition of Butter’s Blog, Part I explored why lawsuits are so expensive. In Part II, we are going to break down the costs of getting your case to trial. To get a rough estimate of what your law firm may spend handling the case, we must first look at what kind of case it is.
10 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Appellate Law, Case of First Impression, Damages, Evidence, Jury Persuasion, Litigation, Pennsylvania Superior Court, Personal Injury, State Appellate Courts, Trial Tips and Techniques
≈ Comments Off on Oh Happy Day for Pennsylvania Personal Injury Plaintiffs.
Tags
Appellate Law, Bodily Injury, Brian Butler, Damages, Daniel E. Cummins, Delay Damages Calculation, Future Medical Expenses, Pain and Suffering, Pennsylvania Superior Court, Personal Injury, Roth v. Ross and Erie Insurance Group, TORT TALK
Appellate Case of First Impression – Future Medical Expenses Are To Be Included in Delay Damages Calculation, by Daniel E. Cummins, TORT TALK
http://www.torttalk.com/2014/02/appellate-case-of-first-impression.html
In a case of first impression, the Pennsylvania Superior Court recently ruled in Roth v. Ross and Erie Insurance Group, 977 MDA 2013, 2014 Pa. Super. 20 (Pa. Super. Feb. 7, 2014 Donohue, Ott, J.J., Platt, S.J.)(Opinion by Donohue, J.), that an award of future medical expenses in a personal injury case should be included in the calculation of delay damages due to the Plaintiff on a verdict. . . .
03 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Depositions, Discovery, Expert Witness, Experts, Health Law, Law Office Management, Litigation, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Trial Tips and Techniques
≈ Comments Off on Experienced Trial Attorney Shares The Risks and Rewards Of Personal Injury Lawsuits.
Tags
Butter’s Blog, Expert Witness Fees, Fortune 500, Foshee & Yaffe, Gregory H. Haubrich, Jackpot Justice, Lawyer Fees, Litigation Costs, Medical Malpractice, Personal injury lawyer, Trial Tips & Techniques
Why Lawsuits Are So Expensive, Pt. I, by Gregory H. Haubrich, Foshee & Yaffe, Butter’s Blog
You’d be surprised at how careful good personal injury lawyers are about what cases they take. In general the public thinks that we can take any person with any complaint and get them some of what our governor calls “jackpot justice.” In truth, the economics of our practice and the ethics of our profession require that we only take cases of serious injury that are objectively provable. We as plaintiff’s lawyers most often fund the expenses of our clients’ cases; otherwise they would not have access to the courts because court cases are expensive. However, if we invest in unsuccessful cases, the time and money we put into those cases will be lost.
07 Saturday Dec 2013
Posted in Federal Law, Personal Injury
≈ Comments Off on EPA Standard for Lead Poisoning Will Not Change In Spite of Evidence That Harm Exists.
‘It’s outrageous we aren’t acting on what we know,’ said Howard Mielke, a soil contamination expert at Tulane University’s medical school. Mielke served on an EPA lead advisory panel that gave input on revising the agency’s house dust standard for lead more than two years ago. He said the soil standard also is too high to protect kids from harm.
23 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted in Discovery, Evidence, Legal Technology, Personal Injury, Requests for Production, Trial Tips and Techniques
≈ Comments Off on Court Denies Facebook Discovery Requests by Both Parties.
Tags
Daniel E. Cummins, Discovery, Facebook, Judge Wettick, Personal Injury, Personal injury lawyer, Traffic collision
Judge Wettick Rules on Facebook Discovery Issues, by Daniel E. Cummins, TORT TALK
After providing a detailed review of the issue over a 22 paged Opinion, which includes a background on Facebook itself and a review of decisions from both within Pennsylvania and from outside jurisdictions, Judge Wettick ruled that both the Plaintiff’s and the Defendant’s motions to compel access to the other’s Facebook pages would be denied in this motor vehicle accident litigation.
05 Tuesday Nov 2013
Posted in Court Orders, Personal Injury, Uninsured Motorist
≈ Comments Off on Pennsylvania Supreme Court Uninsured Motorist Benefits Case Enforces 30-Day Notice Requirement
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Revisits Notice Requirement in UM Cases, by Daniel E. Cummins, TORT TALK
http://www.perma.cc/085wjhMSgfT
In an uninsured motorist benefits case that has gone all the way up the appellate ladder, back down again, and, now, all the way back up, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the matter of Vanderhoff v. Harleysville, No. 98 MAP 2012 (Pa. October 30, 2013)(Opinion by Eakin, J.), the court addressed the following issues:
(1) What constitutes “actual prejudice” to relieve and insurance company of its obligation to pay insurance benefits to an insured?
(2) Should “actual prejudice” involve proof by an insurance carrier that it suffered a real material impairment of its ability to investigation and defend an uninsured claim?
(3) What constitutes a reasonable basis for a trial court finding that prejudice exists in a late report of a phantom vehicle?
In its majority Opinion, the Court essentially held that all three issues are really part of the same test.
23 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Personal Injury, Settlement
≈ Comments Off on The “Litigation Explosion” is a Myth
Greg H. Haubrich, Senior Trial Lawyer at Foshee & Yafee, explains why he recommended — and his client accepted — a settlement agreement that will barely pay her medical bills.
A lawyer wears two hats: Advocate, and counselor. As advocate, my duty is to fight for you hard as hell, tooth and nails; to be the knight in shining armor charging into the Valley of Death. As counselor, I must give you the news and help you realistically evaluate your odds so that you can make well-informed decisions regarding basic questions in your case: especially, whether to accept a settlement offer.
Today I recommended — and my client accepted — a settlement agreement that will barely pay her medical bills. Why?
The first reason is that it is hard to understand how a person can be seriously injured in a collision when there is not a lot of visible crash damage to their vehicle. Science does not support the idea that crash damage correlates to injury. In fact, it is established that deaths sometimes…
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