Articles Posted in Litigation Process

The National Conference of State Legislators has a list of the laws of each state that addresses whether carbon monoxide detectors that will help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning are legally required by statute. 

This list of laws should be a starting place, not an end point,  for research.  For example, the list does not include a new law in Tennessee that mandates the use of  functioning carbon monoxide detectors in certain recreational vehicles.  Likewise, it is possible that state regulations (not statutes) and local ordinances can require the use of carbon monoxide detectors in certain settings.  More importantly, the fact that a statute or ordinance does not require carbon monoxide detectors does not mean that the duty to use reasonable care may not require them under the circumstances.

The NCSL’s website is just one example of the limitations of attempting to do legal research on the Internet.  I encourage consumers to educate and thus empower themselves by any means, including Internet research, but if you have a true legal issue that will materially affect you please consult with a qualified lawyer. 

Drexel Preparatory Academy in Nashville saw some three dozen students from its school being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and will be closed on Tuesday, January 15, 2013.

Often called “the silent killer,” carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless toxic gas produced by incomplete combustion in fuel-burning devices such as furnaces, boilers and heaters for water and swimming pools. One news report indicates that the site of the Drexel leak is the central heating and air unit.

The incident at Drexel follows a rash of other carbon monoxide exposure events in other schools, including a recent incident at Finch Elementary School in Atlanta, where over 500 people were evacuated and some 49 were hospitalized.

In the year ending June 30, 2011 (the most recent year for which statistics are available) there were 499 trials in Tennessee personal injury and wrongful death cases.

Only 222 of these trials were jury trials.  The other 277 trials were non-jury trials.

Shelby County had 44 jury trials in personal injury and wrongful death cases, the most jury trials of any county in the state.  Davidson County was next with 31 jury trials.  Knox County had 28 jury trials and Hamilton County had 19 jury trials.

John Day of the Law Offices of John Day, P.C.  has been named to the Tennessee Super Lawyers list as one of the top attorneys in Tennessee for 2013,  No more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by Super Lawyers.

In addition, John was again named to the Top 100 Lawyers in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi in the 2013 Super Lawyers publication.  

We are also proud to announce that two of the firm’s other lawyers, Brandon Bass and Laura Baker, were named to Super Lawyer’s Rising Star List.  

If a plaintiff or a defendant loses a case in a Tennessee Circuit or Chancery Court and has a complaint about the way the trial was conducted or the end result of the trial or the judge’s ruling on post-trial motions, he or she can appeal.

In Tennessee, the first appeal is to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  An appeal to the Court of Appeals is an appeal as a matter of right.  That is, you have the automatic right to this appeal and do not have to have permission of any court to appeal

The Court of Appeals does not hear from witnesses. Rather, it looks at the transcript of the testimony given in the trial court, reviews the exhibits, and determines whether there were any errors than mandate a different result than reached in the trial court. The Court of Appeals can affirm the result reached in the trial court, order a new trial, and sometimes it can outright dismiss a case won by a plaintiff in the trial court.  

The Tennessee Supreme Court does not have to review any personal injury case or wrongful death case.  If a litigant is unsuccessful in the Court of Appeals, he or she can ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to consider the case, but the Court has absolute discretion over whether it will hear the case.

What are the odds that the Court will hear any personal injury or wrongful death case?  Here are the numbers:  For the year ended June 30, 2011, the Court was asked to consider 952 civil cases.  Civil cases include personal injury cases include personal injury and wrongful death cases, divorce cases, contract cases, and all other types of cases other than criminal cases.  How many cases did the Court accept?  54.  So,  in general the odds are about 1 in 19.

The Court looks for cases of important public interest and cases where the three divisions of the Court of Appeals have differing views on the law.  The Court rarely takes cases where the only complaint is that the jury reached the wrong result.  The Court lacks the resources to accept the appeal of all of the cases it would like to hear.

People who filed lawsuits in Tennessee may be hit with up to $10,000 in payment of a defendant’s attorney’s fees and costs if their lawsuit is dismissed on a motion to dismiss.

A motion to dismiss is a paper filed by a defendant to a lawsuit who seeks to dismiss a case before a trial or before any discovery.  If the motion to dismiss is granted, the person filing the lawsuit may have to pay up to $10,000 in attorney’s fees and other costs incurred by the defendant in the defense of the case.

There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, but there is no doubt that the legislation increased the risk to Tennesseans who hire inexperienced lawyers to represent them in personal injury, wrongful death, or any other type of lawsuit in Tennessee.

Interested in Nashville jury verdicts ?  Here are the latest statistics from jury verdicts in all types of personal injury and wrongful death cases in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee for July, 2012.

There was one fraud case tried to a jury  in July, and the defendant won the case.

And there was one medical malpractice case tried to a jury . My memory is that this case was tried twice before.  This time, the plaintiff (a brain-damaged child) won $13,623,00).  This is one of only two patient victories in medical malpractice cases tried in Nashville in 2012.