An easy and important addition to your pretrial order you might be omitting
Why you should be on your may call list Here’s a simple addition you may want to be making to your “will call” list in pretrial orders: yourself There is a non-trivial chance at any trial that you might be the best or simplest witness to call on an evidentiary issue that otherwise might be […]
Does Premises Liability Law Apply to a Vehicle Accident on a Job Site?
Kurt Kastorf is happy to report a nice victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for Jeff Helms and his client, Michael Newcomb. Mr. Newcomb was picking up a delivery of corn at Spring Creek’s facility when one of its employers severely injured him with a forklift. The district court dismissed the […]
What to Do When a Defense Expert Claims a Medical Procedure Was Unnecessary
What to Do When a Defense Expert Claims a Medical Procedure Was Unnecessary A useful practice pointer from Scott Campbell this morning at the Fried Rogers Goldberg Workshop: When the defense has a credible medical expert offer an opinion in a deposition that a procedure was unnecessary, one strategy is to push that expert on whether recommending the procedure […]
Do a Small Number of Physicians Account for Most Medical Malpractice Claims?
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine supports what most trial attorneys know intuitively. A substantial portion of malpractice claims are concentrated among a small number of physicians. This result is consistent with the fact that very few malpractice claims result in settlement, and even fewer go to trial. The majority of these claims are […]
How Specific Must Evidence of Deliberate Indifference to Medical Need Be?
APRIL 3, 2019 Today the Eleventh Circuit published a useful opinion for civil rights attorneys. See Taylor v. Hughes, 11th Cir. Case No. 17-14772, available here. The case involved an individual who was found drunk in his vehicle. He insisted he had been in an accident. Some evidence reflected that he had physical injuries consistent with a […]
Can You Attack an Expert Affidavit on Daubert Grounds?
Georgia law requires that attorneys support professional negligence claims with an expert affidavit. O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1 Can defendants challenge that affidavit on Daubert grounds? (Codified in Georgia as O.C.G.A. § 24-7-702). If so, does Rule 702 apply in the usual manner? At least nominally, Rule 702 does apply. O.C.G.A. § 24-7-702(e) provides that “An affiant shall meet the requirements of this Code […]