Leading off the personal injury law round-up is a long piece by Ken Shigley from the Atlanta Injury Law and Civil Litigation Blog entitled Financial Responsibility of Interstate Motor Carriers for Negligence of Truck Drivers, that concludes the regs work together to eliminate the “independent contractor” versus “employee” distinction in the motor carrier industry. In another post he speculates that this could play a role in the recent bus crash that killed 6 college students.
Andrew Bluestone of the New York Attorney Malpractice Blog points out that sometimes cases come to personal injury attorneys from other lawyers as they are substituted out. Thus: A Short Primer on the Retaining Lien.
Bob Kraft’s P.I.S.S.D. points out from Dallas that the FDA Update on Peanut Butter Recall: Salmonella found in the ConAgra Plant.
Moving on to drugs, Law.com reports on this case from Britain’s High Court: Overmedicated Lawyer Awarded $2.7 Million right on the heals of a new domestic report on medication errors after surgery.
For those following the Zyprexa litigation, Pennsylvania has sued Eli Lilly and others for fraudulently distributing the medicine. Two outstanding posts on the subject to get anyone up to speed are from David Michaels at The Pump Handle (More Consequences of Undisclosed Science: Pennsylvania Sues Drug Makers) and William Childs at TortsProf Blog (Zyprexa: Pennsylvania Sues and Thoughts on Sequestered Science).
If you are following the ongoing Vioxx litigation, Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground has a list of upcoming trials.
On the other side of the aisle is Walter Olson at Point of Law, in a discussion of how tort reformers are shifting tactics from attempts at legislative change to procedural change: Liability reform’s new direction: procedure. Although, television and pop culture may be a much bigger factor in litigation results, as Anne Reed points on in Deliberations with The CSI Effect: While Scholars Get Empirical, Libby’s Lawyer Tries It Out.
CEO David Levy at Running a Hospital discusses what it’s like for docs to be sued in The Shame of Malpractice Lawsuits.
Flipping back to pro-consumer posts, Paul Ruschman at TortDeform, does a book review on Blocking the Courthouse Door by Stephanie Mencimer, who has her own blog at the Tortellini.
Michael Townes Watson, also at TortDeform, gives an update on one state’s attempt to close the courthouse doors to personal injury victims: Tennessee Tort “Reform” is Misguided;
And John Day from Day on Torts also discusses the Tennessee fight in his op-ed piece in The Tennessean (Injured Patients Deserve Equal Justice). It’s a good read regardless of the state you are in.
Moving next door to Kentucky, the legislature is doing battle over loss of consortium claims in death cases, as recounted by Michael Stevens in the Kentucky Law Review in Kentucky Senate Owes State’s Widows an “Up or Down” Vote on Widows’ loss of companionship bill;
Finally, at the Maryland Injury Law Blog, Ronald Miller responds to an AOL “story” about dumb lawsuits, in Most Outrageous Lawsuits: The Attack on Personal Injury Lawyers Continues Unabated.
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