The New York Personal Injury Law Blog presents the week that was:
We start with a patient that had the wrong testicle removed by the VA, (tip to Kevin, M.D), because I know that is one way to get your attention.
And I’ll try to keep that attention by turning to Randall Udelman of InjuryBoard (Phoenix) to talk about carnivals — referring not to Blawg Review #102, the April Fool’s Blawg Review Prequel, or a similar round-up of common-subject posts — but to talk of actual rides (fun!), and the problem of state laxity of control (OK, maybe not-so-fun) in Carnival Safety in Arizona;
From testicles and carnivals and into the courtroom: Charles Silver at TortDeform does an analysis of the “haircuts” that jury verdicts often receive after you have read about that big verdict in the papers; And there is a response to Professor Silver from Ted Frank at Point of Law on the subject;
Sticking with verdicts, John Day at Day on Torts has a summary of one state’s jury verdicts, and the low number of plaintiff’s verdicts for those cases that go all the way; he also brings up data that shows hospital errors are increasing, not decreasing, over the past few years;
Medical malpractice also brings up the difficult subject of “wrongful life,” which Ronen Perry wrote of at the Social Science Research Network;
From medical malpractice to legal: Andrew Bluestone writes of a doctor that is suing his defense lawyer for legal malpractice after a $217 million verdict in Florida at his New York Attorney Malpractice Blog. The original article is here. Seems the defense lawyer may have been doing the bidding of the insurance company instead of the doctor when he refused the offer to settle for the policy limits;
And since we talk of insurance companies, long a subject of complaints, Michael Stevens at the Kentucky Law Review discusses some of the eye-popping profits that insurance companies have been making;
Since all personal injury litigation involves evidence, almost all attorneys will ultimately face the issue of evidence spoliation, which includes anything from a wrecked car to a fetal monitor strip gone missing. Matthew Lerner at New York Civil Law notes that New York’s high court will hear argument on whether spoliation of evidence can exist as an independent cause of action;
And we close with John Bisnar at the California Injury Blog ruminating on Elderly drivers, how old is too old? It is worth checking out for an absolutely priceless deposition quote.
Enjoy the weekend.
(Submissions for next week’s edition may be made to blog[at]TurkewitzLaw.com)