The Jury consequently invests the people … with the direction of society. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America Yesterday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) used a lot of his time during the Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination hearing to champion the Constitutionally protected 7th Amendment right to a jury trial. He argued that SCOTUS, the Chamber of […]
Maybe the worst example of special protections purchased by wealth and power is the National Rifle Association’s death grip on the national legislature over the last few decades: blocking any meaningful regulation of sales and passing federal legislation granting certain immunities from civil suit. Perhaps the timing is a coincidence, but as the NRA’s power, […]
Yesterday, the Judge in Sarah Palin’s trial against the New York Times announced that he was dismissing her claims at the end of trial but allowing the jury to proceed. This move is often referred to as one of “judicial economy” as it can save the court and parties time later. Getting to trial against […]
My first year practicing law was the year Florida started limiting the rights of medical malpractice victims. “Tort reform” started in 1988 with Florida’s pre-suit screening rules, making it more difficult to hold hospitals and health care providers responsible for the catastrophic costs of malpractice. Not satisfied with these protections, Florida’s legislature later added changes […]
This opinion piece in a local Florida paper is a decent summary of the pitfalls created by Florida’s legislature to keep victims of medical malpractice out of court. Please take care hiring a lawyer to investigate your serious medical malpractice claim. Medical malpractice cases are some of the most expensive and difficult to take through […]
Florida bars any wrongful death claims for victims of medical malpractice where other families with different types of wrongful death claims are allowed to proceed. I have been fighting against this cruel law for most of my career. While the legislature dithers around with bills proposed to remedy this inequity (powerful insurance and health care […]
I am approaching the beginning of 2022 like the last two years were an illness because we spent them obsessing over one. To get what we want – a return to some kind of normal and with any luck full jury trial dockets functioning – we need to take our medicine, take doctors’ advice, finish […]
Opinion: Raise Old Caps On Medical Malpractice “Tort Reform” swept across the country during the ’80s. Pushed by heavy lobbying and promises of lower premiums from the insurance industry, States made it more and more challenging to pursue remedies against health care providers and obtain total and fair compensation. Most of us in the business […]
It is hard to explain how rarely a Judge rejects a settlement made voluntarily between the parties in an enormous and complex case on their docket. These cases can obstruct and upend an entire courthouse’s dockets and scheduling. There isn’t any question that this Judge was seriously offended by the special treatment given to the […]
One of my favorite films about trial lawyering is The Verdict (1982), starring Paul Newman and directed by Sidney Lumet. David Mamet adapted the screenplay from a 1980 novel by Barry Reed. Newman plays Frank Galvin, a lawyer holding on tightly to a medical malpractice claim near the end of his career. He is strung […]
