As reported in Law 360 … The Florida Supreme Court’s recent decision not to reinstate a nearly $31 million jury award against a bar that served alcohol to an underage person who later crashed into a pedestrian was the right call, experts said, and provided much needed clarity on the state’s dram shop statute. Read […]
When insurance carriers and defense lawyers fight among themselves, the victims of negligence and defective products sometimes endure delays. The primary insurer for a Colorado climbing gear company said an excess insurer’s bid to get out of liability for a climber’s injuries should be heard in a Washington state malpractice suit, arguing in a motion […]
I have had State Farm adjusters sitting in the venire eager to get on an auto accident jury. In one case, I remember a State Farm adjuster on the venire panel. I used internal State Farm documents with the Judge showing that the insurance carrier encouraged their employees – when called for jury duty – […]
Hospitals try to conceal every report of adverse incidents, even when they know better. I litigated this issue here in Florida successfully. Here is the link to that story: Charles v. Baptist – A Landmark Decision. In this Pennsylvania case, things were a little more clear. Central to the appeal is text of the MCARE Act […]
The entire story from Law360 about Justice Jackson’s views during oral arguments to SCOTUS. As Purdue Pharma LP and its creditors pushed the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to bless liability releases granted to members of the Sackler family who own it, a skeptical Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said it was the owners themselves who […]
A Florida jury tacked on $50 million in punitive damages to a roughly $211 million award to the family of Maya Kowalski, the child at the center of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital for mistreating Maya to the point that her mother took her own life. Read […]
In many states, including Florida, a physical impact is required for a plaintiff to recover mental and emotional damages for most torts. There are exceptions for the most egregious misconduct – when some people without any physical impact can recover mental and emotional damages. I have litigated that question successfully on appeal. You can read […]
In Florida, there is a presumption that the driver of a vehicle that rear-ends another is at fault. That presumption may be overcome by evidence of a sudden stop, sudden entry into traffic or cutting off traffic. Given that, you might rightly wonder why the carrier of the sand truck in this recent case in […]
Many states, like Florida, have presuit rules for medical malpractice cases, passed at the urging of lobbies that represent insurance companies and hospital systems. These rules differ from state to state but generally make filing suit more difficult by setting up a series of procedures your lawyer has to follow. Unsurprisingly, almost every case involves […]
I have had cases like the one below with both anonymous and signed reports removed from medical charts. In one case, a doctor met me in a restaurant across the street from the hospital and delivered to me his copy of a report that had been removed from the patient’s chart. I have also been […]
