Governor HaslamTells Brain Injured Tennesseans Their Injuries are not Catastrophic and Tells Tennessee Voters They are Stupid and Must be Controlled from Nashville
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Home > Legal Issues > Governor HaslamTells Brain Injured Tennesseans Their Injuries are not Catastrophic and Tells Tennessee Voters They are Stupid and Must be Controlled from NashvillePosted on June 19, 2011 by Morgan Adams
Governor Haslam has signed a law that states that non-economic damages should be capped in injury (tort) cases In Tennessee at $750,000 in most cases. Now in Tennessee juries are trusted to sentence a man to death, but apparently they are not trusted by the Governor to determine the proper amount of compensation for victims of someone else's wrongdoing in an injury case. There is not even a "three strikes and you're out" rule for really bad people and corporations that are repeat offenders!
Whether you agree or disagree with jury limits doesn't really matter, as the Tennessee Legislature and Governor Haslam can pass whatever legislation they want, and apparently they wanted to limit the amount of non-economic damages that can be received from someone injured by a wrongdoer. The new law is flawed in several aspects in my opinion.
First there is the hypocrisy in allowing "unlimited" damages against those that commit intentional acts. That sounds great but the Governor and legislators know that NO INSURANCE POLICY IN TENNESSEE WILL PAY FOR AN INTENTIONAL ACT. It is EXCLUDED from the policy. Thus an an injured victim will likely get less money, not more, if you prove the defendant acted intentionally. It sounds good on a stump speech, but in reality this section of the law gives nothing and takes away everything form the injured. The Governor could have easily required insurance companies to cover these acts, but chose not to do so.
The second level of the legislature's and Governor's hypocrisy is that juror's WONT BE TOLD that there are limits in place. They believe that they helped someone, when in reality the government took it away and made them sweat out determining the amount of non-economic damages above $750,000 in the jury room for NO PURPOSE.
The final part of this tragedy is that the Governor will allow some catastrophically injured Tennesseans to receive more than others. There is a special category for "catastrophic loss," which would raise the cap for non-economic damages in cases involving serious spinal cord injuries, severe burns, some severe multiple amputations, or the death of a parent of minor children. Now this new law excludes parents of adult special needs children, children taking care of the elderly (don't worry, they can go to a state run nursing home), victims with brain injuries, twenty year olds who have to wear diapers, or a bag, to catch excrement and waste fluids, chronic pain, etc...
Shouldn't we let a jury, on a case by case basis, decide if these cases are catastrophic after hearing the all facts? Shouldn't we let a jury decide that if you kill enough Tennesseans, you are going to get put out of business? Do parents taking care of special needs adult children, really deserve less than parents taking care of minor children? The Governor and legislature chose to take away these choices from the jury. Some Tennesseans are now more different than others and none of us are as special as corporations.
Many of my clients are brain injured, and catastrophically so, even if they are able to walk and talk. Their lives, as they knew them prior to the wreck, are over. In many case their personalities have changed. They died, but their life goes on. I find it arbitrary, and frankly an abuse of power, that the Governor has decided who can be catastrophically injured in advance of knowing all the facts. That Nashville knows better than a jury of 12 Tennesseans. I guess I trust the people of Tennessee more than those in office now. Voter's of Tennessee, your governor and your legislature just called you too stupid to do what is right in a jury box. (they also called the Judge, lawyers in the case, the Courts of Appeal and the Tennessee Supreme Court too stupid to get it as well, but hey, they were on a roll.) Voters you need to remember this come November.
Schneider Tries to Hide the Ball in Litigation
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Posted on October 14, 2011 by Morgan Adams
I have not been able to post recently as I am up to my eyeballs in litigation. I am shocked these days about how hard I have to fight to obtain information, even simple information, from trucking companies. This is information that just a few years ago was routinely provided to me without a fight.
Recently, in a pending case I have against Schneider National Carriers, I actually had to file a motion to compel discovery in order to obtain a user manual for a computer system. This is a computer system that is commercially sold. Everyone that gets the computer gets a manual. The manual is not a secret, and I shouldn't have to fight to get it. Schneider wont even provide me the INDEX of the commercial programs it uses without an order of protection.
What are they trying to hide? Well, we believe lots, but that's for another day.
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NATIONAL TRUCK LAWYERS PROGRAM IN NEW YORK CITY
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Posted on July 17, 2011 by Morgan Adams
Last week I moderated the morning session of the national conference for the American Association for Justice's Trucking Litigation Group. This is a group of truck accident attorneys from around the country, as well as lawyers who are learning how to handle their first truck accident cases. This is the sort of continuing legal education you want your lawyer to have if they are going to handle your trucking case. See my prior post on "how to hire a great truck accident lawyer"
The litigation group’s mission is to educate and prepare lawyers on how to handle truck accident lawsuits and to work with safety authorities on the national and state level to make trucks safer on the roads and to reduce the number of truck wrecks. I am a past president of the trucking litigation group.
The program this year was terrific. Some of the topics that were covered include:
• Introduction for lawyers to truck accident cases
• Teaching jurors the dangers of trucks
• The opening statement in a truck accident lawsuit
• Using the special rules and regulations governing the trucking industry in depositions
• Preparing the truck accident case for trial
• Closing arguments in a trucking case.
This conference was in New York and is part of the American Association for Justice summer convention. I enjoyed helping my fellow injury attorneys better understand how to represent and protect their clients, and in particular the truck accident victims who have been harmed by negligent trucking companies.
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WRONGFUL DEATH PROCEEDS IN TENNESSEE
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Posted on August 2, 2011 by Morgan Adams
I have been asked by families (and defendants) where the money in a wrongful death case goes in Tennessee. In Tennessee the wrongful death proceeds are distributed under the laws of intestate succession. Kline v. Eyrich, 69 S.W.3d 197, 202 n.3 (Tenn. 2002).
The proceeds of a wrongful death case, unlike an injury case, pass free of creditors' claims. Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 20-5-108(b) and 20-5-106. Foster v. Jeffers, 813 S.W.2d 449 (Tenn. App. 1991).
Tennessee Code Section 31-2-104 sets out the rules for intestate (dies without a will) succession:
(a) The intestate share of the surviving spouse is:
(1) If there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the entire intestate estate; or
(2) If there are surviving issue of the decedent, either one-third ( 1/3 ) or a child's share of the entire intestate estate, whichever is greater.
(b) The part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse under subsection (a) or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows:
(1) To the issue of the decedent; if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent they take equally, but if of unequal degree, then those of more remote degree take by representation;
(2) If there is no surviving issue, to the decedent's parent or parents equally;
(3) If there is no surviving issue or parent, to the brothers and sisters and the issue of each deceased brother and sister by representation; if there is no surviving brother or sister, the issue of brothers and sisters take by representation; or
(4) If there is no surviving issue, parent, or issue of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or issue of grandparents, half of the estate passes to the paternal grandparents if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent or to the issue of the paternal grandparents if both are deceased, the issue taking equally if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent, but if of unequal degree those of more remote degree take by representation; and the other half passes to the maternal relatives in the same manner; but if there is no surviving grandparent or issue of grandparent on either the paternal or maternal side, the entire estate passes to the relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half.
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Louisiana man to receive $2.8M in lawsuit against Allstate
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Allstate Insurance Company must pay a Louisiana man who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina more than $2.8 million in damages and penalties, a federal jury decided Monday in a case that hinged largely on whether it was wind or storm surge that wiped out his house.
The jury found Allstate – which claimed most of the damage was due to storm surge, an event not covered in its policy – did not pay Robert Weiss enough money to cover wind damage to his home. The verdict included a $1.5 million penalty for the company’s failure to pay the claim quickly enough.
Allstate lawyer Judy Barrasso said in closing arguments that Katrina’s winds were not strong enough to do the damage.
The lawyer for the Weiss, whose home was in the Slidell area on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, told the jury in closing arguments that the house was too high above sea level to have been destroyed by Katrina’s storm surge. The eye of Katrina passed just east of Slidell on the morning of Aug. 29, 2005. He also argued that the house was 17 feet above sea level and that engineering data suggested only 14 feet of surge hit the area. “It never reached the bottom of the house,” he said.
Weiss had an Allstate homeowner policy with limits of $343,000 for the dwelling and $240,100 for personal property.
The company, blaming the majority of damage on Katrina’s storm surge, paid $29,483 for structural damage and $14,787 for additional living expenses.
Allstate’s Barrasso said sustained winds at the house did not exceed 100 mph. “There was plenty of evidence to show the winds were not strong enough to topple this house and the storm surge was,” she said.
Jim Neva, a surveyor and engineer who inspected the house for Allstate, initially told Robert Weiss, who is listed as the policy holder, that wind may have destroyed the home before the surge of water washed away its remnants.
He later backed off that conclusion, however, and deferred to engineering consultant Craig Rogers of Rimkus Consulting Group. Rogers, who wrote the final report on the home for Allstate, convinced Neva that storm surge demolished the house.
Rogers said he didn’t personally inspect the property until after he wrote the report. He said he based his conclusions in part on evidence gathered by other Rimkus engineers – a practice he described as common. But Trahant questioned the move.
“Why did Allstate elect to rely on the one engineer who never set foot on the property until long after he stamped his report?” Trahant said in closing arguments.
Confidential Settlement reached between Comair and 2 families
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Comair Incorporated has reached the first two settlements in the August 27th crash of a Comair regional jet at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
Comair Incorporated has reached the first two settlements in the August 27th crash of a Comair regional jet at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
Comair released documents that it filed Friday in U.S. District Court, which include a letter informing the court it has settled claims from the estates of Priscilla Johnson, 44, of Lexington, and Mary Jane Silas, 58, of Columbus, Miss.
Parties in those cases are still finalizing terms of the agreement and “have agreed to keep details of the settlement confidential at this time,” the letter said.
Johnson and Silas were two of the 49 people on Comair Flight 5191 who died in the crash that occurred after the plane attempted to take off from the wrong runway. The plane tried to take off from a 3,500-foot runway used by small planes, although it was supposed to use a runway twice as long.
“The terms of the settlement are confidential, but I can tell you that the agreements provide fair compensation to the families for their loss,” Comair spokesperson Kate Marx said.
Marx said that 29 lawsuits have been filed so far on behalf of 38 passengers. The letter shows that the estate of Silas settled before it filed suit against Comair.
“We are fulfilling our commitment to ensure the settlements are prompt and fair to the families of this tragic accident,” Marx said. “We also remain committed to doing what is reasonable for each of the passenger families, and we have every motivation to continue to pursue fair compensation for victims.”
Phillips Home Page
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New State-Of-The-Art Office
We are excited to move into our new state-of-the-art office which will provide our legal staff more resources when defending the rights of our clients. We have been planning the move for over a year and we have been feverishly anticipating the move to our new offices. As of now we will be located at 20 East Thomas, 26th floor, Phoenix AZ, 85012. We are 1 block East of Central and Thomas in the Qwest building.
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