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Effective immediately, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has said it will allow drivers to use personal conveyance status to get to the nearest safe parking spot/rest location after hours are exhausted by a shipper/receiver, or off-duty periods are interrupted by law enforcement. Will this expansion of the “personal conveyance” exemption be abused by…

Tucker was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by Brown, who struck a tractor-trailer rig parked by the road. The passenger, Tucker, sued Brown for her resulting injuries, and the jury returned a verdict of $2 million in damages, but apportioned 40 percent fault to the nonparty tractor-trailer driver and 60 percent to Brown,…

Tucker was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by Brown, who struck a tractor-trailer rig parked by the road. The passenger, Tucker, sued Brown for her resulting injuries, but did not sue the trucking company or the truck driver. Before trial Brown identified the tractor-trailer driver as a nonparty against whom the jury should…

The Statute of Limitations is ONE YEAR: Statutes of Repose: $750,000 cap on non-economic damages: Comparative Fault: Liability Insurance is not discoverable in state courts: UM/UIM coverage (policies issued in TN): Products Liability: Premises Liability: Medical Malpractice (Health Care Liability): Governmental Tort Liability: Wrongful Death: Punitive Damages: Miscellaneous: PLEASE NOTE: This is intended only as…

Information from reliable sources indicates that Durham School Services is insured with Old Republic Insurance Company. One policy has limits of $5,000,000.00, and another provides excess coverage of $8,500,000.00. This is probably on top of a self-retainage limit. Durham School Services, their parent company, National Express LLC (NELLC), operate more than 21,500 school buses and…

Now that former Durham Transportation school bus driver Johnthony Walker has been found guilty of six counts of criminally negligent homicide by a Hamilton County jury, the question arises as to whether the felony convictions lift Tennessee’s caps on noneconomic damages for victims of his negligence. Walker was driving 37 children from Woodmere Elementary School…

A recent Opinion from the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, Jeffrey Sipler v. Trans Am Trucking, Civ.No.10-3550 (DRD) states very clearly that “no federal law requires set-aside arrangements in personal injury settlements for future medical expenses.” The defense tried to impose a confidentiality clause and sort of a Medicare Set-aside (MSA) arrangement on the…

The expert affidavit law, O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1, which was originally enacted in 1987, supposedly to reduce litigation by weeding out frivolous lawsuits, is still spawning litigation nearly 30 years later. What if the plaintiff’s expert is deemed not competent to testify in a medical malpractice case under the stringent requirements of O.C.G.A. § 24-7-702(c)(2) because…

As we look forward to cooler weather this fall, we should be reminded we are more likely to encounter fog on our highways. Fog is prevalent in areas where moisture is abundant, such our southern rivers and lakes. However, fog can occur anywhere. Abundant condensation nuclei enhances the formation of fog. Fog may form (1)…

In Skaan v. Federal Express Corp, an opinion filed by the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Jackson on December 13, 2012, the Court examined a contractual limitation provision in an employment contract. The plaintiff filed a workers’ compensation claim and was eventually discharged from his employment. Eight months after being termination, he filed a…