Tennessee Law Blog

A McMinnville jury awarded the family of a neglected nursing home resident a judgment in the amount of $4.1 million after finding the patient received negligent care at a National Healthcare Corporation nursing home. Apparently the Tennessee jury was so appalled by the treatment the also awarded the family a multimillion dollar punitive damage award. The judge, however, threw out almost all of the punitive damage award.

So how does this verdict impact the medical malpractice reform debate. Obviously, the proponents of medical malpractice verdict caps will say that this is an example of the need for a cap. However, if the treatment was so horrible that a jury felt this verdict was justified then what would a cap have accomplished. A cap would simply let the nursing home know that they can cut costs, neglect patients, increase their profits and never have any real threat of punishment. Corporations tend to place profits over people and it this is done in the nursing home industry in Tennessee then they need to be punished The only was to punish a nursing home is financially Take away the juries ability to do so and it will be much less likely that your loved ones will be treated with care. It will also make it difficult to find a lawyer to pursue a case because litigation is such an expensive process.

With the fight raging over the remains of Anna Nicole Smith and the planned burial of James Brown almost two months after his death, many people are wondering how to avoid the same fate and heartache for their family after their death.

A simple solution to this problem is to create a Will. A Tennessee Will can be made by any person 18 years of age or older with a sound mind. While arguably some may question the sound mind of Anna Nicole Smith, especially if they ever saw her reality show, if, at the time of signing the Will, she understood the effect of her Will, the property she owned, and who this property naturally would go to, usually her spouse, children, or other family members, she would have qualified.

In the case of Anna Nicole Smith’s Will, things became more complicated because she did not keep it updated. She had left everything to her son, Daniel, who preceded her in death. Whenever you have a major event in your life such as the birth of a baby, a divorce, or death of a child, it’s important to review your Will to make sure it still accurately reflects your wishes.

What were James Brown’s thoughts regarding his funeral? Did Anna Nicole Smith want to be buried next to her son? Did she want to leave everything to her new baby girl after Daniel’s unexpected death? Would she have divided it between the two children if he had lived? We will never know for sure. The best way to have your property divided according to your wishes and to have any special funeral or burial intent carried out is through a current Will. This is an important document for any person to have, but obviously with complicated or strained family relationships, this becomes even more important. Without this document to prove your intentions, it is possible to end up with someone appointed by the court deciding your final arrangements.

Reading the paper today I see that one of our lawmakers had an accident and appears to have been drunk. It also appears that he was drunk after attending three legislative sessions. This accident is upsetting on so many different levels.

To begin, and to state the obvious, we have a legislature that has drunk driving accident. A person that we have elected to draft laws to keep us safe. Each year I handle a number of cases where people have been injured by drunk drivers. It is difficult for any family to understand such a senseless crime. I can't imagine the betrayal a victim would feel if they were hit by a drunk representative.

Second, it really makes you wonder what type of events had he been attending. I have no problem with social and responsible drinking but if we have lobbyist getting our legislature loaded and sending them out on the road, we really need to get control of the situation.

Okay, first of all let me be clear. I love dogs. All types and sizes. I have always had dogs and always will. However, I also think it is only fair to society that I be completely responsible for my dogs. Like any animal they can be unpredictable at times. No matter how well we think we know them they may act different around strangers. That is why I support the new proposed tougher dog liability law.

Each year approximate a dozen people nationwide die from dog bites, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also, according to the State Health Department in 2005 over 7,000 Tennesseans sought treatment for dog bites, and an additional 188 were hospitalized.
Currently under Tennessee law a person must know that there dog is dangerous before they can be held responsible. I think if we are going to have an animal then we are responsible for its actions no matter how unexpected they may be. One of the proposed laws would allow dog owners to be prosecuted for the first time their animals damage property or injure someone, including if the incident happens on their own property. There would be exceptions for dogs protecting owners from real danger.

Over the past two years Traffic fatalities have gone down in Tennessee, according to statistics. Two new laws are getting some credit in reducing the fatalities. One is the new lower minimum blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent for drunken drivers and the second is a law which allows police officers to pull over motorists who aren’t wearing seatbelts.

It is amazing the impact these two factors have on fatality accidents. It is also interesting how simple it is to put on a seatbelt but so many of us forget. In fact, after dropping my son off at school last week a policemen pulled me over because I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt. I felt so dumb thinking about all of the devastating accident cases my office has handled where peoples injuries were exacerbated because that did not use their seatbelt. So I encourage all of you to take those extra few seconds to buckle up.