In an unfortunate example of a Court of Appeals panel totally ignoring a jury, the Court threw out a $1.6 million dollar verdict. The Judges opined that the jury was flat out wrong and considered the evidence incorrectly. Keeping a jury verdict when there is an Appellate bench willing to…
It is common knowledge that workers’ compensation schemes bar, in most circumstances, negligence claims brought by an employee against his or her employer. Given that recovery in the workers’ compensation setting can be more limited than desired, litigants will often try to fit their negligence claims against an employer within…
In a recent medical malpractice decision, the Georgia Court of Appeals addressed an intriguing issue concerning whether jurors may use the sense of touch in weighing evidence. The decision, Piedmont Newnan Hospital, Inc. v. RA-085 Barbour, arose from an alleged act of medical negligence that occurred during the course of…
Although we expect all products to function as anticipated, that is especially true for those products on which we rely to provide safety during dangerous situations. Indeed, when the risk of harm is high, an equipment failure can lead to truly tragic results. This type of product failure was at…
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”), virtually every business operating in America is required to furnish its employees the federal minimum wage and overtime compensation. There are a number of exceptions to the FLSA, however, and many employers will try to cubbyhole their employees into one of…
Car accidents with police officers can present numerous challenges for those injured in the crash. Chief among these challenges is the issue of sovereign immunity, which can make it quite difficult to pursue a claim against a negligent officer if they are operating within the course and scope of their duties.…
In most cases involving negligent security, a resident of a building or patron of a business brings suit against a party for negligently failing to provide adequate security under particular circumstances. However, in a recent case, Fagg v. United States, the court addressed a more peculiar situation involving a contracted worker who…
Thank you all for the opportunity to speak to the South Carolina Bar. Just click on the link below to download the powerpoint from my presentation and feel free to email me with any questions. Chris The Business of Law powerpoint
The guiding principle of negligence liability is that one should be accountable for injuries occasioned by a failure to act with reasonable care. Since reasonableness is the guiding principle for negligence liability, it follows that one should not be held liable when the events leading to the injury, even if foreseeable…
In the “what were you thinking” department, the Supreme Court gave the final smackdown to a lawyer who filed a lawsuit after the 2 year statute of limitations after a bus crash against the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency. The lawyer tried to wiggle out of missing the Statute by arguing…