Posts tagged medical malpractice

• Three Trial Courts Hold Medical Malpractice Statute Unconstitutional

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 31, 2007 8:54 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Medical Malpractice
  

  In last few years, many states adopted protectionist legislation in favor of the medical industry. The legislation essentially puts up various barriers to bringing medical malpractice cases by, among other things, attempting to impose expensive and burdensome constraints on the way these types of cases are litigated.The medical lobbyists, of course, claim that the legislation is necessary to...

• Bell Atlantic v. Twombly: The Day "Notice Pleading" Died (Sort Of)

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 29, 2007 2:20 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Medical Malpractice
  

  On May 21, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. ___ (2007), announcing the "retirement" of the long-standing standard for dismissal of complaints articulated in Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41 (1957) - i.e., the standard that complaints should not be dismissed "unless it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his...

• Arizona Courts Have General Personal Jurisdiction over Foreign Insurers

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 27, 2007 2:14 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Wrongful Death
  

  New decision from Division One, Bohreer v. Erie Ins. Exch.. Bohreer holds that an Arizona court has general personal jurisdiction over a foreign insurer which has appointed the Director of Insurance as an agent for service of process and has not withdrawn such qualification or appointment, but has ceased doing business in the state prior to the acts underlying the complaint. The Court held...

• Court Holds Offer of Judgment Sanctions Include All Reasonable Expert Fees

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 19, 2007 5:18 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Division One handed down Levy v. Alfaro today which holds that Rule 68 sanctions include all reasonable expert witness fees after the offer, not just those fees for testifying at trial. The decision is no surprise to those of us who regulaly try cases, but I suppose it is good to have it "clarified."

• How Would Tort Reform Affect the Quality of Emergency Healthcare?

  Staff Writer | June 14, 2007 7:00 AM | 2 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Medical Malpractice
  

  In 1975, the California State Legislature passed the California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) which placed a cap on damages for medical malpractice claims. According to this Act, an injured plaintiff cannot recover non-economic losses in excess of $250,000. This tort reform statute has been in effect in California for thirty-two years. Because this California law has been in...

• Judicial Officers are Subject to the "De Facto Officer" Doctrine and Failure to Object to the Appointment of a Judge Pro Tempore is a Procedural Defect That Can Be Waived

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 08, 2007 8:49 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Division One just handed down Garner v. Schindler, a short and sweet opinion on the nature of judges pro tempore (I am a judge pro tempore, by the way). In sum, the appellant had a probate dispute litigated before a judge pro tempore and, after the case was over, decided to raise (for the first time) hyper-technical defects in the judge's appointment.The Court of Appeals, awknoweldged that...

• Pharmaceutical Company Threatened Legal Action Against Physician Who Questioned the Safety of Diabetes Medication Avandia

  Staff Writer | June 07, 2007 1:49 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  GlaxoSmithKline operates as the world's second largest pharmaceutical company behind Pfizer. It markets a vast assortment of medication to treat patients with health problems and, according to its annual report for 2006, the diabetes medication Avandia is one of the top six pharmaceutical products it markets throughout the world, At 30th September 2006, GSK held second position in the world...

• Court of Appeals (Incorrectly) Dismisses Wrongful Death Appeal Due to Untimely Notice of Appeal After Plaintiff Attempts to Obtain a Change to the Breadth of the Trial Court's Judgment

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 01, 2007 3:00 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Frank Zappa said, "We are a nation of laws; badly written and randomly enforced." That's probably the way that Joe Burkhamer feels, having lost his daughter (and son-in-law) in tragic accident in 2003, and now having had his appeal dismissed in a published opinion from Division Two, Burkhamer v. State of Arizona, because two of the three Judges on the panel decided that the appeal was filed too...

• Child Cancer Patients and Medication Errors

  Staff Writer | May 27, 2007 9:00 AM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ Category: Medical Malpractice
  

  As if struggling with and battling cancer is not enough, according to a researcher at Johns Hopkins Children Center, children often must also face the additional battle of having to overcome problems relating to medication errors. Children with cancer often get the wrong dose of chemotherapy or are given the drug at the wrong time, and many require treatment because of the errors, U.S....

• Circumstances of Death Are Admissible in Wrongful Death Actions To The Extent They Impact on Shock, Grief and Emotional Distress of Statutory Survivors

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 26, 2007 3:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ Category: Wrongful Death
  

  Division One just put out an opinion in Girouard v.Skyline Steel involving interpretation of the wrongful death statute. The case involved admitted liability, but disputed damages where the decedent burned to death in car accident. The Court clarified that, while pre-death suffering is not compensable in a wrongful death action, the horrific circumstances of the death, the necessity of closed...