Defense Counsel Journal articles from January 2008

Defense Counsel Journal archives from January 2008

Public benefit vs. profitability.(President's page)
January 1, 2008... In the last President's Page, I ended my comments with a quote from St. Thomas More, who, in 1999, was voted "Lawyer of the Millennium" by the Law Society of Great Britain. To me, he embodied all that is good in our profession and despite the...

Is the preemption defense for PMA-approved medical devices in jeopardy? (premarket approval)
January 1, 2008... MOST jurisdictions have held that [section] 360k(a) of the Medical Device Amendments preempts conflicting state common-law claims arising from the design, manufacture, and labeling of a medical device that received pre-market approval. (1)...

The missing link: connecting key evidence to the jurors.
January 1, 2008... WHEN we speak, we hope to be heard and understood. When trial lawyers speak, they hope to be heard and understood, but they also hope to persuade. Unfortunately, too often in the course of a trial, attorneys let opportunities to persuade jurors...

The difficult plaintiff: the influence of somatoform disorders in civil tort.
January 1, 2008... THERE are certain matters common in personal injury litigation wherein a plaintiff alleges physical and/or mental loss secondary to an injury. The medical expert for the plaintiff testifies that this is a common condition, organic in origin....

A dark and stormy night: the mystery of the missing science in fingerprint identification.
January 1, 2008... IN MAY of 2004, the FBI issued an unprecedented apology to Brandon Mayfield, the Portland, Oregon lawyer who was tied to the Madrid train bombings via an erroneous fingerprint identification. (1) The print in question had been positively...

Losing the war on attorney-client privilege: viewing the selective waiver quagmire through the Tenth Circuit's In Re Qwest Communications International.
January 1, 2008... THE attorney-client privilege, which belongs to the client, not to the lawyer, enables individual and corporate clients to communicate with their lawyer in confidence. (1) It is the "bedrock of the client's rights to effective counsel and...

Sanctions: a word to the wise.
January 1, 2008... As a practicing attorney for the past thirteen years in both North Carolina and West Virginia, I have had the honor of trying cases and making legal arguments in a number of state and federal courts. Since becoming an attorney, I have practiced...

Tips for preparing your corporate witness for deposition.
January 1, 2008... The foundation for a successful trial result is necessarily laid well before trial. One of the factors in a successful defense of a corporate client is the outcome of the corporate depositions. The following thoughts on corporate deposition...

Passenger bill of rights.
January 1, 2008... "Passengers on Commercial Aircraft in the United States have less [sic] rights than prisoners of war."(1) In December of 2006, after severe weather conditions hit the Southwest, passengers on a flight from San Francisco to Alabama were...