Defense Counsel Journal articles from October 1997

Defense Counsel Journal archives from October 1997

Restatement Third, Torts: Products Liability; what hath the ALI wrought? (American Law Institute, includes commentary and text)
October 1, 1997... In May 1997, the American Law Institute approved the Restatement Third, Torts: Products Liability. This article provides the black-letter text of the new restatement, based on the Proposed Final Draft (April 1, 1997), along with an introduction...

Using case law and strategies to defend Family and Medical Leave Act claims.
October 1, 1997... Does an employee meet the requirements of the FLMA for leave? A lot of issues and answers go into making that decision THE federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. [subsections] 2601-2654, took effect for most employees on August...

Increasing fear of future injury claims: where speculation carries the day.
October 1, 1997... Plaintiffs are seeking damages for fear of future injury and the enhanced risk of future disease, along with the cost of medical monitoring CONSIDER these cases: * In West Virginia, a hospital patient who tested positive for HIV--the...

Assessing admissibility of nonscientific expert evidence under Federal Evidence Rule 702.
October 1, 1997... A return to the general acceptance test of Frye would provide the best basis for courts to decide what nonscientific expert testimony should be heard A former actor arranges to purchase marijuana. Over the next three years, he completes many...

The case for across-the-board application of the loss-of-chance doctrine.
October 1, 1997... It makes jurisprudential and public policy sense for the doctrine to apply to better-than-even chance cases when plaintiffs cannot prove causation NEGLIGENCE law traditionally has required that findings of liability be predicated on a showing...

In the wake of Kamilewicz: a claim of predatory class counsel fees.
October 1, 1997... There's a message that the core issue of the reasonableness of fees must be resolved with safeguards, not in a staged act "A class action in Alabama cost Dexter Kamilewicz $91.33 in attorney fees to recover $2.19 on the merits." That...

Liability of stockbrokers: claims for churning and unsuitability.
October 1, 1997... Statutes regulations and rules, as well as common law, apply to customers' claims, making defense counsel's job complex LIABILITY of financial advisors is a broad and complex area of the law. The category of financial advisors includes, among...

Liability of professionals to non-clients: an expanding and tangling web.
October 1, 1997... Suits by third-party non-clients are increasing and many courts are finding liability where no duty is apparent IMAGINE you're the attorney for an insurance agent, who calls to tell you that she has been sued. She explains that months ago a new...

Daubert, pain, evidence and inference in treating TMD. (temporomandibular disorder)
October 1, 1997... In writing the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court's scientific evidence ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), Justice Blackmun explained that subjective impressions are biased by the observer's...

Opposing party's privileged or confidential documents.
October 1, 1997... To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know; that is true knowledge. --Confucius OVER the past few months, you have been fighting in a heated battle of high-stakes litigation with opposing counsel over...