Third-Party Expert Witness Liability
May 26, 2005
The opinions offered at trial by expert witnesses are running an increasingly greater gamut of scrutiny. First, they are subject to the judicial scientific reliability tests of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical Inc., 507 U.S. 579 (1993). Once that hurdle is cleared and the opinion given, the experts can be sued by the party who hired them, both in tort and contract, if the opinion did not live up to the party's expectations.
Nursing Home Litigation and Residents' Rights Statutes
May 26, 2005
In the recent past, nursing home residents had difficulty in recovering money damages against those facilities. In 1989, Congress enacted its Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, which was a major attempt at reform in the federal regulation of nursing homes. This initiative was intended to dramatically improve the health and safety of nursing home residents through extensive regulations, including the "Residents Bill of Rights," new care standards and new enforcement mechanisms. See 42 U.S.C. '' 1395, 1396 (2000).
Verdicts
May 26, 2005
Recent rulings you need to know.
Physician and Medical Device Defendants Collaborative Defense Strategies
May 26, 2005
Politics make strange bedfellows" is an election-year maxim. Sometimes, bitter rivals in primaries become allies after a convention, or forge alliances to get favored bills and "pet" proposals approved. But while politics may make strange bedfellows, it has nothing on personal injury litigation.
Reimbursement Alimony: How Much Is That Piece of Paper Worth?
May 26, 2005
In the past few years, enrollment in graduate programs has reached new levels. Recent college graduates now look to expand their education by obtaining a Masters Degree or Doctorate. Their reasons for attending advanced schooling vary: Whether it is to delay entering the work force or to obtain higher education for increased financial success, the ramifications for a spouse who supports the graduate student can be crucial in marriages of relatively short duration.
New York Broadens Definition of 'Constructive Abandonment'
May 26, 2005
A recent decision in New York State, extending the present definition of "constructive abandonment" under the grounds for abandonment in New York Domestic Relations Law (DRL) ' 170(2) to include a refusal to engage in "social intercourse," as opposed to "sexual intercourse," merits the attention of bench and bar.
A Sex Change Can Also Change a Marriage
May 26, 2005
What happens when your husband becomes your wife? If the state you live in recognizes same-sex marriages, you'll be fine, but if it does not, your future may be uncertain.
A Primer for Cross-Examining Mental Health Professionals
May 26, 2005
With well-established boards in place in each of the three major mental health professions, what stimulated the proliferation of credential-granting boards? And why would mental health practitioners seeking recognition of advanced education and training in a specialty area present their credentials to one of the newer, non-traditional boards? A dispassionate examination of our culture provides at least a partial answer. Many of those wishing to lose weight seek to do so without diet or exercise. Many of those wishing for wealth seek to obtain it by playing the lottery. Many of those who tan themselves because they like the "healthy" look are aware that there is nothing remotely healthy about their tans, but seek 'the look' nevertheless. It should not surprise us that many of those who wish to be perceived as proficient in a specialty would prefer the appearance of proficiency to the reality of proficiency because the look can be obtained much more easily.
Litigation
May 26, 2005
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Grabbing the Headlines
May 26, 2005
No sexual harassment case has received as much attention in the press recently as the one brought against Fox News and television host Bill O'Reilly by former Fox producer Andrea Mackris. This case grabbed the headlines with almost as much fervor as did Anita Hill's claims against then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas in 1994, which had previously been the most notorious of sexual harassment claims. The Mackris/O'Reilly case has frequently been compared with the Hill/Thomas case -- not only because of the cases' relative notoriety, but also because they involve similar allegations: that a subordinate employee was subject to verbal harassment.
