Features
Initiating Medical Malpractice Cases In Federal Court
Under the provisions of the FTCA, an action may not be instituted upon a claim against the United States for money damages caused by the negligent act of any federal employee acting within the scope of his employment, unless the claimant first presents the claim to the appropriate federal agency and the claim is finally denied by the agency in writing and sent by certified or registered mail. If the agency fails to make a final disposition of the claim within six months after it is filed, the claimant may deem the claim denied.
Learned Treatises, Cross-Examination and the Hearsay Exception
In last month's newsletter, we looked at the development of statutory and case law surrounding the admission of learned treatises, such as medical books, textbooks and practice guidelines, in medical malpractice cases. Although everyone knows that these documents must be authenticated before they may be admitted into evidence as proof of the facts contained therein, the question remains whether the learned treatise doctrine permits cross-examination with a learned text absent prior authentication as to that source's reliability.
Features
Vaccine Claims: Equitable Tolling May Sometimes Now Apply
Last month, we discussed the fact that the limitations period for the filing of claims under the "Vaccine Act" has kept many from recovering for vaccine-related injuries. The discussion continues herein.
Features
Decisions of Interest
Recent rulings of importance to your practice.
Features
Examination Order Violated Abuse Victim's Rights, Panel Says
A Family Court order that a teenage sexual abuse victim undergo a highly intrusive "forensic medical examination" violated her Fourth Amendment rights, a Brooklyn appellate court has ruled.
Bias in Custody Evaluations
Cognitive sets and assumptions, however formed, create a kind of lens through which data that is gathered on a family is processed and interpreted. And these biases create the very real potential for errors to be made at the stage where the court is being given an evaluator's "bottom line" about a particular child's needs or a certain parent's skills and capacities.
When Is an Order Not an Order?
In two reported cases addressing the enforceability of the "automatic orders," the results were seemingly contradictory as to the remedy for "violation" of these "orders.
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