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Living victims of medical malpractice are almost always, by definition, not in the best of health. Some have lingering problems, such as scars or recurring pain, but others will have sustained injuries that will eventually lead to their demise. Some may not have suffered life-threatening injuries at the hands of their medical providers, but they are expected to die soon anyway from an unrelated terminal illness, or merely old age. In these situations, the necessity of a speedy resolution to the plaintiff's claim is evident; without it, any benefit the victim might have gained from an award will go to his or her heirs rather than to claimant. In addition, the loss of the claimant's personal testimony at trial may prejudice the outcome of the case.
I began offering my services as an expert economist more than 25 years ago and have testified in literally thousands of cases. This experience qualifies me, I hope, as an expert in the use of experts, especially the use of expert economists. Here, I offer a few insights I have garnered over the years that I hope will be useful to medical malpractice attorneys. I guarantee that if you heed most of the 'rules' below, you will have helped your economist do the best job he or she can do for you and your client.
Features
During the late summer and early autumn of 2006, the medical community began to express second thoughts about the safety of drug-coated cardiac stents, which have in recent years been given credit for reducing the frequency of complications arising from the use of a previous generation of stents. The publicity generated by the news media interested me in my professional role representing health care providers, and for personal reasons as well.
The increase in recent years in malpractice claims against lawyers has impacted entertainment attorneys, too. If a malpractice complaint is filed, will the attorney's liability policy cover the suit? Two primary concerns here are whether the attorney has timely notified his or her insurer of a malpractice claim and how to determine the number of malpractice 'claims' for purposes of the insurer's malpractice-coverage obligations.<br>A recent ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin addressed both issues, as well as which state's law should apply in interpreting malpractice policies.
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
New York often serves as a leading venue for concepts in matrimonial law. Although states differ widely on valuation issues such as personal and organizational goodwill, the concept of value to a professional license or degree has a certain amount of differentiation to the marital pot. Matrimonial attorneys need to recognize the valuation theories underscoring arguments of earnings capacity. Depending upon the applicable state's case law, these theories will impact their next case.
Features
Like New Jersey, New York generally does not consider fault when distributing marital assets. (<i>See</i> Strober L: Marital Misconduct and Alimony. <i>The Matrimonial Strategist</i>, November 2006.) However, there are circumstances under which both states will factor in fault.
When a party to a divorce seeks to invalidate a prenuptial agreement, it often is on the grounds of duress/coercion. Two aspects of that claim that seem to be raised most often are that the wife-to-be was pregnant, and the husband-to-be threatened that without a prenuptial agreement there would be no marriage; and/or that the agreement was signed on the eve of the wedding. Recent cases throughout the nation have demonstrated that courts are reluctant to invalidate agreements on these bases. Some examples follow in this article.
Features
It used to be that an employee desiring to steal $2 million from your company would have a hard time doing so unnoticed. Today, that employee can do so undetected while having a casual conversation with you in the office. Unfortunately, in the current environment, the legal system is not forgiving toward companies that take a more relaxed approach with respect to protecting their own sensitive information.
Features
On Sept. 26, the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the Department of Labor (department) issued proposed regulations implementing amendments to ' 404(c) of the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA).(The proposed regulations are at 29 CFR ' 550.404c-5.) These amendments were made by ' 624 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the act) and provide relief to fiduciaries of participant-directed individual account plans where, in the absence of investment directions from a participant, the plan invests such participant's assets in a 'qualified default investment alternative.'