Am I the only person who is not a fan of s’mores? I like chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows by themselves, but I don’t want them mooshed together, especially melted. They are sickeningly sweet and make my teeth grit. You know the feeling, like fingernails down a blackboard. I think it’s the melted marshmallow. It […]

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Most people are aware that a dog owner can be sued if their dog bites someone. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 885,000 people are bitten by dogs each year, and one out of every five of those require medical attention.  But, what if a dog doesn’t bite you, but instead knocks you down […]

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In my last posts, I talked about how the law forces a medical-malpractice plaintiff to hire an expert who must then use a series of magic words to identify the key facts supporting her opinion.  Having done so, what happens next?  In any complex case, there will be thousands and thousands of individual facts.  Hundreds […]

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In my prior posts, I argued that in medical negligence cases, the jury only gets to hear facts that have been pre-filtered by medical experts.  In this post, I’ll explain the mechanics of how that happens.  In a civil case, the plaintiff bears the burden of proof.  In a civil case, as opposed to a […]

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In my prior posts, I discussed the proper use of expert witnesses in civil cases. Experts are meant to be used only to help the jury understand complex issues.  They were never meant to be used as a substitute for the collective wisdom of the citizens who sit on our juries. Do experts still play that helper […]

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In my prior posts on this subject, I discussed how the law requires a citizen to get the permission of a doctor before suing one and how those laws begin the process of allowing doctors to control what facts a jury gets to hear. The next step in the case requires some explanation of what expert witnesses […]

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In the first part of my series of posts on the subject of expert witnesses in medical malpractice case, I talked about the dangers of allowing so-called experts to interfere with the jury’s fact-finding role.  Juries are supposed to hear all of the relevant facts and make their decisions based on the facts that they […]

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One of the remarkable features of the American system of justice is the use of juries in civil cases.  The jury, comprised of members of the community to speak on its behalf, ultimately decides the facts of the case and renders a verdict. We rightly trust our fellow citizens with this important task.  The use […]

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When you experience a situation where you realize that you may need legal help, it can seem overwhelming at first. You may be injured or sick, you may have just lost a job, or even worse, a loved one. There might be calls to make to insurance companies, medical bills piling up, a vehicle out […]

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In May, a New York state jury ordered Johnson & Johnson (J & J) to pay $300 million in punitive damages to a long-time user or J & J’s talcum powder products who contracted mesothelioma – a deadly cancer most typically seen among asbestos-exposed tradesman. This punitive damage verdict comes on the heels of the […]

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