Archive

Every year, changes are made to the Federal Rules of Evidence and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In 2017, the Supreme Court approved substantive changes to Federal Rule of Evidence 807. This year, the committee proposed and the Supreme Court adopted changes to Federal Rules of Evidence 803 and 902. These changes will go into effect […]

ML Healthcare Services, LLC v. Publix Super Markets, Inc. [No. 15-13851 Feb. 7, 2018] ___ F.3d ___ (11th Cir. 2018): Evidence of collateral source payments may be admissible to show a doctor’s bias as to his causation testimony about the treatment he provided. (download the opinion) Robin Houston sued Publix arising from an alleged slip-and-fall […]

I am prefacing this article by saying that I am a resident of Gardendale, Alabama. This article is not a commentary on Gardendale’s efforts to secede its schools system from Jefferson County, nor am I expressing any opinion about the rulings of either the 11th Circuit or Judge Haikala in the United State District Court […]

When you’re defending a case, I expect you are likely issuing discovery requests to the plaintiff (hopefully, immediately after filing an answer). I expect there is also a high probability those discovery requests include social media discovery requests. If your experience has been anything like mine, those social media discovery requests draw objections more often […]

The Value of Written Statements Several months ago, I witnessed a multi-vehicle accident. To be more accurate, I narrowly avoided being smashed to bits by a tanker truck. After the accident, I hung around to give a written statement to the State Trooper who was investigating the accident. I think I probably gave him the […]

Lawyers provide a valuable service to their clients when they aggressively obtain information that enables them to evaluate claims for early resolution. This aggressive pursuit of information may result in higher up-front case expenses, but it frequently enables the client to close out his file more quickly, and often with better results. My thoughts on […]

I was recently involved in a car wreck case in which plaintiff’s counsel firmly believed that my client was using her phone at the time of the accident. The only problem was … the facts did support his assertion. There wasn’t even one tiny, little fact that he could present to the jury to support […]

Ever year on December 1, adopted changes that govern various rules of the profession go into effect. In 2015, the Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure made significant changes to discovery rules of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In 2016, lesser changes were made to FRCP 4, 6, and 82. This year, the comment […]

Did You Know A Doctor in Alabama Can Testify as His Own Expert? I was recently preparing for a trial when the plaintiff’s lawyer disclosed that the plaintiff, who is a medical doctor in Alabama, was going to testify as a medical expert on his own behalf. I balked. The judge balked. We didn’t think […]

Nothing puts a fire under me like a lawyer taking an absurd or unnecessarily difficult position about discovery, particularly when it clearly flies in the face of the rules of civil procedure. And it happens all the time. You may have noticed a trend here, whether it’s filing bogus Requests for Admission or refusing to accept […]