We have now received the long-awaited decision from the Tennessee Supreme Court in Dedmon v. Steelman. The Court declined to extend the holding in West v. Shelby County Health Care Corp. to personal injury cases. West held that “reasonable charges” for medical services under Tennessee’s Hospital Lien Act are the...
I’m often asked whether a party can disclaim negligence in a contract. The answer is “yes” unless you are providing professional services, such as legal services, medical treatment or home inspections. The following is a brief highlight of the law that applies. It is well settled...
This is a good summary judgment ruling from the Davidson County Circuit Court in a slip and fall case. Boykin v. Moorehead Living Trust, 2015 WL 3455433 (Tenn. Ct. App., May 29, 2015). This case came out of Sixth Circuit in Davidson County Tennessee. The...
There is no duty to prevent an employee from leaving the premises driving his own vehicle while intoxicated. Thompson v. Best Buy Stores, 2016 WL 6946786 (Tenn. Ct. App., June 21, 2016). This is a companion case to Lett v. Collis Foods Inc., 60 S.W.3d...
There is an interesting premise liability case filed last year in the Circuit Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Knoxville that found vomit on the floor of a Hardee’s restaurant for approximately three minutes was a sufficient length of time to charge defendant with constructive...
The question often comes up as to whether a public adjuster hired by the insured should be listed on payments made under the policy for the insured’s claim. Many public adjusters provide insurance companies with an assignment signed by the insured requesting the public adjuster...
A new case filed June 15, 2015 in the Circuit Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Knoxville found that vomit on the floor of a Hardee’s restaurant for approximately three minutes was a sufficient length of time to charge defendant with constructive notice of the...
Many insurance policies exclude damages caused by mold and fungi. Whether or not a loss caused by mold is covered under a policy will have to be made on a case-by-case basis. The wording of the policy and the specific facts of the loss will...
The Court of Appeals recently had an opportunity to revisit the issue of agent negligence when procuring the wrong coverage for an insured. In Steven Barrick and Janice Barrick v. State Farm Automobile Insurance Company and Thomas Harry Jones No. M2013-01773-COA-R3-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014),...
We are sometimes asked by insurance company representatives about how to respond to a plaintiff’s time limit settlement demand. There are no direct Tennessee cases on point on this issue, though Tennessee does have certain requirements in considering settlement demands against an insured. In Tennessee,...