Legal

The Legal section covers court rulings, statutory changes, liability trends, and key developments in Alabama and federal law that shape personal-injury claims. We explain how case law and regulation affect claims strategy, statutes of limitations, damages, and the rights of injured people pursuing justice.

Juror Misconduct Goes High Tech

The Law Info Blog has posted relevant story for our times “Facebook, Juries and The New Way Jurors Find a Way to Break The Law.” Yes, judges have always instructed juries on their duty…

By Clay Rossi

/ 2 Sep 2010

Sizeable Nursing Home Verdict Indictment of Low Standards

A recent California jury verdict in a quasi-class action suit against the owner of 22 nursing homes in that state awarded 32,000 plaintiffs a total of $677 million in damages. Skilled Healthcare…

By Dottie Perry

/ 31 Aug 2010

Does Grade Inflation Scheme Mark the Time for a Change?

How would you advise a client who came to you when another party shorted him on the goods due under a contact? Or substituted inferior goods? Or simply made representations about the goods that…

By Clay Rossi

/ 13 Jul 2010

Keeping up with the Jones Act

Anyone who lives near the sea is familiar with the old adage “Any port in a storm.” For those unfamiliar with the phrase, it means that when serious trouble arises help from anyone is…

By Clay Rossi

/ 11 Jun 2010

Tort Reform is About Juries, Not Lawyers

Ask yourself, “Who do you trust most?” In answer to that question most folks will respond by thinking of family members, their co-workers, and their neighbors. Public opinion polls…

By Clay Rossi

/ 2 Jun 2010

BP Spill Surpasses Exxon-Valdez

The similarities to Exxon-Valdez should not be so plentiful, but unfortunately they are as numerous and clear as the Gulf is murky. Twenty years after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, that region has yet…

By Dottie Perry

/ 27 May 2010

This Disaster Is Just The Tip Of The Ice Berg

Dauphin Island, Alabama is a special place. It is a barrier island located at western side of the mouth of Mobile Bay. It is unpretentious, quiet and beautiful. If you don’t like sand, fishing,…

By Pete Mackey

/ 19 May 2010

Valdez Revisited

The judicial branch of government is the only forum the average citizen has to stand toe to toe with the corporate behemoths and get a fair shake. Not only are the litigants guaranteed a fair trial…

By Pete Burns

/ 17 May 2010

Personal Account of BP/Transocean Oil Rig Explosion

60 Minutes’ Interview of crewmember Mike Williams, who describes the minutes before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion: I hear the engines revving. The lights are glowing. I’m hearing the…

By Dottie Perry

/ 17 May 2010

Big Oil Rigging the Game

What is a black swan? It’s not a new cell phone model or a chic new wine label or even a bird. Coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book, The Black Swan, black swans are events which…

By Clay Rossi

/ 16 May 2010

How Much is Too Much?

While it is undisputed that there are a continuing litany of errors associated with BP’s handling of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, there is one gross oversight no one seems to be…

By Dottie Perry

/ 15 May 2010

Alabama State Bar Mopping up Oily Lawyers

Not very long after my last post, I received the following mass-email message from the Alabama State Bar: Gulf Coast Oil Spill & Solicitation The officers of the [Alabama] State Bar thought it…

By Dottie Perry

/ 15 May 2010