State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting 2012

I had a wonderful time attending the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting last week. It was my first time to attend the meeting and I was impressed. It was a treat to spend two days getting CLE, meeting other lawyers, and reconnecting with some old friends. I spent most of my time attending sessions put on the Computer and Technology Section and learned some new tips and techniques for using technology and improving efficiency in the office. If you have not been to the Annual Meeting before, I urge you to attend in 2013!

Deposition Tip

When taking an expert's deposition, consider using actual video clips from other witnesses, instead of merely reading or paraphrasing those witnesses' testimony. For example, if you are deposing a nursing expert, play clips of the actual nurses describing their care and interactions with the patient. The expert can then comment on the testimony. This allows the jurors to see the connection between the fact witness and the expert witness. You can easily make these clips with litigation software and set up a monitor in the deposition room.

Is Laser Hair Removal Health Care? We’ll Have to Wait and See…

From Don Cruse's Supreme Court of Texas blog:

The Ghazali laser-hair-removal case is done

The Court had set Basith Ghazali, M.D. v. Brown, No. 10-0232 for oral argument in September. The case asked how the Texas medical-malpractice statute applied to laser hair removal — an issue on which the Dallas Court has also weighed in.

When argument day came, the parties asked the Court to postpone the argument pending a possible settlement. Today, the Court granted the parties' joint request to dismiss the case.

New Rules for Permissive Interlocutory Appeals; MSJ on Statute of Limitations?

Don Cruse, who writes the SCOTX blog, has a good discussion of the new rules for permissive interlocutory appeals.

I don't know how often we will have occasion to use this procedure in medical malpractice cases. One scenario that comes to mind is a Motion for Summary Judgment based on the statute of limitations. It's a question of law and early resolution of the issue could result in termination of the litigation. It seems that you could make a case that resolving whether the SOL had lapsed was an issue that should be decided on an interlocutory basis, possibly avoiding preparing and trying an entire case only to have the whole thing reversed on appeal.

Supreme Court Rules
SCOTX blog entry

HB 274 signed into law

Here's a link to the final version of the new laws on expedited dismissals, loser pays, and designation of responsible third parties.

HB 274.