Attorney Hank Spragins will present the Tort section webinar this month on "Medical Proof: We Don't Need No Stinking Medical Proof".
As a negligence action, personal injury cases in Tennessee require that a plaintiff meet his or his burden of proof of establishing duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. This Webinar will focus on the causation and damage elements in Tennessee personal injury cases and recent approaches taken by plaintiffs in these areas. Generally speaking, in a personal injury claim where a plaintiff received medical treatment following an occurrence, “medical proof” is considered evidence presented by a plaintiff that his or her medical treatment was caused by an accident or incident (which was the defendant’s fault) and, relatedly, that the medical treatment and bills were necessary (because of the occurrence) and that the corresponding medical bills or charges were reasonable. There’s an exception in Tennessee personal injury cases involving small claims codified at Tenn. Code Ann. 24-5-113, which provides an avenue for a plaintiff whose medical bills do not exceed $4,000 to establish prima facie evidence that the bills paid or incurred were necessary and reasonable, or, alternatively for a plaintiff whose bills exceed $4,000, to create a rebuttable presumption that said charges were “reasonable.” In a typical personal injury case where a plaintiff’s medical costs exceed $4,000, the defense presumes that, at some point, the plaintiff will need to take medical proof. There is, however, a recent trend by plaintiffs in personal injury cases that involve either no medical proof or only causation testimony, excluding the amount of the medical bills. There are several reasons for this, including the belief that medical bills “anchor” a jury’s verdict. For example, low medical bills negatively “anchor” the jury’s verdict to keep it low. In some recent cases, a plaintiff will not seek recovery of past or incurred medical expenses and even object to the introduction of the amounts of those expenses at trial. The Webinar will generally explore this approach to personal injury cases and discuss recent trends in our state and federal courts on this issue.
Times shown are EST. This webinar will begin at Noon CST/ 1pm EST and last one hour. One hour of general TN CLE is approved.
