AAJ Sections
Federal Tort Liability and Military Advocacy
Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway and Premises Liability
Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts (STEP)
Social Security Disability Law
Sole Practitioner and Small Firm
Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Injury
Section Connection Spotlight
| 2010 AAJ Annual Convention in Vancouver |
The 2010 AAJ Annual Convention will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 10–14. The Annual Convention offers numerous opportunities to network and learn from some of the legal profession’s most experienced attorneys while enjoying the breathtaking beauty of British Columbia.
Throughout the week, all 18 Sections and more than 65 Litigation Groups will hold meetings and officer elections. You can also earn a year’s worth of MCLE/AAJ Education credits in just five days and get up to date information and contacts with other lawyers in your practice areas by attending 17 Section Education programs. AAJ Education will present a total of 49 AAJ Education programs, including the five-day Advocacy Track, numerous Litigation Groups and Committee programs, and two sessions of Litigation at Sunrise. For more information, please view the AAJ Education Schedule at a Glance. Check back in the coming weeks to view individual program agendas, including topics and invited speakers.
| Don’t forget to attend the annual Section Connection Reception on Sunday, July 11, 2010. Look for more information and your invitations shortly in your e-mail. |
For all the latest information or to register, visit the Convention Web site.
| 2010 Leonard E. Weinglass in Defense of Civil Liberties Award |
The Civil Rights Section will present the Leonard E. Weinglass in Defense of Civil Liberties Award to Marsha Levick during the Section’s Education program on Monday, July 12, 2010. Please join your fellow Section members in honoring Ms. Levick’s accomplishments.
| Call for Nominations |
The Steven J. Sharp Public Service Award is presented annually to those trial lawyers and clients whose cases tell the story of American civil justice. These courageous people and their advocates have helped educate state and national policy makers and the public about the importance of consumers’ rights.
| AAJ Exchange Litigation Packets |
Litigation Packets are a legal reference tool prepared by AAJ Exchange staff attorneys in collaboration with leading AAJ members. Packets are available on a wide variety of topics, from advocacy to medical negligence to products liability. Some new and recently updated titles include:
- New! Toyota Sudden Acceleration
- New! Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella
- New! Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.: Merchandise Cart Collision
- New Update! Defense Medical Examiner: Defusing the Testimony
- New Update! Pressure Sores
- New Update! Voir Dire and Jury Selection
For more information, to view the table of contents, or to order these or another of the more than 130 other available titles, visit the AAJ Exchange or call 800-344-3023 or 202-965-3500, ext. 8615.
| AAJ Exchange Research Requests |
AAJ Exchange can save you time and money by researching case law, verdicts, specific products recalls, expert information, and more. An AAJ Exchange staff attorney will conduct a search of all Exchange databases, selected public and private Web sites, and Westlaw and provide detailed, case-specific results especially useful when investigating a product, researching a manufacturer, locating an expert, or seeking case valuation estimates.
Submit your research request today.
For more information on the Research Request service, visit the AAJ Exchange or call 800-344-3023 or 202-965-3500, ext. 8615.
| Public Affairs Update |
Health Care Reform: Finish Line Is in Sight
With Sunday’s historic vote in the House to pass health care reform, it seems like the end is finally here. Public Affairs has spent countless hours fighting back medical malpractice tort reform. We faced tort reform amendments in all three of the House Committees with jurisdiction over the bill. We faced tort reform during the House floor debate last October. We faced tort reform amendments in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and over twenty tort reform amendments
in the Senate Finance Committee alone. Another twenty amendments were filed for the Senate floor debate. These tort reform amendments were not the same old caps on non-economic damages that we have seen before. These amendments varied in content, including amendments to give immunity in exchange for following a practice guideline, to provide for unbalanced screening panels to weed out meritorious cases, to provide for health courts instead of jury trials, and to provide states with additional Medicare
dollars in the age of state budget shortfalls to those states enacting comprehensive tort reform.
The Senate health care reform bill, which the House has now passed, contains a $50 million authorization for pilot projects on medical malpractice reform. These pilots can only be administered by states, and there is an absolute opt-out for patients to retain their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. The health bill is an authorization only; appropriators would still have to find the money to fund the projects. These pilots would be in addition to the $25 million in pilot projects authorized by President Obama, which will be awarded later this year through the Department of Health and Human Services.
While Public Affairs was vigilant in its efforts to keep tort reform out of the health care bill, we have been making substantial progress in moving forward with AAJ’s affirmative agenda, including legislation to restore accountability to the medical device industry and legislation to prohibit the use of forced arbitration. Here is a summary of just some of our legislative initiatives:
Medicare Secondary Payer
AAJ is currently supporting the Medicare Secondary Payer Enhancement Act (MSPEA) (H.R. 4796), sponsored by Reps. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa). This bill is also backed by a broad-based coalition of businesses, whose members including Safeway, Publix, the National Retail Federation, Wal-Mart, and UWC Strategies. The purpose of this bill is to streamline the Medicare Secondary Payer process, making it easier for attorneys to enter into settlements involving Medicare-eligible victims,
as well as allowing for prompt reimbursement of the Medicare trust fund. The main provisions that benefit your clients are a requirement for Medicare to respond to a recovery demand letter within 60 days or risk losing their lien and a requirement that Medicare develop and implement an appeals process for their demand determinations.
Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability
In late February, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) introduced a bipartisan bill, H.R. 4678, the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act, to make it easier to serve foreign manufacturers in the United States by requiring them to have an agent here to receive service of process. The bill is a companion to S. 1606, a bill introduced last year by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Since 83 percent of the products recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2009 were
manufactured in foreign countries, the bill is designed to help U.S. consumers seek redress in U.S. courts and level the playing field by forcing foreign companies to follow the same rules as U.S. manufacturers.
Notice Pleading Restoration Act
Two bills, H.R. 4115 in the House and S. 1504 in the Senate, would overturn the Supreme Court’s decisions in
Bell Atlantic v. Twombly
and
Ashcroft v. Iqbal and restore notice pleading to the plain and simple statement of fact envisioned by the drafters of the federal rules of civil procedure. AAJ is working with a large coalition of civil rights, employment rights and consumer protection groups to move these bills forward to markup, the process for amending the bills in committee.
| Upcoming AAJ Education Programs |
Litigating Medical Negligence and Injured Infant Cases Seminar
April 9–10 • Las Vegas, NV
Sponsored by High Impact Litigation & 360 Financial Planning, LLC
Packed with the latest medical developments and trial techniques, attendees have direct access to AAJ’s experienced faculty, including lawyers in this practice area and prominent medical experts, each of whom will share proven strategies that will help you obtain justice for your clients.
Growing on the Vine: Maximizing Profitability in Changing Times
April 9–10 • Las Vegas, NV
Cosponsored by AAJ's Sole Practitioner and Small Firm Section
Running a successful law firm is never easy, but is especially difficult in today’s economy. This seminar will give you the tools you need to run a better law practice, including the best methods for marketing and the most effective way to manage your firm.
AAJ’s Mega College: Integrating “Rules of the Road,” Overcoming Juror Bias, “Reptile,” and Damages from Case Intake to Trial
April 16–19 • Scottsdale, AZ
For the first time, the Mega College integrates four powerful concepts and five workshops into one trial advocacy program: “Rules of the Road”, Overcoming Juror Bias, “Reptile”, and Damages.
This program—featuring an exclusive sneak preview of Mark Mandell’s Choice Theory—pulls together all of these powerful tools so that you can more effectively evaluate, plan, and try your cases to recover full damages for your clients. Each stage of a case, from intake to verdict or settlement will be examined through the lens of the four concepts central to every favorable outcome.
Jazz Fest Seminar: Litigating Auto Collision Cases
April 29–May 1 • New Orleans, LA
Cosponsored by Herman, Herman, Katz & Cotlar, LLP, AAJ's Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway and Premises Liability Section, and the Louisiana Association for Justice.
This annual seminar will cover important topics in collision cases—including automobile, motorcycle, trucking, and railroad crossings—and provide you with courtroom litigation strategies for winning your clients’ cases. The program features three days of morning sessions, allowing you to enjoy the New Orleans Jazz Festival in the afternoons and evenings.
| Upcoming AAJ Teleseminars |
Electronic Discovery
Today, March 30, 2010
Electronic tools are used by nearly everyone, and requests for electronic documents during discovery is now a standard practice. This teleseminar will provide you with advice for implementing an electronic discovery plan, the latest strategies for the recovery and review of electronic documents, and information on preservation, spoliation, and methods for arguing access.
Toyota Sudden Acceleration
April 13, 2010
AAJ’s teleseminar on Toyota’s recalls explain exactly went wrong and what you can do to help your clients. The teleseminar will cover the defects, how to prove what happened with black box data, and next steps in prosecuting your client’s case.
To view the complete agenda and faculty and to register, please visit AAJ Education or call 800-622-1791 or 202-965-3500, ext. 8612.
| New Online Law Reporters |
Save $20 off Law Reporter subscriptions!
Subscribe to the Motor Vehicle Law Reporter or the Class Action Law Reporter by April 15 for only $65. Subscriptions are now open to all AAJ plaintiff members. Get the latest news, court decisions, verdict and settlement reports, regulatory actions, and more. Click here to learn more.
| We Want to Hear from You! |
Send your comments and questions about Section Spotlight to us at sections@justice.org.