For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
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Without Fear or Favor—<strong>The</strong> Expanding<br />
Threats to Judicial Independence<br />
Hon. Alison L. Asti, Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Maryland; Hon. Mark D. Martin, Supreme Court of North Carolina; Hon. Paul J. De Muniz, Oregon<br />
Supreme Court; and moderator J. Michael Weston of Lederer Weston Craig PLC address attendees of the Friday afternoon CLE session presented by the Judicial<br />
Task <strong>For</strong>ce and the Lawyers’ Professionalism and Ethics Committee. <strong>The</strong> panel engaged in a discussion designed to educate the private bar about threats to<br />
judicial independence, and to provoke a meaningful conversation about the tripartite system of government and its impact on achieving justice for our clients.<br />
lIFe, heAlTh AnD DIsAbIlITy<br />
Life Insurance Update—<br />
Rescissions and Stranger<br />
Originated Life Insurance<br />
Jason A. Walters of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP<br />
summarizes recent STOLI case law, placing particular emphasis<br />
on the issue of insurable interest, during Friday’s Life, Health<br />
and Disability Committee meeting. Sarah J. Delaney of<br />
Goldberg Segalla LLP and Michael P. Cunningham of Funk &<br />
Bolton PA also gave presentations during the CLE session on<br />
“Social Media in Life, Health and Disability Claim Matters” and<br />
“<strong>2011</strong> Hot Topics in Life, Health and Disability Law,” respectively.<br />
MeDICAl lIAbIlITy AnD heAlTh CARe lAW<br />
Health Care Associated Infections and <strong>The</strong>ir Effect on<br />
Litigation<br />
Trish M. Perl, MD, and<br />
M. Lauree Barreca, RN,<br />
both of the John Hopkins<br />
Health System, discuss<br />
health care-associated<br />
infections that can<br />
become the subject of<br />
litigation and can also<br />
be relevant to defending<br />
medical malpractice<br />
cases and other types<br />
of personal injury<br />
matters in the Thursday afternoon session presented by the Medical Liability and Health Care Law<br />
Committee. Attendees learned about the underlying science as well as defenses to these claims.<br />
pRoDuCT lIAbIlITy<br />
“Cause” for Alarm—Enforcing<br />
the Causation Requirement<br />
in the <strong>Defense</strong> of Aggregate<br />
Consumer Fraud Claims<br />
Jeffrey A. Holmstrand of Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso<br />
PLLC (left) and Jessica Davidson Miller of Skadden<br />
Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP consider the types of<br />
consumer fraud suits defendants can expect to see in<br />
the coming years during their presentation at the Friday<br />
morning Product Liability Committee meeting. <strong>The</strong><br />
speakers discussed how defendants facing statutory<br />
consumer fraud claims can most effectively defend<br />
against plaintiffs’ allegations, focusing on the developing<br />
jurisprudence regarding “causation,” particularly in<br />
various forms of aggregate litigation.<br />
<strong>For</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Defense</strong> ■ <strong>December</strong> <strong>2011</strong> ■ 23