ADVANCED TORTS
Professor Tom Russell

Fall 2005
Advanced Torts Seminar - Tuesdays 2:45 pm

Week 1 - Introduction

Week 2 - Real World Torts

Week 3 - Medical Malpractice/Medical Bills

We’ll talk discuss two different readings about medical malpractice. One is a report from the Government Accountability Office. The other is an academic paper from the National Brueau of Economic Research. We will also read an article about the medical origins of bankruptcy.

Government Accountability Office, MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, Implications of Rising Premiums on Access to Health Care

Baicker & Chandra, The Effect of Malpractice Liability on the Delivery of Health Care

Here’s a link to the study about medical bills and bankruptcy.

Himmelstein, Warren, Thorne & Woolhandler, Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy

Week 4 - Fees (7 September)

Let's get practical and talk about fees. This document contains a problem that we will talk about in class.

We will also discuss a recent report by the American Enterprise Institute on contingent fees and an American Bar Association opinion about contingent fees.

At the start of class, you'll explain fee agreements to each other. If those of you working in firms can get fee agreements and the permission to share them, please do. Send them as email if possible. If not, bring them to class.

After that, we'll solve the problem. You should feel free to ask the lawyers at your firm how they would solve the problem.

Week 5 - Damages plus Experts (+ Writing Tips) (13 September)

Dr. Pat Pacey will visit us. She'll talk how to hire and use experts. We will review a damage report that she will provide to us.

Before class, please visit and read her website: http://www.paceyecon.com/

Also, read two cases: Schreck and Daubert. These cases set out the requirements for the use of experts in litigation. You are likely to have read one or both of them before.

In your reflection pieces, think about the utility and cost of experts. Who pays for them and when? How does the use of an expert affect the lawyer's bottom line? How does the use of an expert affect the plaintiff's bottom line? For those of you who have some experience with litigation, do you have a sense as to whether experts are under- or overused? Do you have a sense of how jurors respond to experts?

Finally, since I don't feel like this is enough reading for you, I'd also like you to read, very closely, my tips about writing. Feel free to comment on these in what you post Monday night. Or not.

Week 6 - Field Trip (20 September)

Visit to the law office of Rosenthal and Associates. We will discuss car crash cases and how to start your own practice.

Week 7 - Field Trip (27 September)

The Claims Process--Visit to Allstate Insurance. 10800 East Geddes Avenue, Suite 200, Englewood, CO 80112. (near I-25 and Dry Creek in the Tech Center)

Rosh Hashanah--No class (4 October)

Week 8 - Field Trip (11 October)

Visit to the law office of Ogburn, Summerlin, and Ogburn. Murray Ogburn, the current president of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, will discuss focus groups and the CTLA with us.

Week 9- Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (Plus Caps) (18 October)

Visit to our class by Attorney Bart Costello.

Read the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act and also see this table of Colorado caps on tort recovery.

Can you think of any tort claim in Colorado that is not capped?

Week 10 - Hospital Liens & Subrogation (25 October)

Find either your own auto or medical insurance policy. Read and then copy the subrogation clauses. Bring them to class with you.
Read the Liens & Subrogation Document. There are three documents of different sorts within it. The first is the hospital lien statute along with annotations. See if you can make heads or tails of that. Think about how the statute affects plaintiff’s recoveries, and think how it affects fees. Second, you’ll find an ethics opinion from the Colorado Bar Association. Think the same things about that opinion. Third, you’ll find an important case called Kral. Read it and make a diagram and try to understand the insurance issues. Then, see if you can figure out the general principle. How does the general principal of Kral apply to the hospital lien statute and the CBA opinion?
In your idle time, I’d like you surf a bit. During your other classes, Google the word “subrogation” and acquire some knowledge. Next, visit the Secretary of State’s site and create a free account for yourself. Search hospital liens and see if you can figure anything out. I’m trying to get a big database of these files, but the state is slow in delivering them.

Week 11 - (1 November)

Week 12 - (8 November)

Week 13 - (15 November)

Other: If you settle a case involve a minor, you need to follow the Probate Procedure.

Edited 14 October 2005

Professor of Law
University of Denver
College of Law