Attorney: Tennessee courts finally joins the Union

According to the blog, John Day on Torts, the local rules concerning expert witness testimony in Middle Tennessee Federal Court may be a changing and coming in line with other Federal courts.

John Day says: "The Federal Court for the Middle District of Tennesse has a local rule on expert witness that has been criticized for decades. " The local rules in the state essentially require everything to to be written out - including definitions of words, etc. - and then require the expert to read from the report which does little more than bore a jury to death

According to Day on Torts blog: "The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a judgment because the Court enforced the rule. In Thompson v. Doane Pet Care Co., No. 05-5377 (Dec. 15, 2006) the Court said that the [Tennesse] local rule was inconsistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including Rule 89(a)(2), which provides that "[a] local rule imposing a requirement of form shall not be enforced in a manner that causes a party to lose rights because of a nonwillful failure to comply with the requirement."

For the full post, click here.