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From the blog of medical expert witness Dr. Barry E. Gustin, MD, MPH, FAAEP:

Locality Rules and Qualifying Medical Experts

When it became clear by the 1980’s that hospitals were being built in rural areas, that demographic trends indicated sufficient medical staffing in rural areas, that mass communication and mass transit eliminated the disadvantages of isolation, that all U.S. physicians were held to the national standard for their respective specialty, then the original rationale for the locality and state rules had disappeared, and the courts began to rely on national standards for each given specialty.

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Insurance expert witness Jim Leatzow has been educating and insuring professionals about the risks to their businesses for twenty years. At Leatzow.com, he offers a glossary of jargon associated with risk management. Two of the terms defined are:

Cashechtomy Pronounced “Cash-ech-tomee” Sounding like a medical term, this is the procedure whereby plaintiff’s attorneys from the “dark side” intentionally name firms in lawsuits even though they are aware that the claim is groundless and that just filing the lawsuit will cause the person or firm being sued or their insurance company to have to cough up some money in order not to incur far more expense through the process known as “discovery”.

Fairness The term “fairness” has little place in the American civil court system. The fact that you can be sued even though you did nothing wrong isn’t fair but it happens every day. Plaintiff’s attorneys know this very well and sue everyone they can to extract some money (see Cashechtomy) to help fund the rest of the case that may or may not have merit. There is virtually no downside to a plaintiff’s attorney suing you as the courts rarely discipline or sanction those who bring such lawsuits. Remember, they are all lawyers and part of the same “good ‘ole boys club” which allows this nonsense to prosper.

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From the blog of medical expert witness Dr. Barry E. Gustin, MD, MPH, FAAEP:

Locality Rules and Qualifying Medical Experts
By the 1970’s, jurisdictions began modifying the locality rule. One problem the courts faced had to do with whether a medical specialist practicing in a rural area was in any way deprived of the conditions enjoyed by medical specialists practicing in urban areas where teaching centers were located. Their concern was that if the answer was yes, then eliminating the locality rule might discourage medical specialists from practicing in rural areas. Courts eventually decided to compromise and instead of adopting a national standard, they converted the locality rule to a state standard. But over time, it became clear that this made no sense because the standards were truly national standards, and so courts began abandoning the locality and statewide rule for all physicians.

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Insurance expert witness Jim Leatzow has been educating and insuring professionals about the risks to their businesses for twenty years. At Leatzow.com, he offers a glossary of jargon associated with risk management. Two of the terms defined are:

Claims-Made Insurance A policy written to cover claims “made” or brought during the present policy in effect, regardless as to when the “event” occurred, but subject to several terms including the “coverage period”. The coverage period begins with a Retroactive Coverage Date and continues to the latest Effective Date. If work was performed under a prior policy and those dates have been accepted by the replacement policy through the Retro Date, then the successor policy accepts the former work risk and exposure. Claims brought outside of that time period are generally excluded and denied. Prior policies that have been replaced will also deny coverage as coverage only applies to the policy in force at the time the “claim is made”.

Grace Period Extra time given to renew a life or health insurance policy. Grace periods DO NOT APPLY to property and casualty insurance.

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From the blog of medical expert witness Dr. Barry E. Gustin, MD, MPH, FAAEP:

Locality Rules and Qualifying Medical Experts

As medicine evolved, however, standards of practice slowly became homogenized across all communities, rural and urban. This happened because medical specialty and subspecialty organizations developed, and physicians were held to the same practice standards. Training became uniform, with all programs employing the same curriculum, using similar textbooks, and subjecting all doctors-in-training to the same qualifying exams, initially, and for recertification. Since the locality rule existed to essentially protect the country doc, the general practitioners who were not as well trained and did not have easy access to the latest medical knowledge and training, it did not apply to those medical specialists and subspecialists who claimed to have advanced training and unique skills. Thus, by the mid-1960’s, in most jurisdictions, these physicians were no longer able to invoke the locality rule when they were sued for malpractice. Instead, they were now required to meet a national standard of practice in their particular specialty. This marked the beginning of the end of the locality rule.

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Insurance expert witness Jim Leatzow has been educating and insuring professionals about the risks to their businesses for twenty years. At Leatzow.com, he offers a glossary of jargon associated with risk management. Two of the terms he defines are:

Run-Off Period Time following the expiration of an E&O policy which is then covered by a tail policy or endorsement.

Tail Coverage/Policy Tail coverage/Tail policy covers a firm for their risks that were created while a traditional E&O policy were in force, but where the firm is no longer practicing for whatever reason. This is typically called the “Run-Off Period”. It is different because no new work is being undertaken by the firm and any prior risk is “running off” or decreasing as time goes by. A tail policy may be purchased (subject to underwriting) for a period of years and is paid for at issuance. Tail policies generally are “fully earned” upon issuance, which means that there will be no return premium, even if the Tail Policy is cancelled early before its expiration date.

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From the blog of medical expert witness Dr. Barry E. Gustin, MD, MPH, FAAEP:

Locality Rules and Qualifying Medical Experts

Where do these rules come from and why are they important? Many years ago, there truly was a disparity between the levels of medical care rendered in rural areas versus urban areas. Full-service hospitals were always located in large cities. Physicians and clinics in rural areas had limited facilities, and house calls were common. Standards of medical practice were different for each circumstance. The basic idea was that it would not be proper to hold a rural physician to the same standard as an urban physician. Medical organizations were concerned that if a rural practitioner were held to a higher standard in an environment that could not support those higher standards, physicians would avoid practicing medicine in rural areas. Also, in those days, there was no uniformity in training and there were no standardized board exams. For certain, urban physicians had better training and support than rural physicians.

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Insurance expert witness Jim Leatzow has been educating and insuring professionals about the risks to their businesses for twenty years. At his website he offers “Common Questions and Their Answers” to professionals in the green design industry, e.g. landscape architects, arborists, and irrigation designers:

Here’s answers to a few of the most common questions people have regarding risk management for landscape architecture professionals in our FAQ section.

Why do I even need professional liability (E&O) insurance?

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In Truck/Tractor-trailer brakes and accident reconstruction,
equipment and machinery expert witness Robert R. Reed writes on ABS anti-lock brakes:

Large trucks and tractor-trailers with ABS anti-lock brakes involved in crashes and accidents have complex systems that must be identified and accounted for in reconstruction and causation issues. Misconception as to skid marks at scenes of crashes can be attributed to the truck/tractor-trailer involved by the police or the investigating agency. Upon investigation and inspection of truck/tractor-trailer it should be noted if the unit has ABS anti-lock brakes and if the system is working. This could change the investigation and reconstruction dramatically as to stopping distance and actions of trucks. ABS systems can apply and release the brakes 5 times a second to keep wheels from locking up and skidding. Numerous times skid marks are attributed to units that did not lock the brakes or skid the tires.

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In Barry Zalma on Bad Faith: Time to Put A Stake Through the Heart of the Tort of Bad Faith, insurance expert witness Zalma writes:

After the creation of the tort of bad faith, if an insurer and insured disagreed on the application of the policy to the factual situation, damages were no longer limited to contract damages as in other commercial relationships. If the court found that the insurer was wrong it could be required to pay the contract amount AND damages for emotional distress, pain, suffering, punishment damages, attorney’s fees and any other damages the insured and the court could conceive. It was hoped that the tort of bad faith would have a salutary effect on the insurance industry and force insurers to treat their insureds fairly. However, claims for $40.00 wrongfully denied resulted in $5 million verdicts. Juries, unaware of the reason for and operation of insurance decided that insurers that did not pay claims were evil and that they wrote contracts so they never had to pay. They punished insurers severely even when the insurer’s conduct was correct and proper under the terms of its contract. The massive judgments were publicized and many insurers decided fighting its insureds in court was too expensive regardless of how correct its position was on the contract.