General practitioners are always in the fast lane, dabbling in multiple practice areas, jumping from case to case and struggling to stay on top of changes in the law. They are quite literally always on the go, running to client consultations, court appearances, and depositions. The one constant is the expectations of each client: general practitioners are expected to know and understand every new development that may impact an open case.
In this excerpt from PBI’s 2011 General Practitioners’ Update, our instructors begin with a discussion of Act 17 of 2011, which repealed joint and several liability for most civil actions. They consider the key provisions of this major legislation and consider how it will affect litigation strategies of both plaintiffs and defendants. Our panelists also discuss proposed legislation in the following areas:
- Damage caps in personal injury cases
- Non-admissibility of "benevolent gestures" by health care providers
- Increasing minimum automobile liability insurance coverages
- Creating a rebuttable presumption that a product is safe when manufactured
- Establishing a 15-year statute of repose in products liability cases
- Rewriting Pennsylvania`s statutory arbitration law
- Expanding the certificate of merit requirement to all cases
- Venue bill requiring a lawsuit to be filed where an accident occurred
- Extending the MCARE Act to assisted living facilities and nursing homes
PBI’s General Practitioners’ Update is a partner in practice like no other partner: it is your reliable source each year for concentrated updates in six practice areas. When there is no time for research, compiling and digging, there’s the General Practitioners’ Update. Visit PBI’s Online Campus for other courses from the 2011 Update on Estate Law, Family Law, Attorney Professional Liability, Real Estate Law and Advising Clients in the Age of Facebook.
