UPDATE - Big Win for Arkansas Hospitals: protecting the quality assurance process
Last month, we wrote that the Arkansas Court of Appeals had recently affirmed the critically important quality-assurance privilege in Arkansas, codified at Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-46-105. We also noted that that the Plaintiff was seeking review of the Court of Appeals’ decision with the…
Big Win for Arkansas Hospitals: Protecting the Quality Assurance Process
The Arkansas Court of Appeals recently affirmed the critically important quality-assurance privilege in Arkansas, codified at Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-46-105. At issue was whether a hospital must convene a formal committee in order to trigger the protections of the privilege, or whether…
MDLs and Bellwether Trials: What are they?
What is an MDL? And, what is a bellwether trial? (The name certainly is funny and – at first glance – tells you nothing about the type of trial it seeks to describe.) How are MDLs and bellwether trials related? What purpose do they serve? These were all questions I found myself asking when I first…
Sovereign Immunity in Arkansas: Absolute or Only a Bar to Monetary Recovery?
Earlier this year, the Arkansas Supreme Court handed down a case that reduced the ability to sue the State. See Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas v. Andrews.[1] This decision has been controversial; it has already resulted in a rejection of lawsuits against the State,[2] and is being…
What is Arkansas' Pre-Judgment Interest Rate? A Vexing Question with No Clear Answer.
Since the time of publication, a statute has been revised which impacts the content of this post. See Ark. Code Ann. § 16-65-114. If you become engaged in litigation in Arkansas, the answer to this question can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential recovery or exposure.[1] As such…