About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will offer strategies and best practices for director of nursing (DON) depositions in abuse and neglect cases against nursing homes. The program will help attorneys avoid overlooking critical lines of questioning and identify defense strategies used to prevent ineffective testimony.
Description
If a plaintiff's attorney can only depose one witness, it will often be the DON. As the day-to-day manager of nursing operations, the DON is ultimately responsible and accountable for residents' nursing care. DON testimony can establish standards and deviations from those standards on a wide range of topics, such as the standard of care, hiring policies, and compliance with local, state, and federal policies and regulations.
Because they typically report to an administrator or executive director of a nursing home, DONs are close to management. DONs will also have a significant understanding of budgeting, company policies and practices, and essentials such as electronic medical charting software and charting practices.
Plaintiffs want to capitalize on the DON's habit and desire to provide detailed answers and information while defense counsel wants to prevent speculation, guesses, and errors.
Listen as this exceptional panel of attorneys offers best strategies and practices for DON depositions in nursing home abuse and neglect cases.
Presented By
A former defense lawyer who clerked for an appellate judge after law school, Mr. Morris limits his practice at this time to the representation of families and individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries. His legal practice spans the entire state of Tennessee, and he is one of the few attorneys in Tennessee to obtain seven-figure verdicts or settlements in each of Tennessee’s three grand divisions (Western/Middle/Eastern). Since 2003, Mr. Morris, serving primarily as lead counsel, has collected more than $90 million for his clients. He has handled cases involving nursing home facility fires, medication errors, bed sores, severe dehydration, facility elopement and sexual assault in the health care setting as well as catastrophic personal injury matters involving premises liability, negligent tractor trailer operators, drivers who have fled the scene, and insurance companies refusing to pay submitted claims. Mr. Morris is a frequent state-wide lecturer for the Tennessee Bar Association on matters pertaining to medical/facility negligence, is past President of the TBA Tort & Insurance Section, and also maintains an active pro bono practice involving wrongful eviction/consumer protection. He is currently serving as a Trustee of The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is a past Board member for Tennis Memphis and an adoption agency in Memphis.
Ms. Schall concentrates her practice on civil litigation claims for nursing home abuse and neglect, medical malpractice, and personal injury.
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
-
Date + Time
- event
Thursday, February 1, 2024
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- Planning the deposition
- The scope of testimony/knowledge
- Documents to review before deposition
- Useful exhibits
- Questioning techniques
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What are the appropriate subjects on which to depose the DON?
- Is the DON an expert or a fact witness?
- Is DON testimony binding on the entity or could a corporate representative deposition trump DON testimony?
Related Courses
Electronic Medical Records in Medical Malpractice Cases: Emerging Issues; Signs of Alternation; Use at Trial
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
