Employee Has Claim for Sexual Assault by Coworker

No Suit for Food-Court Spill

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: Judge Claude M. Hilton, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Costco store wins summary judgment in this personal injury suit filed by a customer who slipped in liquid on the floor near the food court; the Alexandria U.S. District Court says plaintiff has not shown store personnel were aware of the spilled liquid, which another customer observed happened shortly before plaintiff fell. The undisputed [...]

Defendant Must Share Statement to Carrier

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: Judge Leslie L. Lilley, Negligence, Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Virginia Beach Circuit Court grants plaintiff’s motion to compel production of defendant’s recorded statement to her insurance company one day after the subject automobile accident, but declines to rule on plaintiff’s request for defendant’s surveillance video of plaintiff without more facts. The statement at issue was taken by the agent of defendant’s insurance company [...]

Sanctions Sought for Possible Misjoinder

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 16, 2013
Tags: Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., Negligence, Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this suit seeking damages for an assisted-living residents for alleged injury from a bed bug infestation, to which plaintiff has added claims for financial mismanagement of funds for plaintiff’s care, a Richmond Circuit Court will take under advisement defendant’s motion for sanctions under Va. Code § 8.01-271.1. Plaintiff, a resident of an assisted living [...]

No FTCA Claim for Foot Injury by Mail Carrier

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 16, 2013
Tags: Judge Jackson L. Kiser, Tort, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

After a one-day bench trial, a Danville U.S. District Court finds that plaintiff has “failed to establish a coherent recitation” of an alleged accident in which a U.S. Postal Service rural mail carrier allegedly ran over plaintiff’s foot in 2004 when plaintiff was nine years old, and the court enters judgment for defendant in plaintiff’s [...]

Plaintiff May Add ‘Informed Consent’ Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 16, 2013
Tags: Judge Charles N. Dorsey, Medical Malpractice, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Roanoke City Circuit Court says a plaintiff who alleges defendant was negligent in performing vascular surgery on her right thigh five years earlier may amend her complaint to allege defendant failed to obtain informed consent, as that claim relates back to the filing date of the original complaint; however, plaintiff’s punitive damages and fraud [...]

Plywood Flying from Pickup Truck is ‘Auto Accident’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 5, 2013
Tags: Insurance, Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Roanoke City Circuit Court says two employees of a remodeling company were “using” a pickup truck under Virginia law when they loaded a piece of plywood into the truck bed, and auto liability policies of the truck owner and its driver provide coverage for injuries suffered by a pedestrian who was struck by the [...]

Plaintiff Meets Pre-Filing Review Requirement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 3, 2013
Tags: Judge Jackson L. Kiser, Medical Malpractice, U.S. District Court - Western District

In a plaintiff’s suit alleging medical malpractice by three North Carolina ophthalmologists who provided intra-operative and post-operative care in her cataract treatment, the Danville U.S. District Court says plaintiff has satisfied a North Carolina requirement for pre-filing review by an expert by offering two experts who are board-certified ophthalmologists, even if neither qualifies as a [...]

No Notice of Supermarket’s Folded Mat

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 1, 2013
Tags: Judge Robert G. Doumar, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A woman shopping for flowers at her local Food Lion who “slipped over” a black rubber mat in front of the store’s flower case cannot show the store had notice that the mat was in a “folded over” position on the floor, and the store wins summary judgment in this trip-and-fall case in the Newport [...]

Defamation Claim Against FBI Agent Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 1, 2013
Tags: Judge T.S. Ellis III, Tort, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A defendant FBI agent acted within the scope of her employment in reporting alleged sexual harassment by plaintiff FBI agent, and the Alexandria U.S. District Court accepts the government’s certification of scope of employment and dismisses a defamation action filed by the plaintiff agent who was disciplined for the alleged harassment, as the Federal Tort [...]