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Pressured Wife Did Not ‘Abandon’ Spouse
Although a woman left the marital home six weeks before husband died, and moved in with her daughter to avoid her terminally ill husband’s pressure to sign documents reducing her […]
Jury found decedent’s 2012 holographic will to be invalid – Verdict for Plaintiffs
Plaintiffs alleged that a self-proving will dated Oct. 7, 2004, was the last true will and testament of the decedent. That will divided the decedent’s estate fairly equally between her […]
Will contest leads to order for exhumation
Citing “red flags of giant proportions,” a circuit judge has ordered the exhumation of a Shenandoah County man who died in 2011 and whose $2 million estate is at issue in a will contest.
Treatment of colon impaction led to perforation, plaintiff claims – Defense Verdict
Plaintiff, a female in her mid-fifties with a family history of cancer, was referred for colon cancer screening/ colonoscopy in July 2003. The procedure was terminated for fear of perforation. […]
Referendum Request Rejected by Court
A motion for protective order filed by the Virginia Resources Authority is rendered moot, says a Shenandoah County Circuit Court, and the court sustains in part and overrules in part […]
Father entitled to pay child support with equity in marital home – $25,200 Verdict
In this case, the parties entered into a written agreement in 2007 that the father would deed to the mother the former marital home in exchange for $300 per month […]
Courts struggle with which parent should pay for private school in divorce
The Virginia Court of Appeals offered guidelines 16 years ago for judges on when a spouse can be forced to pay for a child to attend private school. But battles […]
Drug-Abusing Parent Loses Rights
The Court of Appeals upholds termination of a mother’s parental rights to her three children, a decision supported by mother’s history of substance abuse and the prior removal of the […]
Parties Switch Roles, Split Marital Estate
In a 23-year marriage in which wife at first stayed home with the children, then went back to school and worked as a nurse, and husband then stayed home to […]
Suit claiming surgery too soon after medication fails – Defense Verdict
Plaintiff was scheduled to undergo percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) by the defendant, an interventional radiologist. The purpose of the PCN was to provide plaintiff’s urologist access to the left kidney for […]
Employment – Public Employee – Wrongful Discharge – Bowman
A Warren County fraud investigator for a local services department can sue her employer for wrongful discharge under a Bowman exception to the employment-at-will doctrine, based on allegations that her […]
Tort – Real Estate – Trespass – Boundary Dispute
Although defendant did not know he had trespassed on his neighbor’s land when he removed a fence and changed the location of a stream, those actions nevertheless showed a willful […]
Verdicts & Settlements
- Motor Vehicle Negligence Rear-seat passenger injured when car hits telephone pole
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Car crash after back surgery causes additional injuries
- Medical Malpractice – Jurors side with cardiologist over treatment of strokes
- Negligence and Tort- Ice pack use during tattoo removal causes frostbite
- Workers’ Compensation Struck by metal door at workplace, plaintiff sustains subdural hematoma
- Motor Vehicle Negligence Woman struck by vehicle loses senses of taste, smell
- Motor Vehicle Negligence – Pedestrian struck by car while in parking lot
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Driver fractures right leg in tractor-trailer collision
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Motorcyclist hit by car suffers two broken wrists
- Medical Malpractice – Young patient commits suicide while on psychoactive drugs
- Motor Vehicle Negligence- Art teacher’s hand injured in collision
Opinion Digests
- Criminal – Sentence for ‘unusually heinous’ conduct is affirmed
- Criminal – Sentence wasn’t unreasonable despite deportation consequences
- Appeals – Waiver in plea agreement forecloses most arguments on appeal
- Appeals – Appellant’s informal brief forfeited appellate review
- Employment – Failure to exhaust administrative remedies dooms Title VII suit
- Jurors – Dishonest juror didn’t violate defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights
- Criminal – Motion to suppress backpack denied where defendant abandoned item
- Civil Rights – Officer denied immunity in fatal shooting case
- Civil Rights – No qualified immunity on excessive force police K-9 claim
- Criminal – Probable cause includes dog’s positive alert for narcotics
- Criminal – Evidence supports obstruction of justice conviction
- Search & Seizure – Inventory search exception applies to warrantless search
