No Personal Jurisdiction Over Ohio Machine Shop

Untreated blood infection led to quadriplegia – $2,500,000 Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: March 25, 2013
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Medical Malpractice, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Norfolk Circuit Court

The decedent, age 52, was admitted to the hospital with a normal white blood cell count, which started rising and went untreated with antibiotics. Defendant explored the GI etiology but not the infectious process, which required a simple blood culture and/or broad coverage antibiotics. However, he admitted that MRSA, which was epidemic, must be presumed [...]

Contractor shot while staying at hotel provided by employer – Defense Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Million-Dollar Defense Verdicts, Norfolk Circuit Court, Personal Injury

Kamco Services Inc., a contractor based near Richmond, was hired by Norfolk Public Schools to perform renovation work. For several months, plaintiff Hunter Clay and other contractors stayed at the Econo Lodge in the 800 block of N. Military Hwy. during the work week, despite plaintiff’s claiming that he repeatedly asked his employer to move [...]

Heel fracture not diagnosed after auto accident – Defense Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: November 12, 2012
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Medical Malpractice, Million-Dollar Defense Verdicts, Norfolk Circuit Court

Plaintiff, a 57-year-old male, was involved in a high-speed, head-on motor vehicle accident on Oct. 4, 2006. He was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, including intra-abdominal bleeding requiring emergency surgery and a bowel resection. Pre-operatively, numerous radiology studies were ordered by the trauma team, including a “limited view” X-ray of his right [...]

No Venue Transfer on Business Activity Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 5, 2012
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Karen J. Burrell, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk Circuit Court denies defendant barge company’s motion to transfer venue, as defendant has not met its burden to produce evidence showing that defendants did not engage in substantial business activities in the City of Norfolk at the time plaintiff filed the underlying suit. Under the current version of Va. Code § 8.01-262(3), venue [...]

Increased Damages OK, New Defendants Barred

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 31, 2012
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Medical Malpractice, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A nonsuited personal injury suit refiled as a wrongful death suit with additional defendants and an increased ad damnum may seek additional damages, but the claims against the additional defendants are time-barred, the Norfolk Circuit Court says. Defendants raise two major arguments. First, defendant physicians Williams and Neughebauer question whether changing the ad damnum creates [...]

Woman dies during delivery of child by cesarean section – $800,000 Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: August 29, 2011
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Medical Malpractice, Norfolk Circuit Court

Plaintiff’s decedent, age 34, went to Chesapeake General Hospital on May 22, 2008, for delivery of her third child by cesarean section. The defendant anesthesiologist administered epidural anesthesia for regional pain control. Within minutes, the patient became agitated, complained of an inability to breathe and experienced cardiopulmonary arrest. Resuscitative efforts were unsuccessful. The child survived. [...]

Street Closure Spawns Condemnation Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 26, 2011
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Norfolk Circuit Court, Real Estate, Virginia Circuit Courts

A property owner and business operator on the property cannot sue for inverse condemnation under the Virginia Constitution for the city of Norfolk’s closure of York Street for construction or repair of public utilities that prevented reasonable access to the property for time periods covered by permits for public utility relocation, but a Norfolk Circuit [...]

Body Shop Did Not Follow Auction Rules, Car Owner Collects

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 13, 2011
Tags: Consumer Protection, Judge Karen J. Burrell, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

An auto body shop was negligent in auctioning plaintiff’s Honda, for which repair and storage amounts were owed, as the body shop did not follow DMV procedures for contesting the NADA value of the vehicle; a Norfolk Circuit Court awards plaintiff $8,767.88 in compensatory damages. After trial, the court finds for plaintiff on her claim [...]

Teenager paralyzed during surgery for sunken chest – $5,000,000 Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: February 7, 2011
Tags: Judge Karen J. Burrell, Medical Malpractice, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Norfolk Circuit Court

Plaintiff was 16 years old when he underwent pectus excavatum surgery on Jan. 30, 2007, to correct a congenital deformity of the chest wall. During the surgery, the defendant provided anesthesia care. Plaintiff claimed that his blood pressure dropped extremely low during the surgery, which went uncorrected by the defendant and caused an ischemic injury [...]