Nurse Has Bowman Claim Against Supervisor

Board May Sue School Bond Advisor

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 23, 2013
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Municipal, Supreme Court of Virginia

A county board of supervisors may sue a private financial advisor hired by the board for breach of fiduciary duty; the Supreme Court of Virginia says the board effectively waived its common law legislative immunity from civil liability, and reverses the circuit court judgment sustaining the demurrer filed by the financial advisor. The board sued [...]

Birth Injury Recovery May Exceed Cap

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 23, 2013
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Medical Malpractice, Supreme Court of Virginia

A med-mal carrier is required to defend an action filed by parents who alleged defendant physician represented that he participated in Virginia’s Birth Injury Fund, but failed to pay into the Fund, which is not available to cover neurological injuries suffered by their child at birth; the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms declaratory judgment for [...]

‘Appeal Bond’ Not Good Notice to County

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 13, 2013
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Municipal, Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a judgment that would have allowed 13 retired county employees to collect additional retirement benefits they argued they were owed because of a miscalculation by a county employee prior to their retirements; the retirees’ documents entitled “Appeal Bond” did not satisfy the Va. Code § 15.2-1246 requirement for written [...]

No Admonition for Divorce Conflicts Issue

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 5, 2013
Tags: Attorneys, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

A lawyer who was representing a husband in a divorce case did not violate ethics rules when he did not withdraw from the case after learning his law partner had a conversation with wife about representing her but declined to take the case when he heard the name of husband’s lawyer; the Supreme Court of [...]

No Instruction for ‘Substantial Contributing Factor’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 17, 2013
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a $282,685 jury award to the estate of a state trooper who died of mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos while observing vehicle brake inspections as a state trooper and previously, through employment as a shipyard pipefitter; Virginia law does not allow for a jury instruction on “substantial contributing factor” [...]

Failure-to-warn rule tightened in van case

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 17, 2013
Tags: Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Justice William C. Mims, Products Liability, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, Wrongful Death

A change of heart by a single justice has brought an end to a short-lived “relaxed” standard for failure-to-warn claims under Virginia products liability law. After rehearing a products liability case, Virginia Supreme Court Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. switched his position on the standard for use of similar incidents in product failure cases, dashing [...]

Asbestos Award Against Shipowner Overturned

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 15, 2013
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia

A $12 million compensatory damage award against a vessel owner for a shipyard worker who developed mesothelioma from asbestos exposure is reversed by the Supreme Court of Virginia because the trial court erred in excluding evidence the shipyard knew of the danger of asbestos; a $5 million punitive damages award, reduced from the $12.5 million [...]

Getting to the jury on ‘capacity’ for will

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 14, 2012
Tags: Alexandria Circuit Court, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Wills & Trusts

Call it a finger on the scale of justice. The law sometimes gives an advantage to one side in a lawsuit, allowing a legal “presumption” about some key fact in the case. Presumptions can be overcome, but how much weight it takes, who gets to make the call, and what happens afterward have been open [...]

‘A new standard of liability’ in Virginia?

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 9, 2012
Tags: Employment, Federal Courts, Judge James C. Turk, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia News

The Supreme Court of Virginia has opened the door to claims against individual supervisors who take part in the unlawful firing of an employee. The Nov. 1 decision in VanBuren v. Grubb (VLW 012-6-143), decided 4-3, is a victory for a nurse who claimed she was groped, propositioned and then fired by an orthopedic surgeon [...]