No ‘Admissions’ Costs for Plaintiff

No Claim for Shoe-Shopper’s Slip & Fall

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Samuel G. Wilson, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff who alleges she tripped over something and fell against a display table and injured her hip and knee while shoe-shopping at defendant’s department store loses her suit on summary judgment; the Roanoke U.S. District Court says plaintiff has been unable to present any evidence of the duration of any alleged unsafe condition at [...]

No Suit for Puddle at Store Entrance

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Norman K. Moon, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A mall department store wins summary judgment in this slip-and-fall because plaintiff customer did not show the store had actual or constructive notice of an alleged unsafe condition resulting from a mat being pushed away from the door, allowing water to accumulate at a store entrance; the Lynchburg U.S. District Court says even if a [...]

No Suit for Glass in Restaurant Salad

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Samuel G. Wilson, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses a customer’s negligence action against Ruby Tuesday restaurant based on allegedly finding a piece of clear glass in a salad she prepared from the salad bar. Defendant moved for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiff cannot show that an unreasonably dangerous condition existed when the salad left defendant’s [...]

Principals in Virginia Tech lawsuit appeal to justices

By The Associated Press
Published: February 18, 2013
Tags: Negligence, Virginia Tech Shootings

(AP) Attorneys for the parents of two students who were killed in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre asked Tuesday for a Supreme Court hearing on their request to put Tech’s president on trial for negligence, while the state sought to reverse a jury’s conclusion that the state was negligent for failing to alert students right [...]

Plaintiff Invited ‘Missing Witness’ Instruction

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 14, 2013
Tags: Judge David J. Novak, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In plaintiff motorcyclist’s unsuccessful personal injury suit against a truck driver, the trial court did not err in giving a “missing witness” instruction when plaintiff failed to appear at trial after having been named on the witness list, and the magistrate judge for the Richmond U.S. District Court denies plaintiff’s Rule 59 motion for a [...]

$6.2M Wrongful Death Award Reinstated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 24, 2013
Tags: Justice Cleo E. Powell, Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia reinstates the full jury verdict of $6,227,000 in a wrongful death case filed by a man whose wife died in a car accident when a concrete truck turned over on their car; the trial court erred in reducing plaintiff husband’s award because the court found it was disproportionate to the [...]

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” [...]

Plaintiff Gets One Bite at Asbestos Apple

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 15, 2013
Tags: Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Negligence, Supreme Court of Virginia

Because a plaintiff who was diagnosed in 1988 with asbestosis and filed a personal injury suit in 1990, that was voluntarily dismissed in 2010, his widow is barred from filing a 2010 wrongful death suit based on his 2008 diagnosis with mesothelioma; on a question certified by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the [...]

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 [...]