Roanoke Circuit Court « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Hotel Employees Must Answer ‘Safety’ Questions

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 13, 2011
Tags: Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr., Negligence, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In a lawsuit against a long-term care facility that allegedly lost track of a resident who fell down a flight of stairs during a “field trip” to the Homestead Hotel and died 10 days later, a Staunton Circuit Court says two hotel employee must respond to plaintiff’s questions relating to safety policies and procedures at [...]

Family can ask hotel about safety policies

By Paul Fletcher
Published: December 9, 2011
Tags: Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr., Personal Injury, Roanoke Circuit Court, Wrongful Death

The family of a woman who got separated on a care facility “field trip” to The Homestead and died after a fall down some stairs there can ask hotel personnel about the resort’s safety policies and procedures, a judge sitting in Roanoke has ruled.
Christopher W. Stevens, The Homestead’s lawyer, directed two resort employees not [...]

No Comp Lien on Med-Mal Award

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 21, 2011
Tags: Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts, Workers’ Comp

An employee who collected workers’ comp for a broken leg, and then won a $988,500 jury award for his treating physician’s medical malpractice leading to lung damage from a pulmonary embolism, does not have to pay the employer $22,945.77 on its workers’ comp lien filed in the med-mal suit, says a Roanoke City Circuit Court.
Generally, [...]

No comp lien on med-mal award

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 20, 2011
Tags: Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Medical Malpractice, Roanoke Circuit Court, Workers' Comp

An employer who paid for treatment of an employee’s broken leg cannot collect on a workers’ comp lien on the nearly $1 million medical malpractice award the employee later won from a Roanoke jury.
Michael W. Thompson broke his right leg on the job at Bentech Manufacturing in Roanoke. In 2003, he sought workers’ compensation [...]

No Virginia Jurisdiction Over Japanese Company

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 27, 2011
Tags: Judge Charles N. Dorsey, Products Liability, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A woman who alleges she was injured while operating a saddle stitching machine that a Roanoke company obtained from a Japanese manufacturer through its North American distributor cannot sue the Japanese company in Roanoke City Circuit Court; the manufacturer had no physical locations in the U.S., did not specifically target Virginia, attended no trade shows [...]

New Venue Motion Needed for Amended Complaint

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 23, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Defendants who moved for a change of venue in response to an original complaint, but who failed to object to venue when they filed responsive pleadings to plaintiff’s amended complaint that added more plaintiffs, have waived their right to seek a change of venue, says a Roanoke City Circuit Court.
Plaintiff Argos Utilities, a Delaware corporation, [...]

No Inverse Condemnation for Leasehold

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 12, 2011
Tags: Judge Charles N. Dorsey, Real Estate, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although a billboard advertising company says its leasehold on land that has been purchased after condemnation by the Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority has been damaged because the Authority is more likely to terminate its leasehold than would a private owner, the Roanoke City Circuit Court rejects the company’s suit for inverse condemnation.
On Nov. 28, [...]

No Absolute Immunity for Water Authority

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 2, 2011
Tags: Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Municipal, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Defendant Western Virginia Water Authority is a municipal corporation with no absolute sovereign immunity, and a landowner may sue the Authority for damages allegedly caused by the Authority’s negligent maintenance and operation of a sanitary sewer line; although the Roanoke City Circuit previously held that a water authority created by the county and city has [...]

Appeal of JDR Show Cause Order Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 6, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Roanoke City Circuit Court dismisses an appeal from a juvenile and domestic relations court order finding defendant “not guilty” on a Show Cause Summons (Criminal) , as the appeal is barred by the double jeopardy provisions of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 8 of the Virginia Constitution.
On Jan. [...]

Business Valuation Report Has ‘Palpable Error’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 9, 2011
Tags: Corporate, Judge Charles N. Dorsey, Roanoke Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In construing an S corporation’s Redemption Agreement to allow an ailing principal to cash out his shares, a Roanoke City Circuit Court says there is “palpable error” on the face of the independent appraiser’s report, which may let the remaining principals out of that appraiser’s $3.5 million valuation of the money management business.
Plaintiff Peter Dawyot, [...]

Virginia Lawyers Weekly