Driver, Passenger P.I. Suits Severed

No Collateral Estoppel on Firearm Charge

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 10, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Charles E. Poston, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In defendant’s prosecution on firearm possession charges, the Norfolk Circuit Court denies defendant’s motions to estop the commonwealth from subsequent prosecution or from introducing evidence previously adjudicated during the trial in which defendant was acquitted of murder and use of a firearm charges arising from the same incident. On Oct. 26, 2012, a jury acquitted [...]

Plaintiff May Amend for ‘Gross Negligence’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 10, 2013
Tags: Judge Junius P. Fulton III, Negligence, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In litigation arising from an officer’s automobile collision with another vehicle, the Norfolk Circuit Court will allow plaintiff to amend the complaint to allege gross negligence. Gross negligence means something more than lack of ordinary care. The court defines gross negligence as a degree of negligence which shows an utter disregard of prudence amounting to [...]

No Drywall Damages for Mortgage Payments

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 10, 2013
Tags: Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Real Estate, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk Circuit Court grants defendants’ motion in limine to exclude evidence of mortgage payments on homes that were unlivable as a result of the presence of Chinese drywall, as mortgage payments are not a proper measure of loss of use damages. Defendant claims this element of damages was not disclosed in discovery responses provide [...]

Missed Diagnosis Claim Not ‘Gross Negligence’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 10, 2013
Tags: Judge Mary Jane Hall, Medical Malpractice, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk Circuit Court sustains a demurrer to a gross negligence claim filed by the estate of a woman who allegedly died as a result of the defendant resident physician’s failure to diagnose the woman’s ectopic pregnancy; the Norfolk Circuit Court sustains defendant physician’s demurrer to the gross negligence claim, but overrules the special plea [...]

Medical Expense Duty Owed Till Graduation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Bruce D. White, Virginia Circuit Courts

A husband is ordered to pay wife $617.94 as reimbursement for medical expenses, in accordance with the terms of the parties’ property settlement agreement incorporated into their final divorce decree; the Fairfax Circuit Court declines to include in the sum awarded to wife her claimed expenses for dental insurance premiums, which are not mentioned in [...]

Objections to Condemnation Petition Fail

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge R. Terrence Ney, Real Estate, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court denies VDOT’s motion to strike a property owner’s objections to VDOT’s petition in condemnation for a partial taking of a parcel in Chantilly for the widening of Route 50. The owner of the property, Dulles Properties, objects to the amount of compensation offered by the Virginia Department of Transportation, in that [...]

Refusal Right Not Triggered by Transfer

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Fairfax Circuit Court, Judge R. Terrence Ney, Real Estate, Virginia Circuit Courts

A restaurant tenant cannot claim its Right of First Refusal has been breached by a transfer of the property from a living trust that took the property upon the owner’s death, to her son, who was the trustee and sole beneficiary of the trust; the Fairfax Circuit Court says the Right of First Refusal was [...]

Guarantors’ Dec Action Against Bank Time-Barred

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Creditor's Rights, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge R. Terrence Ney, Virginia Circuit Courts

A hotel company and three guarantors on loans for three parcels in Fredericksburg waited too long to bring their fraud claims based on loan documents including a swap agreement that let plaintiffs exchange a variable interest rate for a fixed interest rate; even if the claims were not time-barred, they have no merit, says the [...]

Neighbors Must Share Driveway Access

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., Real Estate, Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this dispute of recent vintage between neighbors over a shared driveway, the Richmond Circuit Court holds that each party is mutually enjoined from unreasonably interfering with the other with respect to access to their respective properties, and neither may block access to the other unreasonably at any particular time. There is no dispute that [...]