Med-mal damages cap not on General Assembly’s agenda

Chief justice to get VTLA Service Award

By Alan Cooper
Published: October 29, 2010
Tags: Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. will receive the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Distinguished Service Award for 2010. In announcing the award, VTLA President Matthew B. Murray said it is intended to honor those “whose commitment to the law and the right to trial by jury has advanced the cause of justice for the [...]

No removal for landlord cases an issue, lawyer says

By Peter Vieth
Published: October 1, 2010
Tags: Civil Procedure, Landlord/Tenant, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

A Richmond lawyer wants to refocus attention on whether Virginia should again allow defendants in some civil cases to pull the plaintiff’s case from general district court up to circuit court. It’s a procedural tactic that was rejected by the General Assembly in 2007. Lawyer Mark R. Colombell argues for reenactment of the removal statutes [...]

High court can settle circuit split over nursing home arbitration

By Alan Cooper
Published: September 27, 2010
Tags: ADR, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

The fight over nursing home arbitration agreements, percolating through Virginia circuit courts for the last five years, has reached the Supreme Court of Virginia. A split in Virginia circuit courts usually gets the high court’s attention. Looking to his own case files, Alexandria lawyer Gerald F. Ragland Jr. described a virtual “east-west” split in Virginia [...]

A way to quantify pain?

By Alan Cooper
Published: April 1, 2010
Tags: Personal Injury, Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

A Richmond lawyer has won a $5 million settlement after determining a method to quantify the debilitating effects of chronic pain. The method: Use the same neuropsychological tests used to diagnose traumatic brain injury. W. Coleman Allen Jr. provided a limited picture of his client’s case last month at the annual convention of the Virginia [...]

Matthew Murray becomes new president of VTLA

By Alan Cooper
Published: March 29, 2010
Tags: Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

Matthew B. Murray has just about done it all when it comes to the general practice of law – from prosecuting and defending criminal cases to drafting wills and handling divorces and real estate closings, even representing insurance companies in personal injury cases. But after more than 30 years of practicing law in Charlottesville, he [...]

UIM measure headed for passage on the Hill

By Alan Cooper
Published: March 5, 2010
Tags: General Assembly, Insurance, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

A bill that would streamline cases in which the primary insurer pays its policy limits and additional underinsurance coverage is available for the plaintiff cleared the Senate Courts of Justice Committee yesterday after insurance carriers and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association reached agreement on the bill. The VTLA was operating from a position of strength [...]

Payee notification bill is alive

By Alan Cooper
Published: March 2, 2010
Tags: Clients' Protection Fund, General Assembly, Virginia State Bar, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

The Virginia State Bar asked Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr. to carry its legislation, Senate Bill 511, that would have required insurance companies to notify the clients of attorneys when the insurers send the attorneys a check to settle a clients’ claim. The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association also had patrons for legislation that contained a [...]

High court to judges: Get record right or retry case

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 25, 2010
Tags: Civil Procedure, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

A debate among judges about the use of written statements for appeals may have an answer in a new Supreme Court of Virginia decision emphasizing the responsibility of trial judges to ensure a proper appellate record. The unanimous court pointedly declared that, when the parties and the trial court cannot produce a proper record for [...]

Hassell: Put payee notice aside for now

By Alan Cooper
Published: January 25, 2010
Tags: Clients' Protection Fund, General Assembly, Payee Notification, Supreme Court of Virginia, Virginia State Bar, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. has asked the Virginia State Bar and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association to back off on payee notification legislation in this session of the General Assembly. Hassell told VSB Executive Director Karen A. Gould and her VTLA counterpart, Jack L. Harris, in a conference call that the request represented [...]