The VLW Blog

In a state that’s fond of nicknames, family names and compound names, how much latitude does a car-crash plaintiff get when she scrambles the defendant’s first and middle names?
None, according to an Albemarle County Circuit Court.
The plaintiff’s lawsuit listed “Maggie Walker” as the defendant. Her correct name was “Ann Maggie,” or “Ann Margaret Walker” to [...]

[Read more →]

A woman who tripped and broke her elbow in a Food Lion store gets another shot at a trial thanks to a ruling today from the Supreme Court of Virginia, which again serves notice that summary judgment is rarely appropriate in personal injury cases.
The plaintiff was using an ATM machine that was protected from damage [...]

[Read more →]

An injured longshoreman who managed to keep his case out of federal court has won a $5 million verdict from a Portsmouth jury.
The Virginian-Pilot reports Sherman Whitaker was hurt when he fell through a shipyard catwalk in 2002.  His lawyer, William Breit, filed suit against his German-owned employer in Portsmouth Circuit Court asking for $74,000, [...]

[Read more →]

A wrongful death suit filed by a family member who had not yet qualified as a personal representative of the decedent is a nullity and cannot be nonsuited, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled.
Because the wrongful death statute requires that suit be filed by a decedent’s personal representative, a plaintiff who had not yet qualified [...]

[Read more →]

We reported recently on an attempt in Australia to use Facebook for service of process, advising archly, “Don’t try this in Virginia.”  In Northern Virginia, however, attorneys now hope to use e-mail to serve a summons on an elusive witness.
Lawyers for indicted lame duck Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., have asked Alexandria U.S. District Judge [...]

[Read more →]

You’ve briefed and argued your Virginia circuit court case. Weeks go by and the judge still has it under advisement. Your client wants to know what’s taking so long.
The remedy under the Virginia Code: tell it to the Chief.
That’s right. Under Virginia Code § 17.1-107, if Chief Justice Leroy Hassell, or his designee on the [...]

[Read more →]

You probably don’t have this much interest in interest.
The Supreme Court of Virginia takes 49 pages, including a five-page concurrence, to untangle the mess created by two jury trials, two earlier appeals, the specification by a jury of an interest rate higher than the one the trial court allowed, and the possible accrual of post-judgment [...]

[Read more →]