The VLW Blog

Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne will allow a plaintiff to pursue his auto accident case despite the earlier “settlement” of the claim by a dishonest lawyer acting without the client’s authority. Woodbridge lawyer Stephen Conrad, now disbarred and imprisoned, settled hundreds of claims without authority, usually pocketing the proceeds. A string of decisions held [...]

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An official from ALPS, the Virginia State Bar’s endorsed malpractice carrier, told the VSB Council yesterday that malpractice claims are up in Virginia. The company’s loss ratios, the amount of money the company received in premiums versus the amount paid in claims, have been higher than expected for the past four years. Last year, the [...]

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A Norfolk federal judge has ruled a Virginia Beach resident has no coverage under his homeowner’s policy for Chinese drywall damage that forced him out of his home. The decision is among the first few insurance coverage rulings related to the sulfur-emitting wallboard imported for use in homes in Virginia, Florida and Louisiana. In a [...]

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In what may be the first insurance coverage decision arising from the wave of Chinese drywall lawsuits, a Norfolk federal judge held Wednesday that a home builder who voluntarily fixed drywall-related problems in customers’ homes is not entitled to reimbursement from its insurer because the builder was not faced with a “legal obligation” to pay [...]

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Simplifying the concept appears to have worked in the initial wrangling over House Bill 93, the effort by personal injury attorneys to streamline cases in which the primary insurer pays its policy limits and additional underinsurance coverage is available for the plaintiff. The attorneys long have complained that settlement of such cases gets dragged out [...]

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In other Virginia cases decided this week by the 4th Circuit in unpublished opinions: In a case arising from a fatal workplace assault at a Harrisonburg home medical services company, the 4th Circuit, in Admiral Ins. Co. v. Ace American Ins. Co., upheld a federal district court decision that a CGL carrier who participated in [...]

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A Spotsylvania County couple is weighing their legal options after finding out the driveway they thought they owned belongs to their next-door neighbor. Maggie and Thomas Smith discovered the original surveyor’s mistake when they rehired the surveying company to mark the corners of their property for a fence line, reports The Free Lance-Star. Their neighbor [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled yesterday that a girl badly injured in a car wreck can “stack” the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in her father’s auto policy, increasing the potential amount of money available for her injury. In the case, the girl’s lawyer was able to distinguish the language in the father’s policy from the [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia will not decide the validity of an “illegal act” exclusion in a medical insurance policy. The case of Bailey v. Anthem Health Plans of Virginia Inc., Record No. 082014, had been scheduled for argument before the court on Monday, but the parties settled. “It was resolved to both parties’ satisfaction,” said Daniel [...]

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The Virginia State Bar is seeking comments to the proposal that all active VSB members engaged in the private practice of law representing clients (either individuals or entities) drawn from the general public be covered under a professional liability (malpractice) insurance policy.  The linked page includes a link to the text of the proposal. By [...]

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