The VLW Blog

A woman who had her case dismissed because she increased the amount sued for after taking a nonsuit filed a petition for appeal with the Supreme Court of Virginia earlier this month. Elaine Spear alleged that she fell out of a wheelchair and was injured when a mobile lounge at Washington Dulles International Airport stopped [...]

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When John Charles Sanford died after surgery at the MCV hospital in December 2006, his family found a lot of people to blame, from the medical personnel who treated Sanford to the nurses and security personnel who restrained him when he became delusional. Two teams of defense lawyers secured their clients’ consent to joint representation. [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia probably thinks it has written enough on slip and fall cases that Garlick v. Safeway, Record No. 082469, doesn’t merit more than an unpublished order reinstating a case that had been dismissed on a motion to strike. The order is here for whatever guidance practitioners may find from it. The [...]

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The Boyd-Graves Conference voted this afternoon to recommend that the General Assembly extend the Virginia Tort Claims Act to local governments.   The committee assigned to study the issue split 5-5, which suggested that a consensus among the full membership of the conference would be unlikely.   The conference is composed of lawyers who represent [...]

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The corny headline may be a bit premature, but apparently lawyers at the Frith law firm in Roanoke are working up bed bug cases arising from motels along Interstates 81 and 95.  They have some advice to keep from becoming a victim yourself. Lauren Ellerman advises travelers to check out the furniture on arrival in [...]

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A Spotsylvania County Circuit Court jury awarded $7.5 million Friday to the family of a woman who died from breast cancer. William E. Artz of Arlington, the attorney for the family, contended that a family practitioner and a nurse practitioner were negligent in failing to determine the reason for a lump in the woman’s breast [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia today outlawed the use of the “unavoidable accident” jury instruction in personal injury trials. Writing for a unanimous court in Hancock-Underwood v. Knight, Justice Donald W. Lemons said, “While in the past we have permitted under rare and specific circumstances an instruction on unavoidable accident, today we join the clear [...]

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Well, certainly not a Judicial Hellhole as defined by the American Tort Reform Association in its annual report on what it views as the worst places to try a case from the civil defendant’s point of view. West Virginia takes quite a beating, and Maryland gets slapped around a little, but the only reference to [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia apparently believes it has said all that needs to be in Virginia Reports about inadequate verdicts. It issued an unpublished order today affirming an award of a new trial for a woman who said she suffered neck, back and shoulder sprains in a car wreck in Suffolk. County. The first [...]

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Richmond personal injury attorney Jay Tronfeld has settled his lawsuit alleging that a Nationwide adjuster defamed him by telling a client that Tronfeld “just takes people’s money.” The case had been scheduled for trial yesterday in Petersburg Circuit Court, but David P. Baugh, Tronfeld’s attorney, said it was settled under confidential terms. The adjuster also [...]

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