The VLW Blog

A Norfolk state court judge hearing 65 Chinese drywall lawsuits has rejected motions to disqualify the plaintiffs’ lawyer and move some of the cases to other courts. Norfolk lawyer Richard Serpe can continue to represent both class action plaintiffs and individual plaintiffs in the drywall cases, Circuit Judge Mary Jane Hall ruled last week. “[T]he [...]

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Remember the infamous McDonald’s hot coffee case from the 1990s? Virginia has been brewing its own burn case against McDonald’s since 2005, and now the 4th Circuit has ordered a new trial for a man who alleges burns from fast food. Boasting its own Wikipedia entry, the hot-coffee incident at an Albuquerque McDonald’s in 1992 [...]

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Five Virginia homeowners – on behalf of “hundreds” with similar claims – have filed a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer, supplier, and installers of allegedly-tainted Chinese drywall used in their homes. Norfolk attorney Richard J. Serpe filed the suit this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.  The action names  Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd., [...]

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The U.S. Supreme Court has determined not to rule on an appeal from Richmond-based cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, which hoped to overturn a $79.5-million verdict in favor of a Oregon widow. The decision leaves in place a ruling of the Oregon Supreme Court upholding the award for Mayola Williams.  Williams contended that Philip Morris [...]

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A Roanoke lawyer has filed four lawsuits against Lynchburg enema-maker C.B. Fleet Co. alleging the company over-promoted the use of its Fleet Phospho-soda laxative (the stuff you might have been told to drink before a colonoscopy). Each of the four suits filed by Tony Russell demands $10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 (the statutory [...]

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Four and a half years after the death of 4-year-old Justin Simmons, the products liability lawsuit over his death finally may have reached closure. The Supreme Court of Virginia on Friday turned aside the last plea for a writ from MTD Products, the lawnmower manufacturer ordered to pay $2 million to the Simmons’ family. Justin [...]

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It’s been a long journey for the parties in the case of Simmons v. MTD and the end is not in sight. 4-year-old Justin Simmons was killed by a riding lawnmower in 2004. In 2006, a Roanoke jury returned a $2 million verdict against the maker of the lawnmower. The defendant promptly moved to set [...]

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The family of a Dickenson County coal miner killed in a 2003 mining accident will get another chance to prove their products liability claims against the manufacturers of a mining machine’s remote control device that was strapped to the miner’s body. On March 12, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Jim Jones’ [...]

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