The VLW Blog

A Charlottesville judge cut a husband’s wrongful death verdict by two thirds and ordered sanctions against the plaintiff and his lawyer in the aftermath of a hotly contested trial that produced a record overall jury award. A 32-page order from Circuit Court Judge Edward Hogshire also refers Charlottesville lawyer Matthew Murray to the Virginia State [...]

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A Newport News jury has awarded $5,225,000 to a man who was injured after a retailer’s forklift ran over his foot. On July 22, 2006, Michael Chavis was at a Best Buy store in Newport News looking at a television on display. Nearby, a store employee had left a battery-powered forklift switched on. Another store [...]

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A federal jury Tuesday found Verizon infringed patents for video-on-demand technology, delivering a big-dollar victory for a small tech company founded by a Virginia Beach man. “We’re ecstatic,” one company lawyer told The Virginian-Pilot. The jury had been hearing testimony for three weeks in the case that focused on Verizon’s FiOS cable television service. In [...]

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A Roanoke County jury has awarded $53,800 apiece to most of 16 former nursing students who said their nursing school failed to tell them when it lost its accreditation. The verdict against the state caps a nine-day trial and three and a half years of litigation. And there may be more to come. The 16 [...]

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A $23-million verdict for a man severely injured in a highway truck crash has survived post-trial motions in Richmond Circuit Court. Circuit Judge Melvin Hughes denied defense motions to set aside or reduce the award, Richmond lawyer Chris Guedri said. Guedri, who represented the plaintiff, said the Supreme Court of Virginia is likely to be [...]

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Portsmouth Circuit Judge James Hawks called the verdict for a merchant seaman “appallingly excessive.” The verdict – for $20 million compensatory damages and $5 million in punitives – was among the largest ever reported in Virginia, but the defendant shipping line protested it was far out of line for a claim of failure to provide [...]

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A Fairfax County jury returned a $4.75-million verdict Friday for a county woman who suffered brain damage and other injuries when a wayward rocket exploded next to her in 2007. The verdict comes in a suit filed by Kathryn Hollis against fireworks company Schaefer Pyrotechnics. That firm also faces a claim from Hollis’ young son, [...]

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In what must be some kind of record, Pennsylvania-based CONSOL Energy Inc. will pay $75 million to resolve six years of coal pollution litigation in Buchanan County Circuit Court. The announcement comes in a CONSOL filing with the SEC this week. The settlement follows a March adverse ruling on a summary judgment motion, according to [...]

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A Roanoke federal jury Thursday returned a defense verdict for an alarm company sued over a tragic communications breakdown. A Franklin County man who cared for his disabled son at his home ordered an alarm system from Lifeline Systems.  The father, suffering from a heart condition, feared for his son’s safety if he fell victim [...]

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In a case that surely will have gym owners checking their liability coverage, a Prince William County man has won a $300,000 jury verdict against a gym where he underwent a “CrossFit” workout regimen that, he claimed, left him disabled. Makimba Mimms, 29, sued Manassas World Gym, Ruthless Training Concepts and its former employee, Javier [...]

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