The VLW Blog

Circuit Judge William Alexander has denied the state’s motion to overturn jury verdicts in favor of families of students killed in the Virginia Tech shootings, but he reduced the two $4-million awards to just $100,000 each under the Virginia Tort Claims Act. The Roanoke Times reports Alexander announced his decisions after a post-trial hearing Wednesday [...]

[Read more →]

Armed with two $4-million verdicts against the state, lawyers for families of Virginia Tech shooting victims are seeking to avoid the $100,000 cap on recovery under the Virginia Tort Claims Act. Under the law, the cap is raised to the maximum limits of any applicable liability policy, and the families’ lawyers want to explore what [...]

[Read more →]

Reston lawyer Robert T. Hall is the author of the two $10 million wrongful death lawsuits filed against Virginia Tech officials on behalf of families of two victims of the shootings there in 2007.  The lawsuits were filed yesterday, the two-year anniversary of the shootings, in Fairfax County Circuit Court. The lawsuits are posted online [...]

[Read more →]

A group of legal leaders in Virginia says the state needs to get a handle on what it pays for liability claims against state employees.  Members of the Boyd-Graves Conference, which makes recommendations for improvements in civil practice, renewed a call on Friday for a legislative study of claims paid under the Virginia Tort Claims [...]

[Read more →]

As reported by the AP, Richmond Circuit Judge Theodore J. Markow approved the state’s settlement with most of the families of those killed in the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech. The ruling today gives judicial approval to resolution of 24 of the 32 death claims. Four other such claims will go before the court at [...]

[Read more →]