The VLW Blog

A seaman claiming injuries stemming from a fateful shore leave in Korea may have to retry his case against a Norfolk shipping company. The decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia ends the seaman’s hope to reinstate a $25-million jury verdict. The seaman claimed his employer, the shipping company, failed to provide sufficient medical help [...]

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Three former mental health staffers will share a “finders fee” of $1.37 million for their help in uncovering billing fraud at a residential treatment unit for boys. The three were the first to alert government officials to phony Medicaid claims at the Keystone Marion Youth Center. After an investigation, the owner of the facility agreed [...]

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A Richmond federal court has applied the brakes to an auto-accident plaintiff’s attempt to collect a $4 million judgment she won in Richmond state court last October. Sheila Womack, a 29-year-old office assistant, claimed she suffered a head injury when Jerrene Yeoman made an improper left turn and their cars collided. Yeoman admitted liability, but [...]

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A long running court battle over claims of race discrimination and breach of contract in a Danville public construction project is headed for a third trial in the wake of a hung jury last month. The case of Carnell Construction and its claim of mistreatment by the Danville housing authority brought a $3.17-million jury verdict [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia will be asked to review a hard-fought Charlottesville wrongful death case where the judge slashed a death verdict by more than $4 million and imposed a record-breaking sanctions award against a plaintiff’s lawyer. Both sides have filed notices of appeal in the case of Lester v. Allied Concrete Co., according [...]

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The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears the fewest oral arguments and issues the fewest published opinions of the federal circuit courts. Its decision earlier this week affirming a partnership deal for a TV series raises the question of just what its standard for publishing an opinion might be. This one appears to have [...]

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A Newport News jury returned a $25 million verdict this morning against Exxon Corp. for a ship repair supervisor who contracted mesothelioma after working on the company’s ships from 1966-77. Rubert Minton, 72, of Isle of Wight County, was working for Newport News Shipbuilding at the time. Minton’s attorney, Bobby Hatten, said Minton worked in [...]

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Defense lawyers hope to undo a monumental verdict claiming a juror had ties to a plaintiffs’ law firm. A Charlottesville jury last month awarded more than $10.5 million to family members of a woman fatally injured when a concrete mixer truck fell on her car in 2007. The award ranks among the largest in Virginia [...]

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An effort to get legal commentary on the cheap has backfired on West Publishing Corp., The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Two law professors had split $10,000 for providing an annual update on Pennsylvania criminal procedure for the legal publisher. But when the West suggested reducing that to $2,500 each, they decided to stop work on the [...]

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The wife of a former Greensboro, N.C., lawyer won a $9-million award for alienation of affection against a former college dean who was accused of luring the lawyer-husband away from domestic fidelity. The verdict might have been inflated by the fact that the defendant, Anne Lundquist, didn’t show up to defend herself at trial. She [...]

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