Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where a shopper sued for injuries allegedly suffered when he slipped on dog food while shopping at a retail store, but there was no evidence the store was actually or constructively aware of the dog food prior to the accident, ...

Tagged with: Judge James P. Jones Negligence U.S. District Court - Western District

Where the plaintiff sued the owner of a rental house, the property manager and the property management company, alleging she was injured when a wooden railing failed, but the negligence and negligence per se claims were foreclosed by fraud claims, ...

Tagged with: Judge Norman K. Moon Negligence U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a former student in the physician assistant studies program at Shenandoah University alleged that university officials made comments about his skills and critical decision making, and raised concerns about patient safety to other university employees that were untrue, he ...

Tagged with: Judge Thomas T. Cullen Tort U.S. District Court - Western District

Where the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his defamation suit before the defendant filed her motion to dismiss in federal court, the defendant wasn’t entitled to recover attorneys’ fees pursuant to the Virginia “anti-SLAPP” statute. The statute and caselaw make it clear ...

Tagged with: Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a plaintiff filed two separate suits, in different circuit courts, arising out of the same multi-vehicle accident, in an effort to maximize her recovery, her motion to now consolidate the suits in federal court — in order to have ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert E. Payne Negligence U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where appellee was severely injured when a tree on appellant’s property fell and crushed appellee’s car, the circuit court incorrectly overruled appellant’s demurrer to a negligence claim. The complaint did not allege that appellant “had engaged in any affirmative act ...

Tagged with: Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the plaintiff asserted a claim for defamation based upon the defendants’ allegedly false statement that her house was scheduled for foreclosure, her defamation claim was dismissed because there were insufficient allegations the statement was defamatory under the law. Background ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert E. Payne Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a city hired a doctor to provide medical care to inmates in the city’s detention center, the doctor has derivative sovereign immunity and cannot be sued for malpractice by a deceased inmate’s estate. Background Patterson was an inmate in ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Medical Malpractice Supreme Court of Virginia

Where liability experts offered opinions that were not contained in their expert disclosures, rested on unreliable facts and data or rested on unreliable principles and methods of testing, those opinions were struck. Background While operating a tractor-trailer owned by his ...

Tagged with: Judge Thomas T. Cullen Negligence U.S. District Court - Western District

Where a village town manager published an affidavit in which he falsely stated that complaints were filed against town safety officers “involving inappropriate electronic communications that created a hostile work environment in violation of Village policy,” he was liable for ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Tort