Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

A plaintiff whose vehicle was rear-ended by defendant driver failed to prove that her previously implanted spinal cord stimulator malfunctioned as a result of plaintiff’s negligence, and the trial court erred in allowing retrial and affirming a jury award of ...

Tagged with: Negligence Supreme Court of Virginia

At trial of plaintiffs’ auto accident personal injury suit against defendant, who was charged with DUI at the scene, the trial court erred in instructing the jury that punitive damages are generally disfavored and should be awarded only in “egregious” ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Negligence Supreme Court of Virginia

An employee who won his defamation and malicious prosecution claims against his employer and a supervisor who fired plaintiff and swore out a criminal complaint accusing him of assault and battery must retry his compensatory damages claim because the trial ...

Tagged with: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

A mother whose first-grade daughter died at school from a severe allergic reaction to a peanut may sue school officials for defamation based on their series of statements to local and national media that allegedly attempted to shift the blame ...

Tagged with: Justice Charles S. Russell Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

A member of a county planning commission did not defame her neighbor, an applicant for a special use permit, with statements the commission member made in emails about the application and the neighbor’s plan to operate a kennel; the Virginia ...

Tagged with: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

In this suit filed by a husband and wife whose vehicle was struck by defendant on Fairfax County Parkway, an orthopedic surgeon who testified as a defense expert said that the plaintiff wife, a passenger, was injured in the accident, ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush Negligence Virginia Circuit Courts

In an Iraq war veteran’s suit alleging medical malpractice by the outside contractor who performed orthopedic surgery on his knee, a Roanoke U.S. District Court says it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over claims of negligence by the surgeon or negligent ...

Tagged with: Judge Glen E. Conrad Medical Malpractice U.S. District Court - Western District

A woman who was holding her granddaughter on her lap at a family reunion in defendant Marriott Hotel when a light fixture fell from the ceiling and struck the child in the head, fracturing her skull, has failed to state ...

Tagged with: Judge James C. Cacheris Negligence U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Plaintiff operators of a maritime security business who had a fee dispute with a lawyer they hired to assist with crisis management when one of their crews was detained in India have stated claims for defamation against their former lawyer ...

Tagged with: Judge Liam O'Grady Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk Circuit Court rejects defendants’ request to hold a separate pretrial evidentiary hearing on whether decedent was of sound mind at the time of his suicide; the court agrees with plaintiffs that determining before trial whether plaintiffs’ suit is ...

Tagged with: Judge Jerrauld C. Jones Negligence Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts