Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

In a workplace-injury suit, an equipment manufacturer had a duty to account for foreseeable misuses of its product, regardless of whether the specific workplace met federal safety standards. Background Plaintiff Corey Stowers was a maintenance worker at a Georgia Pacific ...

Tagged with: Judge Norman K. Moon Personal Injury Products Liability U.S. District Court - Western District

Filed days before the end of the limitations period and never served, the initial complaint didn’t put the defendant on notice of the suit, a Virginia circuit court held. The filing period also wasn’t extended by the defendant’s use of ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Personal Injury Virginia Circuit Courts

Defendant Wal-Mart Stores seeks summary judgment in this slip-and-fall case. Virginia law applies. The only evidence in the record is the deposition testimony of Plaintiff Mary Diggs and her companion at Wal-Mart on the day in question. The facts drawn ...

Tagged with: Judge Norman K. Moon Negligence Personal Injury Premises Liability Tort U.S. District Court - Western District

Concluding that its first-impression immunity rulings would likely lead to an appeal of any trial result, the court stayed proceedings in a negligence action pending interlocutory appeals requested by both parties. Background In January 2014, the City of Norfolk contracted ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge David W. Lannetti Negligence Norfolk Circuit Court Personal Injury Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

The former head of a Virginia agency, sued in her personal capacity for failure to manage patient intake at state mental health hospitals, was entitled to qualified immunity because prisons are not per se unable to safely care for mentally ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Civil Rights Constitutional Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Personal Injury Prisons & Jails Tort

Plaintiff Robert Benedict sues Hankook Tire Company for the production and distribution of an allegedly defective tire. Benedict seeks summary judgment as to the Defendants’ affirmative defense of contributory negligence. Expert opinions lacking The standard of care applicable in this case is ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Robert E. Payne Negligence Personal Injury Products Liability Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A personal-injury plaintiff could claim $200,000 in ad damnum even though the circuit court was exercising only its appellate jurisdiction. The court acknowledged contrary precedent from the Supreme Court of Virginia, but sought to avoid retrial in the event of ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge Dennis M. Martin Norfolk Circuit Court Personal Injury Virginia Circuit Courts

A plaintiff could not keep her lawsuit against her insurance company out of federal court because her service of process on a statutory agent didn’t start the clock for noticing removal to federal court. The court also deemed the company ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Insurance Judge Henry F. Floyd Personal Injury

A plaintiff’s proffered warnings expert could not be qualified on the basis of his own personal reasoning, and the plaintiff’s failure to read appropriate warnings defeated her design-defect allegations. Background Appellant Deborah Meek Hickerson sustained serious internal injuries in a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Evidence Judge G. Steven Agee Personal Injury Products Liability

The circuit court erred in granting summary judgment against a plaintiff whose only expert as to both standard of care and causation was wrongly excluded. The expert should have been permitted to testify because she met both the knowledge and ...

Tagged with: Evidence Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Medical Malpractice Negligence Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia