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Tort: Res judicata bars relitigation of defamation claim
Where the plaintiff had already raised his defamation claim in state court, it was barred by res judicata.
Negligence: Casino dodges suit by customer assaulted in parking lot
Where the customer did not plead facts plausibly showing the casino had a duty to warn or protected her from being assaulted in its parking lot, the casino’s demurrer was sustained.
Negligence: Employee fails to show that workplace caused injury
Where the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission concluded an employee failed to establish a causal connection between her symptoms and her alleged inhalation of construction odors at work, and this conclusion was supported by the record, it was affirmed.
Tort: Court dismisses homeowners’ suit over alleged vandalism
Where homeowners alleged their mortgage holder, loan servicer and other related defendants broke into and vandalized and burglarized their townhouse, but they failed to plead facts making their claims plausible, their suit was dismissed.
Tort: Company isn’t liable for employee’s allegedly defamatory statement
Where a man sought to hold his former employer vicariously liable for a co-worker’s alleged defamation (in reporting alleged sexual harassment), but the Supreme Court of Virginia has made clear that employers can only be held liable if the employees were acting in furtherance of the purpose for which the employee was hired, and reporting sexual harassment—whether falsely or accurately—is not[...]
Tort: School Board is immune from woman’s tort suit
Where a woman sued three school board employees in their official capacities, alleging that they were grossly negligent in approving the transfer of a student to her high school whom she alleged sexually assaulted her while in class together, a majority of the divided en banc court held that school boards are agencies of the Commonwealth that sovereign immunity.
Negligence: Helicopter pilot killed while crop dusting farm
Where a crop dusting pilot was killed when his helicopter collided with a low-hanging steel wire, a jury must decide whether the farm owner, renters or a crop consultant had a duty to warn the pilot or whether the pilot was contributorily negligent.
Tort: Journalist fails to dismiss defamation suit
Where a company and its founder plausibly alleged an independent blogger made false statements that were defamatory per se, and that the statements were made with actual malice, the journalist’s motion to dismiss was denied.
Negligence: CVS prevails in negligent vaccine injection suit
Where a woman claimed she suffered a nerve injury after receiving two vaccine injections, but CVS was immune for its administration of one of the injections, and the woman presented no evidence from which a jury could find which injection caused her injury, CVS prevailed at summary judgment.
Negligence: Inmate sues commonwealth after contracting Covid-19
Where an inmate sued the commonwealth, alleging its negligence led him to contract Covid-19 while incarcerated, the circuit court wrongly granted the commonwealth’s plea in bar. This court has rejected the use of the municipal liability test in suits against the commonwealth for the manner in which prison personnel effectuated its policies.
Tort: Defamation suit dismissed because statements not pleaded in haec verba
Where the plaintiff failed to plead the statements on which his defamatory claim was based in haec verba, as required by Virginia law, his lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice.
Tort: Defamation lawsuit is reinstated
Where the circuit court held that the allegedly defamatory statement was true and thus not actionable, it erred. The plaintiff sufficiently alleged the statement – that that she “stole” business e-mails – was false for purposes of pleading an actionable statement upon which a defamation claim may be based.
Legal Tech
- How large language models are leveling the personal injury playing field
- Attorney Share, Lawmatics integrate to automate law firm referrals
- How ransomware tactics against law firms are changing
Verdicts & Settlements
- Workers’ Compensation-Vehicle accident paralyzes Brazilian cement worker
- Medical Malpractice – Death from cancer followed stomach pain misdiagnosis
- Workers’ Compensation – Seasonal worker paralyzed in tobacco baler accident
- Medical Malpractice – Jurors side with doctor in suit over rescue surgery
- Motor Vehicle Negligence – Unicycle rider dies after being hit by car
Opinion Digests
- Prisons – No immunity for prison officials who allegedly failed to provide medical care
- Search and seizure – No immunity for guards who intentionally failed to check on injured inmate
- Prisons – Compassionate release denied despite end-stage renal disease
- Criminal – Correctional officer’s civil rights’ violation conviction is vacated
- Constitutional – Board member lacks property interest in zoning board position
- Habeas corpus – District court erred when it granted writ of habeas corpus
- Tort – Salvadoran colonel denied immunity for alleged murder of journalist
