Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Defendant’s demurrers to plaintiff’s claims for negligence per se and negligence, arising from defendant’s alleged failure to keep a mobile home park’s septic system in good working order, are overruled. A demurrer to plaintiff’s contract-based claim to keep the septic ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Charles N. Dorsey Roanoke Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where a Kroger manager of a store in which the shopper slipped and fell allegedly failed to take affirmative steps to prevent the fall, a negligence claim could be asserted against her. As such, she was not fraudulent joined and ...

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

The circuit court properly granted defendants’ demurrers to plaintiff’s claim against them for the tort of interference with parental rights. Further, plaintiff’s defamation claim against one defendant is dismissed because the complained-of statements are not actionable. Facts Michael Wilson and ...

Tagged with: Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

A commonwealth’s attorney can be sued for defamation because the complained-of statements, his explanation of why he fired a long-time employee shortly after he took office, are not covered by absolute quasi-judicial immunity. Background Baker, the appellee in this case, ...

Tagged with: Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

A suit brought by a Navy employee struck by a car while walking on the Naval Station Norfolk was dismissed because the government is immune from claims arising from activities “incident to service” of military personnel. His off-duty status and ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Negligence Personal Injury

The exclusivity provision in the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act did not apply to a bicycle rider struck by a vehicle while riding to work on the Virginia Tech campus because the injury did not arise out of the course of ...

Tagged with: Judge Glen E. Conrad Negligence Personal Injury U.S. District Court - Western District

Where photographs taken immediately after a woman fell on the edge of a pothole in a Costco parking lot showed the hole was not obscured or camouflaged, the woman could have, and should have, avoided stepping into the “open and ...

Tagged with: Judge Michael F. Urbanski Negligence Personal Injury U.S. District Court - Western District

Where the parties in this medical malpractice case, a minor, his mother and several defendants, made a pretrial settlement of plaintiffs’ claims, the court will not seal the settlement terms. Although the wrongful death statute requires settlement terms to be ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David A. Oblon Virginia Circuit Courts

Where plaintiff’s decedent died from an accidental overdose of prescription narcotic painkillers and alcohol, and defendant doctor did not examine her during the last 14 months of her life but kept prescribing the medications, the trial court erred by striking ...

Tagged with: Justice Teresa M. Chafin Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia Wrongful Death

Where plaintiff, John C. Depp, claims defendant, Amber Heard, defamed him in a Washington Post op-ed, three of the four complained-of statements are actionable under a defamation by implication theory. Background Plaintiff’s defamation claim arises from four statements in an ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Bruce D. White Personal Injury Tort Virginia Circuit Courts