The daughter and sister of a woman who died due to surgery complications lacked personal knowledge as to whether their mother knew of alternatives to surgery or whether she would have elected such alternatives had she known. Background In 2011, ...

Tagged with: Evidence Justice Stephen R. McCullough Medical Malpractice Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

The plaintiff’s medical expert, who was preferred only to opine on the standard of care in performing a hysterectomy, could not present testimony on whether and how the patient’s outcome would have been different had the defendant called for a ...

Tagged with: Evidence Justice Cleo E. Powell Medical Malpractice Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

An officer’s conviction for injuring an arrestee was affirmed, in part because the officer’s past conduct toward individuals he perceived as disrespecting law enforcement was probative of his state of mind during the events giving rise to the crime. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Evidence Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

The court of appeals held that the trial court, considering a motion to suppress, did not err in admitting an officer’s testimony that, before he attempted to arrest the defendant, another officer had said that the defendant was subject to ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

In this Fair Credit Reporting Act class action, the court concluded that it could consider a spreadsheet created by Defendant GEICO containing information it received from the credit reporting agency it used to conduct background checks on job applicants. GEICO’s ...

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

An Alexandria federal district court abused its discretion by imposing a too-broad preservation duty on a travel agency suing on an oral contract, prompting a federal appeals court to vacate the lower court’s award of $10 million for lost profits. ...

Tagged with: Contract Evidence Federal Courts Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

A Norfolk federal court will not dismiss a products liability lawsuit as a penalty for the plaintiff’s destruction of critical evidence. Instead, it will downsize the potential damages, based on what’s left of the subject of the suit: patio chairs ...

Tagged with: Evidence Federal Courts Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr.

Persons in Virginia prisons, with case files that contain sperm evidence for DNA testing, should be at the top of the list for notice under the commonwealth’s testing program for decades-old cases, the Virginia Crime Commission said on Sept. 23. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence

The 4th Circuit vacates a $919.9 million jury award in DuPont’s suit alleging theft and misappropriation of 149 trade secrets involving production of para-aramid fibers used in bulletproof armaments; the district court abused its discretion and prejudiced Kolon when it ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Evidence Per Curiam Opinion