Code § 8.01-428(D) does not grant a court unlimited power to set aside a default judgment, and, as a result, where petitioner missed a pleading deadline in the underlying action, the default judgment granted in respondent’s favor is upheld. Parties’ positions ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge David B. Carson Salem Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

The plaintiff was a 16-year-old high school student who suffered a suspected right patellar dislocation playing softball on April 14, 2014. There was evidence that the plaintiff was back to exercising and playing basketball during the summer of 2014. On ...

Tagged with: Auto Accident Judge David B. Carson Salem Circuit Court Tort Verdict

An ex-husband’s spousal-support obligations were not extinguished by his former wife’s long-term relationship with a man who ultimately moved in next door to her but maintained his own residence, the court held. Kathryn Sue Elmore Gobble (Wife) and Mark Lowell ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Charles N. Dorsey Salem Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A 54-year-old female patient presented to defendant vascular surgeon in February 2010 with a history of peripheral arterial disease and related claudication, as well as a history of hypertension, arrhythmia, diabetes, smoking and alcohol abuse, among other conditions. She had ...

Tagged with: Judge Charles N. Dorsey Medical Malpractice Salem Circuit Court

On Nov. 18, 2008, the patient presented to the emergency room at Lewis Gale Hospital in Salem with complaints of sudden vomiting, chest pains and abdominal pains after eating a piece of banana. She was an obese patient who had ...

Tagged with: Judge Clifford R. Weckstein Medical Malpractice Million-Dollar Defense Verdicts Salem Circuit Court

In this long-running contract dispute between a homeowner and a home builder, a Salem Circuit Court denies a motion to reconsider and motions to compel and admonishes the lawyers that “ad hominem attacks, bitterness and biting sarcasm upon or about ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Clifford R. Weckstein Salem Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

In light of the Salem Circuit Court’s separate appointments of a guardian and conservator for an elderly husband and wife, after their daughter, a physician licensed in another state, unlawfully dispensed medications to the mother, appeared abusive to her father, ...

Tagged with: Elder Law Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. Salem Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

In determining spousal support after termination of the parties’ 26-year marriage, a Salem Circuit Court awards wife $2,150 in monthly support, as she is unable to work due to her conditions of lymphoma, diabetes and lupus. Both parties are trying ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. Salem Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Although plaintiff builder split his contractor business into two corporations and is still trying to straighten out his licensing issues, his alleged unlicensed status does not void the contract on which he is suing to collect $385,000 in extras on ...

Tagged with: Contract Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. Salem Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A search warrant for power tools, copper and accelerants was not supported by an affidavit that recounted facts such as a convicted felon’s recent delivery to the residence and his purchase of a possible accelerant, but the Salem Circuit Court ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. Salem Circuit Court Search & Seizure Virginia Circuit Courts