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Tort: Trade secrets claim filed too late
Where a company filed a Defend Trade Secrets Act claim against its former employee more than two years after it had knowledge of his alleged misappropriation, the claim was time barred.
Suit against child-protective service employees is dismissed
Where a man accused of abusing his sister identified no common law duty in tort that local child-protective services employees owe to notify alleged abusers of the charges against them or to provide copies of the records used to make a founded disposition, his suit was dismissed.
Tort: Homeowners sue their insurer for trespass
Where homeowners alleged that a contractor entered their property without notice and in contravention of prior instructions, but the contractor was an independent contractor, the insurer’s motion to dismiss the trespass claim was granted.
Dismissal of Walmart shopper’s malicious prosecution claim affirmed
Virginia Court of Appeals affirms dismissal of malicious prosecution suit, ruling Walmart had probable cause based on surveillance video evidence.
Tort: DTSA lawsuit is dismissed
Where one mortgage company sued another mortgage company, alleging it violated the Defend Trade Secrets Act after it hired the plaintiff’s employee, but the complaint and attachments did not plausibly show misappropriation of trade secrets, this claim was dismissed.
Tort: Wal-Mart had probable cause to prosecute man for shoplifting
Where video showed a man concealing products and swapping them in boxes, Wal-Mart had probable cause to prosecute him for shoplifting. As such, it prevailed on the man’s malicious prosecution claim.
Tort: $150,000 libel judgment is affirmed
Where a defamation plaintiff introduced additional statements by the defendant about the plaintiff – including that the plaintiff was a terrorist, that the defendant wanted to “unleash hell” on the plaintiff and contemplated interfering with the plaintiff’s business – the trial court did not err in admitting these statements. This evidence made the existence of actual malice “more prob[...]
Tort: $20 million judgment in stepdaughter abuse case
Where the stepfather argued his demurrer to the assault and battery, sexual assault and battery and aggravated sexual assault and battery claims should have been sustained because the complaint did not plead a lack of consent, but the victim was unable as a matter of law to consent due to her age (16-17), the demurrer was properly denied.
School board immune from negligence suit
A school board was entitled to immunity from a negligence suit stemming from an alleged attack on an autistic child on a school bus because the plaintiff’s injuries did not relate to the operation of the bus, the Supreme Court of Virginia has held in reversing a Circuit Court decision.
Tort: School Board immune from autistic student’s gross negligence claims
Where a lawsuit alleged a non-verbal autistic child was struck, insulted and allowed to leave a school bus partially unclothed, the circuit court erred when it denied the School Board’s sovereign immunity plea in bar. Although an exception applied where a vehicle owned, operated or insured by a school board was “involved in an accident,” the alleged incidents here did not fall within that ex[...]
Tort: Company sues over allegedly false statements about talc and cancer
Where the court previously held that a company alleged facts plausibly supporting a claim for product disparagement against three individuals who claimed to have identified 75 previously unreported subjects with mesothelioma who had no known exposure to asbestos except for use of cosmetic talc, the defendants’ motion for reconsideration was denied.
Tort: Executive’s breach of fiduciary duty results in $2 million judgment
Where there was a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to support the jury’s verdict that an executive breached his fiduciary duties, the $2 million judgment was affirmed.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Motor Vehicle Negligence – Unicycle rider dies after being hit by car
- Premises Liability – Delivery driver injured by porch decking collapse
- Premises Liability – Fall down stairs at resort results in injuries, death
- Medical Malpractice – Jurors side with doctor in suit over rescue surgery
- Workers’ Compensation- Seasonal worker paralyzed in tobacco baler accident
- Medical Malpractice- Death from cancer followed stomach pain misdiagnosis
- Workers’ Compensation – Struck in face by forklift, woman suffers brain injury
- Negligence and Tort – Group home resident falls, sustaining femur fracture
- Medical Malpractice – Nursing facility patient dies after fracturing ankle in fall
- Medical Malpractice- Patient has bladder injury during colostomy reversal
- Premises Liability- Apartment guest burned by gas grill spewing fire
Opinion Digests
- The Most Important Opinions, January-June 2026
- Criminal – Court of Appeals wrongly vacated murder conviction
- Tort – U.Va. prevails on former professor’s claims
- Constitutional – Company’s due process claim against county is dismissed
- Administrative – Plaintiffs’ effort to enjoin ITC proceeding fails
- Patent and trademark – Amazon patent infringement suit transferred to New Jersey
- Tort – Chesterfield County dismissed from wrongful death suit
- Consumer Protection – Lawsuit over kratom survives motion to dismiss
- Criminal – Defendant convicted of attempted sexual exploitation of a child
- Evidence – Motion to exclude transmission expert is rejected
- Damages – Court awards pre-judgment interest following parties’ acquiescence
- Employment – Court approves overtime wage collective action settlement
