After unsuccessfully requesting a foreseeability instruction to the jury, the plaintiff – attempting to avoid numerous objections during the defense’s closing argument – obtained permission to enter a continuing objection, but failed to object with sufficient specificity as to any ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Medical Malpractice Negligence Per Curiam Opinion Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

Although the estate of a plant worker crushed by a lift truck offered a truck redesign that could have prevented that particular worker’s death, there was no evidence that the redesign would lead to fewer total deaths. Thus, the jury’s ...

Tagged with: Justice Stephen R. McCullough Negligence Personal Injury Products Liability Supreme Court of Virginia Tort

In protracted trade-secrets litigation, claims by successor organizations to a government subcontractor failed to demonstrate a valid contractual expectancy that could support their claims of tortious interference with a business expectancy. Background Plaintiffs L-3 Communications Corp. and L-3 Applied Technologies ...

Tagged with: Business Law Contract Corporate Judge T.S. Ellis III Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Defendant Wal-Mart Stores seeks summary judgment in this slip-and-fall case. Virginia law applies. The only evidence in the record is the deposition testimony of Plaintiff Mary Diggs and her companion at Wal-Mart on the day in question. The facts drawn ...

Tagged with: Judge Norman K. Moon Negligence Personal Injury Premises Liability Tort U.S. District Court - Western District

Concluding that its first-impression immunity rulings would likely lead to an appeal of any trial result, the court stayed proceedings in a negligence action pending interlocutory appeals requested by both parties. Background In January 2014, the City of Norfolk contracted ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge David W. Lannetti Negligence Norfolk Circuit Court Personal Injury Tort Virginia Circuit Courts

The former head of a Virginia agency, sued in her personal capacity for failure to manage patient intake at state mental health hospitals, was entitled to qualified immunity because prisons are not per se unable to safely care for mentally ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Civil Rights Constitutional Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Personal Injury Prisons & Jails Tort

Although the Plaintiffs did not state a § 10(b) claim against any individual corporate officers, false statements by a company’s lower-level employees could be attributed to the company itself if employees made those statements with the intent to provide false ...

Tagged with: Business Law Corporate Employment Judge T.S. Ellis III Securities Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Plaintiff Robert Benedict sues Hankook Tire Company for the production and distribution of an allegedly defective tire. Benedict seeks summary judgment as to the Defendants’ affirmative defense of contributory negligence. Expert opinions lacking The standard of care applicable in this case is ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Robert E. Payne Negligence Personal Injury Products Liability Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Nearly 10 years after the action was first initiated, and following numerous motions for reconsideration and interlocutory and direct appeals, plaintiffs asserting claims under the Alien Tort Statute can proceed to discovery against a contractor whose employees allegedly abused and ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Employment International Law Judge Leonie Brinkema Personal Injury Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

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