A wrongful death suit filed by a family member who had not yet qualified as a personal representative of the decedent is a nullity and cannot be nonsuited, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled. Because the wrongful death statute requires ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Supreme Court of Virginia Wrongful Death

The plaintiffs’ bar is the winner today in a case where the defense sought to force a plaintiff to elect between a personal injury claim and a wrongful death claim for the estate of a man who died after acquiring ...

Tagged with: Personal Injury Supreme Court of Virginia Wrongful Death

A divided panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld yesterday the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedures Virginia uses to execute inmates sentenced to death. The opinion, Emmett v. Johnson, had been watched closely because it was ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal U.S. Supreme Court Wrongful Death

Three death-penalty law experts met yesterday at the University of Richmond law school. Even with the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule soon on whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, they agreed the debate over the death penalty ...

Tagged with: Law Schools U.S. Supreme Court Wrongful Death