Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from July 2003

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from July 2003

Mild Brain Injury Case Nets $1.8M Settlement.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Matthew Philips A driver badly injured when a tractor-trailer jacknifed into his lane of travel has mediated his claim for a settlement of $1.8 million. The man suffered significant orthopedic injuries, including mild traumatic...

Norfolk Circuit Judge Allows Use Of Audio Depositions.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Dawn Chase An audio recording of a deposition, recorded by counsel for one of the parties, may be played at trial, a Norfolk circuit judge has ruled. The lawyer who won the ruling says he plans to routinely use audio recordings...

Alexandria Federal Jury Awards Ex-Law Firm Associate $610K For Retaliation.
July 14, 2003... Byline: John D. Tuerck An Alexandria federal jury has awarded more than $610,000 in damages, back pay and costs to a former law-firm associate who contended she was fired because she is a mother. The former associate, who began work at...

Verdicts & Settlements July 14, 2003: Earthmoving Equipment Partially Destroyed In Explosion.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Products liability Other Useful Information -- This property damage claim involved a 615 C Elevating Scraper Tractor. It had been purchased by the plaintiff, a construction...

Verdicts & Settlements July 14, 2003: Fired Sales Rep Seeks Commissions.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Employment Other Useful Information -- Citing personality differences, the defendant employer terminated the plaintiff, who had been the company's top sales representative for...

Supreme Court of Virginia: Rehearing Sought In Umbrella Policy Case.
July 14, 2003... Byline: John D. Tuerck Despite admittedly long odds, two lawyers are asking the Supreme Court of Virginia to reconsider its denial of insurance coverage to a spouse injured in an automobile accident. The injured husband sought damages...

A.M. Best Rating For Virginia State Bar-Endorsed ALPS Drops.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Dawn Chase Attorneys Liability Protection Society, the Virginia State Bar-endorsed carrier of legal malpractice insurance, has been downgraded a notch by insurance evaluator A.M. Best Co., from A to A-minus. The downgrade was...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: July 14, 2003.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Dischargeability Of Debt - Tax Debt - Debtor's 'Lavish Lifestyle' Although the 57-year-old debtor who is seeking to discharge a $5.1 million debt to the Internal Revenue Service...

Judge Shopping? Or Lawyers Just Doing Their Job?
July 14, 2003... Byline: John D. Tuerck Selecting a judge, say most lawyers, is just another part of serving their clients. Indeed, lawyers say they have a duty to find the most favorable setting for their clients. Judges, however, bristle at the...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: July 14, 2003.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Negligence - Auto Accident - Discovery - Loss Activity Report Where plaintiff, shortly after her car wreck with defendant, received a letter from defendant's insurance carrier...

Richmond firms combine to promote historic region.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Matthew Philips In an unprecedented display of support for the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, 13 Richmond-area law firms have united to help promote the Historic Richmond Region's "Easy to Love" branding campaign. ...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: July 14, 2003.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Sanctions Under Rule 11 - Safe Harbor Provision Where defendant's motion for sanctions under Rule 11 was made after the case had terminated, service of the motion and its filing were...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 14, 2003.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Felon In Possession - Plastic Flare Launcher A defendant was properly convicted of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, in violation of Va. Code Sect. 18.2-308.2, for his...

Verdicts & Settlements July 14, 2003: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Suffered In Head-On Collision.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Matthew Philips A driver badly injured when a tractor-trailer jacknifed into his lane of travel has mediated his claim for a settlement of $1.8 million. The man suffered significant orthopedic injuries, including mild traumatic...

Verdicts & Settlements July 14, 2003: Insurance Company Denies Disability Benefits.
July 14, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Insurance Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was a public relations executive for a national advertising agency supervising 20 employees in the public relations group and...

Roanoke Lawyers Lend Hand To Promote Reading.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Matthew Philips Teaching children the importance and fundamentals of reading can be a challenging, if not daunting, task, even for the most seasoned of instructors. But like many other undertakings in life, it often helps to...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Exemption - Med- Mal Claim - Ch. 7 A debtor who complains about the disposition of a med-mal claim that he included on his bankruptcy schedule in his closed chapter 7 case is not...

Verdicts & Settlements July 21, 2003: Loss Of Right Kidney Following Surgery To Remove Cyst.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Medical Malpractice Other Useful Information --The plaintiff, 46, traveled from Emporia to Washington D.C. to undergo a gynecological operation to remove a large cyst that had...

Verdicts & Settlements July 21, 2003: Side Impact When Auto Driving Wrong Way Hits Plaintiff.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action - Negligence Other Useful Information - The 24-year-old plaintiff was driving a 1985 Dodge SUV home from her job as a waitress when she was struck from the left by an 18-year-old...

Verdicts & Settlements July 21, 2003: Passenger Suffers Back Injury When SUV Rear-Ended.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action - Negligence Other Useful Information - The 42-year-old plaintiff was a passenger in a stopped 1985 Dodge SUV when struck in the rear by the defendant. Neither driver was hurt, but...

Commentary: Speaking of Robert E. Lee...
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Likewise, in June we ran a story about a historic Washington & Lee law diploma making its way back to Lexington after more than 130 years. That piece reminded the author of the folly of relying on...

Supreme Court Of Virginia Has Changed The Rules On Comp Liens.
July 21, 2003... Byline: John D. Tuerck A new case from the Supreme Court of Virginia on a workers' compensation carrier's ability to enforce its comp lien in a personal injury case has created a potential trap for the unwary. Under the ruling, say...

Tenant Can Be Sued For Building Code Breach, Rules Roanoke Circuit Judge.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Deborah Elkins A massage therapy student who was injured when she fell down a staircase can sue the massage school that occupied the premises for alleged Building Code violations, a Roanoke Circuit judge has ruled in a case of...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Immigration - Removal - Domestic Assault A lawful permanent resident alien who emigrated from Afghanistan to the U.S. as a 10-year-old in 1985, whose entire immediate family...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Rape Shield Law - Ex Post Facto Where a man's daughter testified about his sexual molestation of her in 1969, when she was six years old, the trial court could apply the rape shield...

Yes, Grasshopper, All Becomes Clear...
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Sometimes certain things fall into place and become clear. Like when you get two and a little later you get two than another two and yet another two, and all the sudden you realize you can put them...

Virginia Lawyers In The News: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP has announced three new partners in its Tysons Corner office: Lewis I. Askew, Jr., Joseph S. Guarino, and Jeffrey J. Renzulli. Askew focuses his practice upon...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Habeas Corpus - Capital Case - Mental Retardation - Competency Although a death-row defendant contends in this authorized successive petition for a writ of habeas corpus that his...

Fairfax Judge Adopts Third Way To Handle Discovery Spats.
July 21, 2003... Byline: John D. Tuerck In disputes over discovery of insurance company accident reports in car-crash cases, judges across Virginia generally have adopted one of two ways to resolve the conflict between the work-product doctrine and a...

Promise Of Confidentiality By Reporter Is Not A Contract, Rules Roanoke Judge.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Dawn Chase A newspaper reporter's promise of confidentiality does not give rise to an enforceable contract, a Roanoke judge has ruled in a case of first impression. The question arose in a lawsuit against the publisher of The...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Licensing Dispute - Medical Diagnostics - Royalty Payments In this litigation over a licensing agreement for blood-testing technology, the 4th Circuit reverses the judgment of the...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: July 21, 2003.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Negligence Sovereign Immunity - Auto Accident - Cancelled Dispatch Call A Richmond Circuit judge holds that where a police officer in a cruiser was dispatched to a call about a child locked in...

Verdicts & Settlements July 21, 2003: Truck Passenger Injured When Auto Fails To Stop At Red Light.
July 21, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action - Negligence Other useful Information - The plaintiff was a passenger in a pickup truck operated by her sister, Rosemary Boothe. A collision occurred between Boothe's automobile and...

Settlement Reached For Wreck That Killed Three.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Dawn Chase The estates of three people who were killed when a drunken truck driver with a history of DUI slammed into the car in which they were traveling have settled for $3 million. In pursuing the claims, lawyers...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: July 28, 2003.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Disqualification - Conflict Of Interest Even though the defense law firm in this case represented the plaintiff in 1992 when plaintiff made an asset purchase and incorporated, and...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Vehicle Rolls Over After Tire Tread Separates.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Products Liability Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was operating her SUV at highway speeds when the left rear tire tread separated and sent the vehicle into an...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Bowel Damage Results From Laparoscopic Surgery.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Medical malpractice Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff had laparoscopic surgery at the Naval hospital for chronic lower abdominal pain. During surgery, the surgeons could...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Liability Contested In Suit Over Accident Leading To Injury.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, a retired 61-year-old woman, was injured in a September 2000 motor vehicle crash on Interstate 64 in York County involving...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Deputy Sheriff Rear-Ended By Truck.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was within the scope of his employment as a deputy sheriff in Virginia Beach when he was rear-ended by the Virginia Natural...

Federal Judge In Charlottesville Dismisses P.I. Suit, Cites Warning On Ski Lift Ticket.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Dawn Chase A snowboarder whose ear was torn off when he hit a fence at a ski resort has had his personal injury claim dismissed by a federal judge in Charlottesville. The judge cited two reasons for his ruling: The fence was an...

Insurer's Refusal To Pay Interest Was Bad Faith, Rules Hopewell General District Judge.
July 28, 2003... Byline: John D. Tuerck An insurance company that waited three weeks to pay its portion of a judgment acted in bad faith for refusing to pay about $900 in interest that accrued during that time period, a Hopewell General District judge has...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: $1.9M Settlement In Suit Over Intersection Collision.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, a 54-year-old housewife, was stopped at a red light on her way home. After the light turned green, she proceeded into the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Elderly Patient Falls During Hospital Transfer.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Medical Malpractice Other Useful Information -- The 82-year-old plaintiff had undergone complete blood transfusions six to eight times each year for the previous four years at...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Motorcyclist With Right Of Way Struck By Defendant's Car.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, a 38-year-old male, was injured while attempting to drive his motorcycle through an intersection in Fairfax County. As the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Ankle Fractured In Motor Vehicle Accident.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- On Sept. 21, 1999, the plaintiff was driving her vehicle on Route 360 when she was struck by the defendant, who was attempting to make a...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Object Propelled Into Throat While Using Outdoor Equipment.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Products liability Other Useful Information -- A 49-year-old physician purchased gasoline-powered outdoor equipment from a home improvement store. Within minutes after using the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Patient Dies After Infection Progresses.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Medical malpractice Other Useful Information -- The decedent, a 46-year-old male with lupus polymyositis overlap syndrome with cutaneous disease, went to his rheumatologist with...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Man Falls Down Stairs In Apartment Building.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, a 45-year-old man, fell down a staircase in his apartment, suffering a cervical and wrist fractures. Before the fall, the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Railroad Engineer Injured Mounting Train.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, 47, was a Norfolk Southern engineer mounting a Norfolk Southern locomotive when one of the vertical hand holds suddenly broke...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Employer Sued Over Fatal Drunk-Driving Collision.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- Gracie Cash, 73; her "daughter" (raised by Gracie from 11 months old but never adopted), Tina Robin Comer, 36; and Tina Comer's son, Jeffrey...

Virginia Legal Obituary: Duncan Byrd Jr.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bath County Chief Circuit Judge Duncan Byrd Jr., who served on the bench for 32 years, was killed in a traffic accident on U.S. 220 in Bath County on July 16. He was 60. The judge's vehicle ran off...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: July 28, 2003.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Collateral Estoppel - Contribution - Polio Vaccine Where a university that paid a $16 million Missouri state-court judgment to the family of a boy paralyzed after receiving the...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: July 28, 2003.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Sanctions Under Rule 11 - Securities Litigation Where plaintiffs' pleadings in this securities fraud litigation had bases in fact and advanced nonfrivolous legal arguments, were the...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: July 28, 2003.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic Stay - Ch. 13 - String Quartet Where a Pennsylvania state court awarded one member of a string quartet formerly in residence at Virginia Tech a $611,119 judgment against...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Elderly Driver Killed In Violent Crash.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The decedent was operating her vehicle when the defendant pulled out in front of her, causing a violent impact. The decedent died on the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Plaintiff Falls Down Steps In Disrepair.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Premises liability Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff fell down steps that were in disrepair and suffered a severely sprained ankle, which ultimately required surgery to...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Suit Claims Failure To Treat Acute Pancreatitis.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Medical malpractice Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff's decedent was a 44-year-old, self-employed CPA. The alleged malpractice was the defendant's failure to properly...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Plaintiff Thrown From Pony During Ride At Fair.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Tort / Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff alleged negligence in the operation of a pony ride at a fair organized by the defendant, Countryside Day Care, and held...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Tractor-Trailer Veers Into Oncoming Traffic.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was struck by a tractor-trailer that had crossed into his lane of travel. The defendant driver alleged that an unknown...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Member Of Road Crew Hit By Tractor.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was struck by a 1989 Kenworth tractor while working with a road construction crew along I-95. The driver of the truck swerved...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Political Assassination - Resistance To Iranian Regime.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Tort / Negligence Other Useful Information -- In 1998, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California entered judgment in favor of the Ministry of Defense and...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Political Assassination - Former Iranian Prime Minister.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Tort / Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, a United States national, brought an action against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iran Ministry of Information...

Adequacy Of Notice Of Breach Is A Jury Question, Rules Chesterfield Circuit Judge.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Paul Fletcher A jury should decide whether notice of a claim for breach of warranty to the manufacturer of a leaky dishwasher was adequate, a Chesterfield Circuit judge has ruled. Although the manufacturer argued that it was...

Virginia Legal Obituary: E. Gerald Tremblay.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Former Charlottesville Circuit Judge E. Gerald Tremblay died June 26. He was 80. A New England native, he served for eight years in the 16th Circuit in the 1980s. After serving in the Marines...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 28, 2003.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Child Abuse Finding - Domestic Violence Calls At defendant's trial seeking to overturn a finding that her 21-month-old child had been abused or neglected and should be placed in...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Benefits Denied After Slip & Fall At Hotel.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff, a 54-year-old environmental scientist, was injured in 1999 in a slip-and-fall accident at an Embassy Suites Hotel in New...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Suffered In Auto Accident.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was traveling south, approaching an intersection with a green light. Moments earlier, the defendant had entered the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Passenger In Pick-Up Truck Suffers Brain Injury.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- On March 13, 2001 the plaintiff was a passenger in a 1988 Ford pickup truck driven by her sister, Carolyn Purvis. The vehicle was traveling...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Vehicle Falls From Roof Of Parking Garage.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Negligence Other Useful Information -- The plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle operated by a friend when she attempted to park on the top level of a parking garage at the...

Verdicts & Settlements July 28, 2003: Defense Counsel Refuses To Pay Interest.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action -- Insurance Other Useful Information -- This cause of action was filed at the request of defense counsel in the underlying litigation. Defense counsel wrote a letter to the...