On October 1, 2013, Judge Fulton issued a 3-page letter opinion in Benson v. Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital, No. CL12-4293 in Norfolk Circuit Court. It is a “first impression” decision applying the expert certification amendment of Va. Code Ann §8.01-50.1 in a wrongful death case.
Benson denied the medical malpractice Defendants’ Motion for In Camera Review, finding they “failed to show good cause” as required by the statute. The Court rejected defense claims that “vague and aggregate allegations of negligence” and/or that it is “extremely unlikely that several expert witnesses provided written opinions of each defendant” supposedly constitute the requisite “good cause shown”.
