By Order entered on January 27, 2017, Fairfax Circuit Court denied Defendants’ Motion for Bill of Particulars in the wrongful death case of Ford v. Mohindra, No. CL–2016-12140. The Court ruled pursuant to Va. S. Ct. Rule 3:18(b) that the medical malpractice Complaint’s general allegation...
Best Lawyers BUSINESS EDITION for Winter 2016 includes a Special Section for MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAW. Therein Mr. Waterman is listed as 1 of only 37 lawyers recognized for “MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAW – PLAINTIFFS” for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Id. at 52. Mr. Waterman has been...
By opinion letter on January 18, 2017, Alexandria Circuit Court rejected the old “same evidence” test and applied the current successor “same transaction or occurrence” test to the enhanced medical malpractice Complaint refiled by Plaintiff after nonsuit in Panth v. Ashouripour, No. CL16002520. The new...
At hearing on January 25, 2017, Norfolk Circuit Court denied Defendant’s Motion to Reduce Ad Damnum in the wrongful death case of Wilder v. Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, No. CL16-8482. Plaintiff has prayed for a $20,000,000.00 jury award for alleged medical malpractice causing...
By ruling made and Order entered on January 6, 2017, Fairfax Circuit Court overruled the Demurrer of Defendants, hospital and vascular surgeon chief, to Plaintiff’s allegations of battery, fraud, and conspiracy in Yeatts v. INOVA Health Care Servs. and Dipankar Mukherjee, No. 2016-05070. Defendants unsuccessfully...
By Order entered on January 17, 2017, in the medical malpractice case of Locasio v. Raley, No. 2013-1356, Stafford County Circuit Court denied Defendants’ Motion to Strike New Allegations Raised in Plaintiff’s Designation of Expert Witness and Motion in Limine. Despite the specific opinions of...
By Order entered December 13, 2016, in the wrongful death case of Williams v. Boyle and University of Virginia Physicians Group, No. CL15-406, Charlottesville Circuit Court granted Plaintiff’s broad-reaching multi-faceted Motion to Compel. Following the Orders in Mr. Waterman’s Rauchfuss v. Schultz medical malpractice case...
Unpublished, the medical malpractice Order of the Virginia Supreme Court in Kraina v. Carman, Record No. 071718 (Jul. 18, 2008) has been under the legal radar. Yet it is a very important response to aggressive defense pleading. Kraina reverses and remanded Norfolk Circuit Court’s grant of...
On January 6, 2017, Fairfax Circuit Court denied in material part the Motion to Quash filed by third-party healthcare provider, Fairfax Surgical Center, L.P., in the medical malpractice case of Rico v. Otolaryngology Assocs., P.C., No. CL15-11602. It upheld Plaintiff’s discovery Subpoena Duces Tecum for...
On December 6, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the professional liability portion of the hospital’s insurance policy covered a staffing agency nurse for medical malpractice at the hospital, despite the general liability portion of the policy excluding...
In Hall v. Lassiter, No.3:16-cv-00061 (W.D. Va. Nov. 23, 2016), United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia sitting in diversity in Charlottesville, Virginia construed Va. Code §38.2-2206(G) expansively in favor of vehicle accident victims. Specifically, the Federal Court in Hall held that...
By Order entered November 29, 2016, Norfolk Circuit Court granted Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel against Sentara for its Surgical Informed Consent Policies and Procedures in the medical malpractice lawsuit, Copeland v. EVMS Academic Physicians and Surgeons Health Services Foundation d/b/a EVMS Medical Group, et al.,...
Trial is the monthly journal of American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue cover for December, 2016, is emblazoned “PREMISES LIABILITY”. There are 4 lead articles: “CHARTING YOUR LIABILITY COURSE,” about cruise ship slip-and-falls, id. at 20-25; “7 Factors...
In November, 2016, the National Academy of Jurisprudence (“NAJ”), formerly the American Academy of Trial Attorneys (“AATA”), recognized Mr. Waterman as one of the “Premiere 100” trial attorneys in Virginia. ...
On December 2, 2016, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) published its newly-adopted formal “Litigation Guidance and Recommended Best Practices for Protective Orders and Settlement Agreements in Private Civil Litigation”. See, 81 Fed. Reg. 87023. Decrying that corporate secrecy is harming consumers, the...
On November 16, 2016, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an unpublished per curiam opinion in Morris v. Bland, No. 15-1115, which affirmed a jury verdict for Plaintiff for $2,950,000.00 for survival and wrongful death claims, $500,000.00 in compensatory damages and...
On December 6, 2016, a unanimous United States Supreme Court issued State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. United States, No. 15-513. It held that violation of court seal requirement by plaintiff relator in a case under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) does not mandate...
On November 16, 2016, Mr. Waterman’s pupilage group in the I’Anson-Hoffman American Inn of Court XXVII presented for CLE in Norfolk “Professionalism & Sanctions”. It covered inherent and constitutional authority (plenary power sanctions), Va. Code §18.2-456 (summary contempt power sanctions), Va. Code §8.01-271.1 (certification/representation sanctions),...
In Adrian V. Sutton, Executor of the Estate of Helena Sutton, Deceased v. Patrick Henry Hospital. Inc., et al., No. CL14-3553B-04 in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia, a patient wrongful death medical malpractice case, Mr. Waterman represents the Plaintiff resident estate...
On October 25, 2016, by unpublished per curiam opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the $2,500,000.00 jury award in the wrongful death appeal of Bilenky v. Ryobi Techs, Inc., No. 15-1753, *3,13 (4th Cir. Nov. 23, 2016). Specifically, the...
On November 21, 2016, Arlington Circuit Court rejected Defendant’s claim of statutory privilege and found hospital policies and procedures to be discoverable in Rivera v. Virginia Hosp. Ctr. Arlington Health Sys. d/b/a Virginia Hosp. Ctr., No. CL16000142-00. “It is commonly understood when analyzing a statute...
Trial is the monthly journal of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for November, 2016 is entitled “PRODUCTS LIABILITY”. Under its “Verdicts & SETTLEMENTS,” Trial headlines: “Takata, Honda settle lawsuit over deadly air bag defect”. Id. at...
On October 27, 2016, a unanimous Virginia Supreme Court held that Tazewell County Circuit Court abused its discretion by excluding the testimony of two of defendant’s rape victims as trial witnesses under Virginia’s Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act (“SVPA”), Va. Code §37.2-900, et...
On October 27, 2016, a split Virginia Supreme Court affirmed grant of summary judgment by Richmond Circuit Court on allegations of gross negligence in the wrongful death suit of Elliot v. Carter, No. 160224. The majority of five concluded: “although [defendant’s] effort may have been...
On November 7, 2016, a federal court granted preliminary injunction against the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) enforcing its new regulation that effectively bars “nursing homes receiving federal funds from entering into new pre-dispute arbitration agreements with their residents, effective November 28, 2016.”...
Mr. Waterman is representing the Plaintiff patient against the Defendant nursing facility in the patient fall wrongful death medical malpractice case of William M. Snovell, Executor of the Estate of Bernadette Teresa Connelly Snovell, v. Williamsburg Facility Operations, LLC d/b/a Consulate Healthcare of Williamsburg, et...
On October 19, 2016, Portsmouth Circuit Court rejected an arbitration clause in a medical malpractice case against a nursing facility, Foster/Bults v. GGNSC Portsmouth, LLC t/a Golden Living Center – Portsmouth, No. CL16 – 1067. Its “first impression” letter opinion found that the arbitration agreement...
Plaintiff patient estate is represented by Mr. Waterman against the Defendant nursing home in the patient fall wrongful death medical malpractice case of Hubbard A. Davis, Executor of the Estate of James Clifton Davis, Jr., Deceased, v. Virginia Health Services, Inc. d/b/a Lancashire Convalescent Center,...
During November 4-5, 2016, Mr. Waterman attended the “Mastering the Medicine: Birth Trauma & Medical Negligence Seminar” of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”) in Atlanta, Georgia. It was co-presented by AAJ’s Birth Trauma Litigation Group and its Medical...
Mr. Waterman’s law firm has been selected for the 23rd Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Patten Wornom Hatten & Diamonstein again was one of the few law firms to receive a Tier I ranking for 2017 in “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News...