On June 22, 2015, Federal Court denied Defendant medical center’s motion for summary judgment, which asserted Co-Defendant doctor was an independent contractor (versus its employee), thereby precluding vicarious liability. Id. at 1. The medical malpractice lawsuit is Bagheri v. Bailey, No. 1:14CV00077 in United States...
On July 2, 2015, Defendant, Riverside Hospital, Inc. provided as ordered its 2012 “imaging results reporting communication pilot” materials in response to Plaintiff’s discovery – despite one responsive memoranda being marked self-servingly “Confidential documents for Quality of Care Purposes under VA Code Ann. §8.01-581.17”. The...
On July 2, 2015, Mr. Waterman filed Davis v. Virginia Health Services, Inc., et al., No. CL1502056B-04 in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. That medical malpractice suit seeks $4,350,000.00 in damages from a corporation headquartered in Newport News for alleged wrongful...
On June 30, 2015, Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia, granted Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel in the medical malpractice lawsuit of Newsome v. Ressler, No. CL14-3514T-01. The alleged surgery victim sought Risk Management and other incident materials that Defendant, Riverside Hospital, Inc.,...
Trial, the monthly magazine for the American Association of Justice (“AAJ”), reports “Verdicts & Settlements”. Its June, 2015 issue marquees two auto accident settlements. “Truck Fails to Yield to Pedestrian” is a $3,000,000.00 settlement in New York. Id. at 8. “Motorist Strikes Lift Basket” is a...
Trial is the monthly journal of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for June, 2015, covers “PSYCHOLOGY AND THE LAW”. A featured article is “FRAME Your Cases to Presuade Jurors”. Id. at 14-18. Yet June 2015 Trial’s center...
On June 4, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court issued Schaecher v. Bouffault, No. 141480, affirming a Clarke County dismissal with prejudice of Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint. On the same day, the Virginia Supreme Court hailed Schaecher as providing “a thorough discussion of the elements of defamation...
On June 4, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court hand down Pendleton v. Newsome, No. 141116. It held that the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond error in sustaining a Demurrer to a Complaint for defamation (that a parent supposedly was responsible for the death...
The Virginia Supreme of Virginia decided companion cases of defamation and malicious prosecution on June 4, 2015, in Egan v. Butler, No. 141365, and Abilene Motor Express Co. v. Butler, No. 141372. Id. at 1. A jury awarded plaintiff $50,000.00 compensatory damages against both Defendants,...
On June 10, 2015, Norfolk Circuit Court entered 4/15/15 & 6/2/15 Order in Mr. Waterman’s alleged wrongful death case, Talton v. Sentara Hosps., et al., No. CL15000313-00. The Judge granted Patient’s Motion to Enforce Va. Code §8.01-413(C) Subpoena Duces Tecum and Patient’s Motion for Entry...
On June 4, 2015, in Cosby v. Clein, No. 141096, the Virginia Supreme Court by Order reinstated and entered final judgment on a Spotsylvania jury verdict in a two-car crash lawsuit for personal injuries. Id. at 6. “Where an impartial jury properly instructed has determined...
In Cain v. Lee, No. 141105, on June 4, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court reversed and remanded for retrial three personal injury lawsuits arising out of the same two-car collision in Stafford County, which had been consolidated for jury trial. Id. at 1-2, 11. Each...
On April 16, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court handed down Fitzgerald v. Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, No. 141238. It interpreted the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), Va. Code §2.2-3700, et seq., re a third-party request for a suicide note in a criminal investigative file...
On April 16, 2015, the Supreme Court of Virginia opined in Sauder v. Ferguson, No. 140805. It affirmed denial of plaintiff’s motion to set aside default judgment for $300,000.00 in a two-auto collision lawsuit. Id. at 1, 18. Sauder found that under Va. Code §8.01-428(A) the...
Trial is the monthly journal of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for May, 2015, covers “MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE”. May 2015 Trial features 5 articles on medical malpractice: “Putting a Lid on Defense Experts,” id. at 14-19; “BIRTH INJURY...
On April 16, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court announced Yelp, Inc. v. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, Inc., No. 140242. It held the a circuit court was “not enpowered to enforce the subpoena duces tecum” against the non-resident non-party, despite it being registered to do business and...
On May 19, 2015, Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel was heard in Mr. Waterman’s medical malpractice lawsuit in North v. Mary Immaculate Hosp., Inc., No. CL1202507T-01(F-15) in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. North alleges that Plaintiff’s deceased patient suffered wrongful death as...
On May 19, 2015, Mr. Waterman lectured at the 2015 Annual Evidence Seminar of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (“VTLA”) in Springfield, Virginia. His topic was “Incident, Educational & Policy Materials: Use and Admissibility”. In the past year alone, Mr. Waterman has obtained numerous Orders for...
On April 16, 2015, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. v. Cantrell, No. 140748, consolidated with Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. v. Cantrell, No. 140749. It applied Virginia’s nonsuit statute, Va. Code §8.01-380, reversing and remanding. Id. at 4. Cantrell found...
The Trial Lawyer is the quarterly publication of The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Its issue for Winter 2015 features two articles on vehicle litigation: “USING CELL PHONE RECORDS TO TRACK A TRUCK’S ROUTE AND TIMELINE,” id. at 12-13; and “POST-SALE NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS...
On April 10, 2014, by filing a 55-page Complaint, the United States Department of Justice intervened and consolidated 3 qui tam (“whistle-blower”) False Claims Act lawsuits in Virginia , alleging multi-million dollar Medicare and Medicaid fraud against HCR ManorCare, Inc. The lawsuit is United States...
Effective May 1, 2015, new Rule 5:8 of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct provides procedures for client notification and retention in cases of lawyers leaving law firms and of law firms dissolving. There is no equivalent American Bar Association Rule. Generally speaking, a departing lawyer...
On May 4, 2015, Virginia Lawyers Weekly headlined “Judges open new doors for patients in hospital lawsuits,” subtitled “Newport News judges have been giving patients new access to hospital data – both medical and business records – in connection with their medical malpractice lawsuits”. The...
On April 28, 2015, Mr. Waterman was speaker at the 2015 Long-Term Care Seminar of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (“VTLA”) in Richmond, Virginia, entitled “Innovative Strategies for Nursing Home Litigation”. His presentation was “Policies, Procedures, Protocols, et al.: Discoverability AND Admissibility!”. Currently, Mr. Waterman has...
On April 29, 2015, Plaintiff’s Third Motion to Compel and Plaintiff’s Fourth Motion to Compel against Defendants, Riverside Healthcare Association, Inc., Riverside Hospital, Inc., and Riverside Physician Services, Inc. (collectively “Riverside”), were heard in Mr. Waterman’s alleged wrongful death lawsuit, Rauchfuss v. Schultz, et al.,...
On April 21, 2015, Newport News Circuit Court decided 7 matters in Peck v. Riverside Hospital, Inc., et al., No. CL1400873V-04, another hospital in-patient fall case. Defendants, Riverside Hospital, Inc. and Nurse Sunny Freeman, already had filed Stipulations that they had breached the applicable standard...
On April 22, 2015, Portsmouth Circuit Court ruled in Mr. Waterman’s favor that patients under Va. Code §8.01-413 and Va. Code §8.01-581.17 (2011 as amended) are entitled to the factual information in otherwise “protected” committee materials, need not prove “extraordinary circumstances” for the same, and...
On April 16, 2015, Norfolk Circuit Court granted Mr. Waterman’s Motion to Enforce Va. Code §8.01-413(C) Subpoena Duces Tecum and denied Defendant Sentara’s Motion to Quash in the patient fall case of Talton v. Sentara Hospital, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, et al., No. 15-313-00. In...
On April 16, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court issued Wagoner v. Commonwealth, No. 140890. This criminal appeal opinion addresses “loss of substantial possibility of survival” in medical malpractice cases of wrongful death. Id. at 7-8, 11-14, and 18. Wagoner affirmed a split Virginia Court of Appeals,...
On April 13, 2015, Newport News Circuit Court heard Defendant Riverside’s Motion for Sanctions and Motion for Entry of Order re Electronic Medical Records (“EMR”) in Mr. Waterman’s patient fall lawsuit, Peck v. Riverside Hospital, Inc., Riverside Healthcare Association, Inc., Sunny Freeman, R.N., Connie Kim,...