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,...
Mr. Waterman again was named to “Virginia Super Lawyers” for 2015. This legal recognition is the 7th consecutive time since 2009 that Mr. Waterman has been honored as such. Mr. Waterman is 1 of just 30 lawyers selected in the entire state for “PERSONAL INJURY PLAINTIFF:...
Trial is the monthly journal of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”) formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for April, 2015, covers “BUSINESS TORTS,” and features 5 articles: “Halliburton II: A Net Positive for Plaintiff Investors,” id. at 16-21; “SECURING DATA-BREACH CLAIMS,” id....
On March 31, 2015, Federal sentencing of doctors in New Jersey continued re the long-running health care fraud scheme involving Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services (“BLS”). So far, “37 people – 24 of them physicians – have pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme, which its...
Washington Lawyer is the official magazine of the District of Columbia (“DC”) Bar. Its issue for April, 2015, is entitled – and features the lead article entitled – “INFECTIOUS DISEASE OUTBREAK RESPONSE”. Id. at Cover and 20-27. “[D]espite knowing that Ebola would likely find its way...
During March 26-29, 2015, Mr. Waterman attended the Annual Convention of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (“VTLA”) at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Entitled “Courage to Fight Injustice,” its continuing legal education offerings featured Virginia Supreme Court Justices, Federal Judges, and trial...
Trial is the monthly journal of the American Association of Justice (“AAJ”), formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for March, 2015, is entitled “FORTIFY your practice”. March 2015 Trial reports 8 cases in its “Verdicts & Settlements”. Id. at 8-14. “Negligent Truck Maintenance...
On February 25, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court heard oral argument in Wagoner v. Commonwealth, No. 140890, a criminal conviction for wrongful death of an incapacitated group home resident in Circuit Court for Martinsville, Virginia. It marquees a split panel decision of the Court of...
On March 18, 2015, Mr. Waterman’s Amended Motion for Reconsideration for Plaintiff was heard in the medical malpractice case of William M. Snovell, Executor of the Estate of Bernadette Teresa Connelly Snovell, Deceased v. Williamsburg Facility Operations, LLC, D/B/A Consulate Health Care of Williamsburg, No....
On March 16, 2015, Virginia Lawyers Weekly headlined on its front page “New decision splits courts on privilege”. Id. at 1. The medical malpractice article marquees local disparate state court rulings under the 2005 federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (“PSQIA”). Id. at 1,...
On February 26, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court opined in EE Mart F.C., L.L.C. v. Delyon, No. 140708. It held that “under Code §8.01-271.1, a trial court may only award attorney’s fees incurred because of a filing or motion made to the trial court in...
On February 26, 2014, the Virginia Supreme Court issued Shevlin Smith v. Laughlin, No. 140500. Its 39-page opinion settled several issues in this special case of alleged legal malpractice in Fairfax Circuit Court, Virginia. First, while declining to adopt attorney “judgmental immunity” as a “rule,” Shevlin...
On February 26, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court handed down Brown v. Jacobs, No. 140270. It upheld the dismissal with prejudice without leave to amend of a wrongful death claim against a lawyer by a legal process server’s widow in Rockingham Circuit Court. Id. at...
On March 4, 2015, Mr. Waterman settled with Safeco Insurance a 3-vehicle collision that occurred on Francis Street in Williamsburg, Virginia. A Williamsburg pick-up truck driver, who was cited for following too closely, rear-ended a Barhamsville driver’s pick-up truck, knocking it into the victim Williamsburg...
On February 23, 2015, the United States Supreme Court denied writ of certiorari in Wurtz v. The Rawlings Co., LLC, 761 F.3d 232 (2d Cir. 2014), cert. den. No. 14-____ (Feb. 23, 2015). Significantly, that denial upheld the opinion by the Second Circuit Court of...
A healthcare provider’s violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (“HIPAA”) may import medical malpractice liability to its patient. Significantly, a healthcare provider’s HIPAA violation increasingly may import administrative financial liability to the Federal government – and even criminal liability –...
On February 25, 2015, Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Discovery against All Defendants was heard in Mr. Waterman’s medical malpractice case for alleged wrongful death, Joanne T. Rauchfuss, Administratrix of the Estate of George William Rauchfuss, Jr., Deceased v. Roger E. Schultz, M.D., Hampton Roads Urology,...
The Virginia Supreme Court’s refusal to grant Defendant’s Petition for Appeal in the $6,500,000.00 patient fall case of Med. Facilities of America XLVIII v. Crouse, Order, No. 130838 (Oct. 2, 2013) reh. denied (Jan. 21, 2014) is noteworthy. The underlying Circuit Court nursing home case...
This week Plaintiff lawyers in Federal Court reached $2,990,000.00 personal injury settlement with the City of Richmond, Virginia, for its role in failing to maintain the Richmond City Jail within constitutional standards. This 42 U.S.C. §1983 civil rights case before Judge Payne is Woodson v....
By Unpublished Order on January 30, 2015, the Virginia Supreme Court in Landini v. Bil-Jax, Inc., affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a personal injury lawsuit by the Circuit Court for Powhatan County, Virginia. It held that the suit was time-barred because Plaintiff failed to...
On February 10, 2014, a 3-Justice Writ Panel of the Virginia Supreme Court heard oral argument on Petitions for cross-appeal in Shoukas v. Rizk, No. 141335, and Rizk v. Shoukas, No. 141338. The underlying medical malpractice suit for wrongful death in Circuit Court resulted in...