On July 10, 2012, Circuit Court for Gloucester County, Virginia, scheduled the brain injury case of Gagnon v. Burns, No. CL08-572, for Initial Pre-Trial Conference. Per the mandate of the Virginia Supreme Court, retrial before a jury for sovereign immunity on the issue of gross negligence will be...
The July 2012 issue of Trial reports a favorable verdict entitled “CLERGY NEGLIGENCE: Archdiocese Fails to Protect Student from Abusive Priest”. The jury awarded $1,000,000.00 for the sexual abuse victim’s “post-traumatic stress, depression, and other psychological problems”. Id. at 10. Over a 2-year period, a Roman Catholic priest allegedly molested...
On July 6, 2012, Mr. Waterman appeared in Circuit Court for Gloucester County, Virginia, on Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Defendant. Over defense Objection, the Judge ordered that Defendant’s insurer had to produce any contemporaneous witness statements taken for the auto accident underlying Lyles v. Calloway, No. CL10000070-00....
On June 7, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court in Napper v. ABM Janitorial Servs. - Mid Atlantic, Inc., No. 111300 (Va. Jun. 7, 2012), held that an Arlington County tenant’s employee was entitled to maintain a personal injury suit against the building janitors for slipping and...
On June 7, 2012, in Mansfield v. Bernabei, No. 111314 (Va. Jun. 7, 2012), the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of absolute judicial privilege vis-à-vis “communications made before the filing of an action”. Id. at 1. That Fairfax County special case rejected a retaliatory personal injury suit for pre-filing...
On June 7, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court held in the 4-3 split decision of Cline v. Dunlora South, LLC, No. 110650 (Va. Jun. 7, 2012) that a landowner was not responsible for an auto accident caused by a tree on private land falling on a public highway...
On April 20, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court split 4-3 in a case of first impression, recognizing as a civil cause of action “tortious interference with parental or custodial rights”. That special case, Wyatt v. McDermott, 283 Va. 685 (2012), was “upon questions of law certified by...
Mr. Waterman again was selected for inclusion in “Virginia Super Lawyers” for 2012. This legal recognition marks the fourth time consecutively since 2009 that Mr. Waterman has been so honored. Legal recognition in “Virginia’s Super Lawyer’s” is limited to no more than 5% of lawyers practicing in Virginia. Mr....
Washington Lawyer is the official monthly publication of the District of Columbia Bar. Mr. Waterman has been an active member in good standing of the D.C. Bar from 1995 to present. The cover story in its June 2012 issue is “Beyond the Penn State Scandal: Child Abuse...
On June 7, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court issued a wrongful death opinion arising from a vehicle fire in Albemarle County, Funkhouser v. Ford Motor Co., No. 111207. By 4-3 decision, it found admissible prior vehicle fires and expert testimony thereon. Re the admissibility of 4 prior similar occurrences,...
Mr. Waterman again was selected for inclusion in “Virginia Super Lawyers” for 2012. This legal recognition marks the fourth time consecutively since 2009 that Mr. Waterman has been so honored. Legal recognition in “Virginia’s Super Lawyer’s” is limited to no more than 5% of lawyers practicing in Virginia. Mr....
On June 15, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court in Richmond denied the Petitions for Rehearing of Travis Burns as Appellant and of Gregory Gagnon as Appellant/Cross-Appellant in the crime victim appeal of Burns v. Gagnon, No. 110754 c/w Gagnon v. Burns, No. 110767. That maintains the Court’s opinion handed...
On April 20, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court issued its opinion in Arnold v. Wallace, 283 Va. 709 (2012), a Fairfax County auto accident case. Appeal focused on admission of Plaintiff’s patient’s medical records and of Defendant’s medical expert testimony. Arnold found that the auto collision Defendant satisfied the “business record” exception...
The Safety Report Spring 2012 issue covers “SEXUAL HARASSMENT: STILL A PROBLEM IN THE WORKPLACE”. A form of sexual abuse, it is reported by a recent AOL Jobs Survey that “one in six persons has been sexually harassed in the workplace” and that of those victims “43...
The final article in The Safety Report’s Spring 2012 issue is “A Story of Disfigurement and Deception”. It recounted a Colorado medical malpractice case in which a young woman was misdiagnosed with breast cancer by pathologists, recommended to undergo immediate removal of both breasts by her surgeon, and post-removal...
An article in the Spring 2012 issue of The Safety Report is “GET INVOLVED… STOP NURSING HOME ABUSE”. It observes that “while nursing homes are supposed to offer a safe haven for our elderly, all too often these homes offer a bastion for abuse.” Id. at 16. “Based on the best estimates...
A feature article in Trial magazine’s May 2012 issue focusing on medical malpractice is “TAINTED Transplants”. Its subtitle is: “Patients may wait for years to be matched with a donor organ, but sometimes they contract diseases and infections from the organs that were intended to save their lives”. Id. at 28-29. The...
A leading article in the May 2012 issue of Trial magazine is “ROBOTS Holding the Scalpel”. Its subheading is: “As surgeons and hospitals turn to robotic surgery, these systems will become a factor in more medical malpractice cases. Although cases involving robotic surgery resemble other malpractice suits, there was...
Trial is the monthly magazine of American Association for Justice (www.justice.org), of which Mr. Waterman has been a member for decades, and which annually devotes an issue to medical malpractice. Its May 2012 cover marquees “MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE: Cut to the heart of health care cases”. The lead article...
The Court of Appeals of Virginia’s Opinion in Beshah v. Commonwealth, No. 2070-10-4 (Va. app. May 8, 2012) proves what Plaintiff medical malpractice lawyers have complained for decades: despite the criminality of it, healthcare providers in Virginia fabricate patient charts to cover their tracks! Beshah upheld the multiple forgery convictions...
On May 21, 2012, Mr. Waterman filed Petition for Rehearing of Appellee/Cross-Appellant in Burns v. Gagnon, No. 110754 in the Virginia Supreme Court, the $6,100,000.00 brain injury jury award on appeal from the Circuit Court of Gloucester County, Virginia. It alleges manifest errors of law vis-à-vis: (1) Burns...
The Spring 2012 issue of The Safety Report marquees vehicle accidents. Its cover story is “Distracted Driving: 1 Second Can Change Everything”. The article notes that distracted driving is responsible for almost 450,000 vehicle accidents, including more than 5,000 wrongful death (or 16% of all fatal crashes in 2009), annually –...
On April 20, 2012, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the non-suit rights of car crash victims. Specifically, Lewis v. McIlroy, No. 110485 (Va. Apr. 20, 2012) held that the tolling provision of Va. Code Ann. §8.01-229(E)(3) applied whether plaintiff refiled suit within 6 months after or before entry...
In May, 2012, Mr. Waterman obtained a $100,000.00 settlement for a Newport News car accident victim. Trustgard Insurance Company paid its liability policy limits of $50,000.00 and State Farm paid its underinsured motorist (UIM) policy limits of $50,000.00. The offending driver was cited for failure to yield, causing...
On May 8, 2012, Mr. Waterman implemented the Court-approved settlement of a minor’s car accident claim against the offending driver insured by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. Like his mother, the child was a guest passenger in the victim family automobile being driven by his father...
On December 29, 2009, young Jacob Fletcher Boarman-Spivey of Williamsburg, Virginia, rear-ended another vehicle which rear-ended yet another vehicle on South England Street. That multi-car collision injured Mr. Waterman’s client, who claims over $23,000.00 in medical expenses after the same. The offending motorist’s insurer, Safeco, has $100,000.00...
Virginia Business magazine recently published its “Virginia Business List of Leaders” for 2012. Mr. Waterman’s law office (Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein, L.C.) was named under “Law Firms”. Id. at 89. Patten Wornom in Newport News boasts 24 lawyers, making it the largest law firm based on the Peninsula....
On April 30, 2012, brain injury victim Gregory J. Gagnon filed Notice of Intent for rehearing as Appellee/Cross-Appellant in Burns v. Gagnon, No. 110754 in the Virginia Supreme Court; and as Appellant in Gagnon v. Burns, No. 110767. On April 25, 2012, Appellant Travis Burns filed Notice of Intent...
On July 9, 2009, Rayford Lavaughn Parrott of Williamsburg, Virginia, followed too closely and rear-ended Lottie V. Merritt-Lewis in a car crash on Lafayette Street, knocking her car over a curb, through bushes, and into a parked car. During the following 2 years, the victim incurred medical...
On April 20, 2012, the Associate Press reported the Virginia Supreme Court’s opinion in Burns v. Gagnon 283 Va. 657 (2012), Mr. Waterman’s brain injury appeal of his $6,000,000.00+ verdict in Gloucester Circuit Court, Virginia. Dailypress.com headlined “Virginia Supreme Court orders new trial in Gloucester school fight lawsuit,” and...