“Invited error” is a specific waiver issue in Gagnon v. Burns, No. 110767 c/q No. 110754 in the Virginia Supreme Court in Richmond, Virginia. The brain injury victim argues that the opposition is estopped on appeal from complaining about the legal consequence the damage instructions...
Happy Halloween! Amid all the costuming and merriment, remember to think safety. Time-worn precautionary practices include buying fire-resistant costumes with reflective surfaces or accessories; using the “buddy” system, flashlights, and cell phones; warning against going inside homes visited; and carefully checking wrappers for tampering. Be wary...
On October 27, 2011, Mr. Waterman refiled a medical malpractice suit in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia, captioned Shirley Frazier Burrell v. Riverside Hospital Inc. and Nurse M. Ames. The original suit was in the now – widowed patient’s then –...
On October 25, 2011, Mr. Waterman files Brief of Appellant in Gagnon v. Burns, No. 110767 c/w No. 110754 in the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. Waiver is an issue in that brain injury appeal of the jury’s $6,100,000.00 verdict in Circuit Court...
The Summer 2011 issue of The Safety Report featured article “Brain Injury – Recognizing a ‘Hidden Disability’”. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) estimates that annually there are 1,700,000 traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) victims in the United States, causing 1,370,000 emergency room visits,...
On October 17, 2011, the Virginia Supreme Court granted in part and denied in part Appellant’s Motion for Writ of Certiorari in the brain injury action of Gagnon v. Burns, No. 110767 c/w 110754. Its Order made part of the appellate record the Jury Special...
On October 14, 2011, Mr. Waterman filed a motor vehicle accident lawsuit for personal injury damages in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. The defendant was cited by Summons for failure to yield the right-of-way on Richneck Road in violation of Va....
On October 12, 2011, Plaintiff, Shirley Frazier Burrell, non-suited Shirley Frazier Shakshober v. Riverside Hospital, Inc. and Nurse M. Ames, No. CL08-296 in the Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. That was a medical malpractice lawsuit previously filed under her married name. Va....
On October 6, 2011, Defendants filed Motions in Limine and Memorandum in Support in Shirley Frazier Shakshober v. Riverside Hospital, Inc., et al., No. CL08-296 in Circuit Court for he City of Newport News, Virginia, toward keeping from the jury twelve (12) points of evidence...
On October 4, 2011, Mr. Waterman attended an ethics and professional program in Richmond, Virginia, presented by the Virginia State Bar and Attorney Liability Protection Society, Inc. (“ALPS”). The hot topic was “social media,” which surfaces with increasing frequency as key evidence in personal injury...
On September 30, 2011, Mr. Waterman filed Motion for Writ of Certiorari in the brain injury case of Gagnon v. Burns, No. 110767 in the Virginia Supreme Court. It seeks to have the record on appeal enlarged to include the Jury Special Interrogatory and the...
Like the rest of America, Virginia is exploding with “social media” – from YouTube to Facebook to Myspace to Twitter to LinkedIn to Lester v. Alliance Concrete to you-name-it! Most of the younger generation and increasing numbers of the older generation are expressing themselves online...
On September 28, 2011, Mr. Waterman settled a car accident claim arising in Newport News, Virginia. His client suffered personal injuries from a rear-ender on Interstate 664 in 2010. As a result of the two car collision, the victim was treated at Mary Immaculate Hospital in...
On September 24, 2011, Mr. Waterman settled a car accident claim against the six-figure insurance policy of an out-of-state motorist. His client is a long-time resident of Williamsburg, Virginia. The offending motorist allegedly ran a redlight on Airport Road and broadsided the victim on Richmond Road...
Social media burst onto the radar of most lawyers in 2011 with repeated headline news coverage of a notorious truck accident case, Lester v. Allied Concrete. But Mr. Waterman has been wrangling with it for years. In a confidential 2009 Williamsburg special case in Court, a...
In Evans v. Evans, 280 Va. 76 (2010), the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the right of a child to sue through one parent as next friend the other parent who injured the child by negligence in a vehicle crash. A father had put his 4...
On September 15, 2011, the Supreme Court of Virginia awarded appeals on the Petition filed and cross-errors assigned by Mr. Waterman’s client in Gagnon v. Burns, Record No. 110767; and on the Petition filed by the opposition in Burns v. Gagnon, Record No. 110754. The...
This month, Mr. Waterman attended “The Ethics of Negotiation in Mediation” in Richmond, Virginia, sponsored by the Virginia ADR Joint Committee of the Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia State Bar. Topics included mediating out-of-state, mediator background and “bad faith” disclosures, lawyer mediation conduct, and...
On September 13, 2011, Mr. Waterman settled without having to file suit a medical malpractice claim against a Wal-Mart Pharmacy in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was a clear case of liability for the pharmacist dispensing 10 times the strength of a medication prescribed by a neurologist...
On September 3, 2011, Mr. Waterman again was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2012 18th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. His legal recognition was for the practice areas of Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs, Personal Injury Litigation, and Personal Injury...
On September 1, 2011, a 32-page Order was entered in a car accident suit pending in Circuit Court for Charlottesville, Virginia. The consolidated personal injury and wrongful death cases are Lester v. Allied Concrete Co., No. CL08-150 c/w CL09-223. The Lester auto accident litigation marquees the...
On August 31, 2011, Mr. Waterman and opposing counsel argue Gagnon v. Burns before a writ panel of the Virginia Supreme Court in Richmond, Virginia. Both parties have petitioned to appeal different aspects of the brain injury case in which Gloucester County jury awarded approximately...
Cabiness v. Medical Facilities of Am. VIII (8), L.P., 80 Va. Cir. 425 (Danville Jun. 21, 2010) is a medical malpractice action. It overruled the Demurrer to plaintiff’s claim for punitive damages. Cabiness found that the First Amended Complaint set forth sufficient facts supporting “willful and...
This month Mr. Waterman settled a pending but unserved vehicle accident lawsuit. The two-car crash occurred in York County and involved residents of Yorktown and Newport News, Virginia. The victim was traveling on State Route 622 (Brick Church Road) with the right-of-way through its intersection with...
Gibson v. Medical Facilities of America, Inc., 80 Va. Cir. 56 (Norfolk Jan. 22, 2010) is a medical malpractice case. It resolved issues of venue and an arbitration clause in favor of the nursing home resident, a victim of sexual molestation. First, Gibson held there was...
Mr. Waterman’s Gloucester County brain injury case, Gagnon v. Burns, Record Nos. 110754 and 110767, has been scheduled for oral arguments before a writ panel of the Virginia Supreme Court on August 31, 2011. Both parties have been granted 10 minutes on their respective Petitions...
Kudos to the Honorable Ronald E. Wilson, Judge of the 1st Judicial Circuit, sitting as temporary Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia! On July 21, 2011, he authored a most courageous cogent dissent in the medical malpractice case of MacDonald v....
Mr. Waterman now is slated to speak on February 15, 2012, in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Annual Convention of the Southern Trial Lawyers Association (“STLA”). His personal injury topic is “Cameos for Neutralizing the Defense Expert” within the theme of “Tactics, Techniques or Strategies...
On August 2, 2011, Mr. Waterman was invited by the Honorable Stephen C. Moore to join as a Master member of the I’Anson-Hoffman American Inn of Court XXVII. Membership is extended only to a select few within the Hampton Roads legal community. I’Anson-Hoffman is our region’s...
In O’Brien v. Glenn, 80 Va. Cir. 188 (Rockingham Feb. 17, 2010), Rockingham Circuit Court opined on the tort of “negligent entrustment” in a car accident case. Defendant relied on the Virginia Supreme Court’s test in Denby v. Davis, 212 Va. 836, 838 (1972)(emphasis in...