On April 26, 2018, Consent Order was entered by Newport News Circuit Court on Plaintiff Patient’s Motion to Enforce Va. Code §B.01-413(C) Subpoena Duces Tecum for ostensibly “privileged” nursing home materials kept outside of the resident/patient’s chart. The patient fall medical malpractice case of wrongful...
On April 16, 2018, Montgomery Circuit Court issued a scathing letter opinion against Co-Defendant, Montgomery Regional Hospital, Inc. (“MRH”), and its counsel in the wrongful death case of Creasy v. Medical Associates of Southwest Virginia, Inc., et. al, No. CL17-1582. Adopting Plaintiff’s legal authority, Creasy...
On April 5, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court issued Williams v. Swenson, No. 170538. It rejected a “continuing objection” to prospective closing argument references as “waived,” because counsel: (1) “was not clear as to whether it addressed argument concerning foreseeability pertaining to the standard of...
The Trial Lawyer is the quarterly law journal for The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Its Spring 2018 issue headlines “Thoughts and Prayers...
On March 27, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court opined that Pennsylvania’s committee peer review privilege statute does not cover physician performance materials prepared by the defendant independent contractor of the defendant hospital, which staffed and ran the Emergency Department. The case is Reginelli v. Boggs,...
On March 27, 2018, Richmond Circuit Court ordered over Herbert & Satterwhite objection, the medical malpractice plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery of: (1) “all orientation materials, including...
Trial is the monthly legal journal of American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyer Association (“ATLA”). Its April 2018 issue is titled “Environmental HAZARDS”. Trial’s “Verdicts & SETTLMENTS” reports 6 vehicle accident cases. Id. at 10-21. “Collision center glued on roof resulting in car’s...
On March 28, 2018, Mr. Waterman settled for liability policy limits of State Farm the personal injury claim of a Williamsburg minor, who was a victim of a single car crash in New Kent. The offending driver lost control on Interstate 64 and crashed into...
On April 3, 2018, Loudoun Circuit Court issued 16-page Letter Opinion and Order in the nursing home case of Hirsch v. CSP Nova, LLC, No. 108222, ruling for plaintiff victim, on multiple key discovery points: Defendants: All discovery rulings applied to both Defendants, the “licensed operational...
On March 26, 2018, Mr. Waterman settled a two-car crash case, arising out of a rear-end collision on Main Street in Newport News. After suit, he obtained policy limits from the defendant’s liability insurer (Alfa Insurance Company) plus policy limits from plaintiff’s underinsured coverage (USAA)....
On March 21, 2018, Roanoke Circuit Court ordered a roughly one-third ($100,000.00) reduction in the Medicaid lien of DMAS over objection of Virginia’s Office of Attorney General, where counsel of the plaintiff medical malpractice victim voluntarily reduced attorney fees ($200,000.00). The case is Kinsey v....
On March 22, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court issued Evans v. NAACO Materials Handling Group, Inc., No. 161788, involving a Roanoke jury verdict of $4,200,000.00 for wrongful death, arising out of a lift truck accident. Post-trial, the trial judge entered judgment for defendant on ground...
On March 18, 2018, an Uber self-driving test car (manned by a human operator) struck and killed a 49 year-old woman crossing a street while walking her bike outside a crosswalk in Tempe, Arizona – a year after another self-driving Uber vehicle had a crash...
On March 9, 2018, a Richmond jury awarded $37,800,000.00 to a cement mixer truck accident victim who was rendered a quadriplegic because of defective tire tread separation. The case is Benedict v. Hankook Tire Co., Ltd., No. 3:17-cv-109 in United States District Court for the...
Trial is the monthly journal of the American Association of Justice (“AAJ”), formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for March, 2018 is titled “The Well-Rounded Lawyer”. March 2018 Trial marquees 4 vehicle accident cases in its “Verdicts & Settlements”. Id. at 12, 14,...
By letter opinion on January 4, 2018, Roanoke Circuit Court denied medical malpractice defendants’ Alternative Motions to Transfer Venue in Rose v. Gulati, et al., No. CL17-977. The defense sought transfer based on all events having occurred in contiguous Salem and no defendant being registered...
By Order entered January 23, 2018, Richmond Circuit Court denied medical malpractice defendants’ Demurrer and Motion for Bill of Particulars. The case is Latif v. DIVSR River City Renaissance Owner I, LLC, et al., No. CL17-4597, which inter alia alleged negligence per se for violation...
On February 22, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court reiterated in Dixon v. Sublett, No. 170350, that a medical malpractice plaintiff “must establish not only that the defendant violated the applicable standard of care, and was therefore negligent, he must also sustain the burden of showing...
On February 22, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court decided Martin v. Lahti, No. 170524, a medical malpractice case on the admissibility of lay opinion testimony under Va. S. Ct. Rule Evid. 2:701. The Martin wrongful death case held that lay opinion testimony must be “based...
In February, 2018, Mr. Waterman was invited to be 1 of only 100 Charter Members of the “Distinguished Justice Advocates” in Virginia, selected from the top 1% of attorneys. This month he also was nominated for inclusion in the 2018 Professional Who’s Who Network. Mr. Waterman...
On February 22, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court issued Holt v. Chalmeta, No. 161230, reversing and remanding grant of summary judgment in a medical malpractice case involving brain injury allegedly caused by the newborn’s pediatrician. “[T] circuit court abused its discretion in refusing to...
By Order entered February 8, 2018, Richmond Circuit Court denied medical malpractice defendants’ Demurrer to plaintiff’s catch-all “otherwise negligent” Complaint language and denied their companion Motion for Bill of Particulars regarding the same. The case is Young v. Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Hosps., Inc., et al.,...
By letter opinion dated February 12, 2018, Circuit Court for the Counties of Lee, Scott and Wise and the City of Norton, Virginia, denied the medical malpractice defendant’s Motion in Limine to prohibit plaintiff expert’s causation testimony about the efficacy of tPA in preventing hemorrhagic...
On January 28, 2018, after 2-week trial, a jury awarded $109,000,000.00 to a 2010 multiple-amputee medical malpractice victim against the University of South Florida College of Medicine. Lisa Marie Carter suffered amputations of both her arms below the elbow, of both her legs below her...
Plaintiff is not required to introduce a mortality table to prove life expectancy in support of general damages for wrongful death. Eisenhower v. Jeter, 205 Va. 159, 164 (1964). By statute and jurisprudence, however, Plaintiff clearly is entitled to do so. Per Va. Code §8.01-419, Virginia’s...
Trial is the monthly legal journal of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for February, 2018 is focused on “Transportation” and entitled “Danger on the Road”. February 2018 Trial features 4 articles about vehicle accidents: “8 Tips...
The Trial Lawyer is the quarterly law journal of the National Trial Lawyers TOP 100 TRIAL LAWYERS. Its cover for Winter 2017 is: “The PILL PUSHERS Behind the OPIOID EPIDEMIC”. Winter 2017 Trial Lawyer features 2 articles involving automobile accidents. They are “NEW STUDY: ESTABLISHING THE...
Wrongful death cases potentially present a unique evidentiary exclusion issue at trial. Uncorroborated evidence basically is inadmissible against the deceased or his representative. Virginia’s Deadman’s Statute, Va. Code §8.01-397, is entitled: “Corroboration required and evidence receivable when one party incapable of testifying” (emphasis original). §8.01-397 mandates:...
On January 22, 2018, Virginia Lawyers Weekly headlined Mr. Waterman’s case: “Plaintiff gets nursing home training materials”. Id. at 2. The article is sub-headed: “A Gloucester County judge has allowed a medical malpractice plaintiff to examine health care training materials over the objection of a...
Medical malpractice Defendants are wont to interpose the alleged intervening negligence of another healthcare provider. To be a causation defense, however, the intervening negligence also prove to be the superseding cause – a rare circumstance. “In order to relieve a defendant of liability for his...