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...
Medical malpractice, vehicle accident, and other defendants may assert “illegal act” as a defense. Easy to claim, hard to prove. The “illegal act” defense stringently requires defendants to prove that the “illegal act” is the “direct cause” of the wrongful death or personal injury. E.g., Johnson...
On January 16, 2018, Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, Incorporated (“CHKD”) filed Motion Regarding Blog of Plaintiff’s Counsel in the medical malpractice case of Wilder v. CHKD, et al., No. CL16-8482-00 in Norfolk. As Defendant in that wrongful death case, which is set for...
On December 8, 2017, Fairfax Circuit Court ordered over objection inter alia that the medical malpractice Defendant produce all “metadata for the Electronic Medical Records of the Plaintiff in a readable format”. See, Order at 2. The case is Lee v. DuPont, No. 2017-10416....
Trial is the monthly law journal of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for January, 2018 is dedicated to “Keeping Our Kids Safe”. This Trial’s 5 lead articles include “Fumbling Preventable Brain Injuries,” id. at 34-39, “Blind...
On December 29, 2017, the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys (“NAOPIA”) headquartered in Washington, D.C. informed Mr. Waterman that he was chosen to receive its 2018 TOP 10 Attorney Award for Virginia. Final selection for this prestigious honor was by the Board of Governors....
In Cohen v. Dziorlor, No. CL2015-0014084, Fairfax County Circuit Court greatly limited the defense neuropsychologist’s examination of Plaintiff pursuant to Va. S. Ct. Rule 4:10, over Defendant’s objection. Specifically, the neuropsychologist was: Limited to 6 hours for interview and examination; Forbidden to question about “extraneous matters”; Required to...
On December 24, 2017, The New York Times reported: “The Trump administration is scaling back use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury”. Yet troublingly nursing facility violations already were rampant with the existing federal fine...
On December 13, 2017, Chesapeake Circuit Court ordered the out-of-state Defendant to appear for his deposition locally in Virginia, pursuant to Va. S. Ct. Rule 4:5(a). The case is Seimetz v. Beck, No. CL17000667-00. To the same effect are the Orders in Harrell v. Butch, Inc.,...
On December 6, 2017, Fairfax County Circuit Court ordered that Defendant’s retained psychologist (Dr. Douglas P. Gibson) produce his raw “test data” and “test materials” from his examination of the Plaintiff public transit accident victim. The case is Pitman v. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, No....
Trial is the monthly law journal of the American Association for Justice {“AAJ”), formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for December, 2017, is entitled “Protecting the Elderly”. December 2017 Trial features 2 medical malpractice articles. The first is Resident-on-Resident Assaults in Nursing Homes,”...