On March 31, 2016, the Virginia Supreme Court disposed of the Roanoke appeal in Jones v. Slate, No. 150789, by unpublished Order. By providing only a written statement of facts in lieu of a transcript, which “often creates difficulty for the Court and the litigants on appeal,” Appellant was confined to an “extremely limited factual record” that was insufficient to prove her entitlement to punitive damages. Id. at 2-3.
In Jones, the Virginia Supreme Court defined willful and wanton negligence as “action undertaken in conscious disregard of another’s rights, or with reckless indifference to consequences with the defendant aware, from his knowledge of existing circumstances and conditions, that his conduct probably would cause injury to another”. Id. at 3. During 2015-2016, Mr. Waterman’s Complaints for punitive damages in medical malpractice cases have been sustained 4 times. Rauchfuss v. Peninsula Radiological Assocs. Ltd., 2016 WL 1752781 (Newport News Apr. 28, 2016)(Pugh, J.); Cherrie v. Virginia Health Servs., Inc., 2016 WL 1558509 (Gloucester Apr. 7, 2016) ; Peck v. Riverside Hosp., Inc., 2015 WL 8240390 (Newport News Nov. 23, 2015)(Mills, J.); and Peck v. Riverside Hosp., Inc., 2015 WL 352508, 2015 Va. Cir. LEXIS 68 (Newport News May 19, 2015) (Conway, J.).
THE VIRGINIA STATE BAR REQUIRES ALL LAWYERS TO POST THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMERS ON ALL CASE-RELATED POSTS. MR. WATERMAN’S CASE RESULTS AND CLIENT TESTIMONIALS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. THEY DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE BY HIM.
