The VLW Blog

The Supreme Court of Virginia apparently believes it has said all that needs to be in Virginia Reports about inadequate verdicts.
It issued an unpublished order today affirming an award of a new trial for a woman who said she suffered neck, back and shoulder sprains in a car wreck in Suffolk. County. The first jury, […]

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Richmond personal injury attorney Jay Tronfeld has settled his lawsuit alleging that a Nationwide adjuster defamed him by telling a client that Tronfeld “just takes people’s money.”
The case had been scheduled for trial yesterday in Petersburg Circuit Court, but David P. Baugh, Tronfeld’s attorney, said it was settled under confidential terms.
The adjuster also told the […]

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The pit bull that belonged to the son of Elsie Campbell was a bad dog all right.
So bad, in fact, that Campbell wouldn’t get out of her car when she went to the house that she owned and allowed her son to live in rent-free. When Campbell stayed in the car, the dog would bite […]

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The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association appears likely to get one of its principal legislative objectives for the year.
House Bill 172 allows plaintiffs’ attorneys to get the policy limits of a potential defendant before filing suit. The VTLA had to give a little, however. It accepted an amendment that would attorneys must give the insurer proof […]

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Plaintiffs’ attorneys would be able to get the policy limits of a potential defendant without filing suit under House Bill 172, which cleared the House Courts of Justice Committee Friday on a 19-3 vote.
Steven W. Pearson, a lobbyist for the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, told the panel that the measure “will reduce unnecessary lawsuits” because […]

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Personal injury defendants enjoy the protection of certain caps on damages in Virginia. At times, defendants have been able to invoke that protection sooner, rather than later, by getting trial courts to reduce ad damnum clauses to cap levels before a case ever goes to the jury.
But the Supreme Court of Virginia today rejected one […]

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By accepting a $2,000 check from the defendant to cover medical bills, the plaintiff is not entitled to the $800,000 he later sought in a personal injury lawsuit.
A Rockingham County Circuit Court jury returned a defense verdict in the case of Shifflett v. Shifflett, based on accord and satisfaction.
The suit stemmed from injuries received at […]

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