On February 27, 2014, the Virginia Supreme Court handed down Coalson v. Canchola, No. 130837, an automobile accident case in which it reinstated a punitive damages award of $100,000.00 that had been remitted to $50,000.00 by the trial court under protest by Plaintiff. Coalson held...
In Harman v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., No. 130627 in the Virginia Supreme Court, writ of certiorari was granted inter alai on two assignments of error re defendant introducing opinion testifying of two lay witnesses. Mr. Waterman addressed those issues for plaintiffs in Reply Brief Amicus...
On March 12, 2014, the medical malpractice lawsuit of Whitby v. Peninsula Neurological Associates, Inc., Richard B. McAdam, M.D., Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital, and Mary Immaculate Hospital, Incorporated, No. CL13-4969T-01 in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia came on for evidentiary...
Instruction and evidence re multiple proximate cause is the third issue Mr. Waterman authored in the Reply Brief Amicus Curiae of Virginia Trial Lawyers Association in Support of Appellants in Harman v. Honeywell, Virginia Supreme Court No. 130627. The underlying consolidated Chesterfield lawsuits in Harman...
Harman v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., No. 130627 in the Virginia Supreme Court, are consolidated wrongful death appeals arising out of product liability lawsuits for a private plane crash in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The second issue covered by Mr. Waterman in his Reply Brief Amicus Curiae...
On March 4, 2014, Mr. Waterman authored and lodged Reply Brief Amicus Curiae to the Virginia Supreme Court of Virginia Trial Lawyers Association in Support of Appellants in the consolidated wrongful death appeals in Harman and Bemberis v. Honeywell International, Inc., Record No. 130627. One...
This past week AlfaVision as Defendant’s $25,000.00 liability insurer and Nationwide as Defendant’s $300,000.00/1,000,000.00 UIM/umbrella insurer produced Mr. Waterman the transcriptions and tape recordings of their contemporaneous insurer witness statements. The insurers had claimed their witness statements were “privileged” work product, and they imminently faced...
Avery T. “Sandy” Waterman, Jr., Esq. has been selected to “Virginia Super Lawyers” for 2014. That represents the 6th consecutive time since his first induction in 2009 that he has been named to the list. Super Lawyers selects lawyers based on nominations and research annually. “Each...
In Virginia Broadcasting Corp. v. Commonwealth, No. 122013, the Virginia Supreme Court held the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the media’s request to have a camera in the Courtroom during the sentencing hearing of a highly-publicized murder trial. Id. at 18....
Trial is the monthly magazine of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for February, 2014, is entitled “TRANSPORTATION,” covering a wide variety of vehicle crash cases in 5 lead articles. The first is “SPOTTING PRODUCT ISSUES IN TRUCKING...
On January 10, 2014, Shebelskie v. Brown, No. 13053, was handed down by the Virginia Supreme Court. It concluded that two lawyers did not violate Va. Code Ann. §8.01-271.1 because one did not sign the brief in question or make a motion, and because the...
The Winter issue of The Trial Lawyer, the quarterly publication of The National Trial Lawyers “Top 100 Trial Lawyers,” features “THE VEHICLE SUBMERSION PROBLEM: THE ROLE OF DESIGN IN PREVENTING DROWNING DEATHS”. Id. at 24-27. Submersion deaths and catastrophic injuries most commonly result from car...
On February 11, 2014, Patient’s Motion to Enforce §8.01-413(C) Subpoena Duces Tecum and Defendant’s Motion to Quash came before the Court on supplemental evidentiary “privilege” hearing in Joanne T. Rauchfuss, Administratrix of the Estate of George William Rauchfuss, Jr., Deceased v. Roger E. Schultz, M.D.,...
In Rhoten v. Commonwealth, No. 130456, the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed a civil commitment under the Sexually Violent Predators Act (“SUPA”), Va. Code Ann. §37.2-900, et seq. Id. at 12. Rhoten held that res judicia did not prohibit an inmate “determined in a prior...
The Winter quarterly of The National Trial Lawyer’s “Top 100 Trial Lawyers,” The Trial Lawyer, features an article on truck crashes, “THE UNHOLY TRINITY: TALKING, TEXTING AND TRUCKING – THE EPIDEMIC, THE LAW AND HOW TO WIN YOUR CASE.” Id. at 16-18. Its statistics are...
In Commonwealth v. Peterson, No. 121717, the Virginia Supreme Court set aside 2 $4,000,000.00 wrongful death jury verdicts against the Commonwealth in favor of 2 families of slain Virginia Tech students, which had been reduced to $100,000.00 apiece under the Virginia Tort Claims Acts by...
American Association of Justice’s January 2014 issue of Trial features a medical malpractice article: “ANTIDEPRESSANTS & BIRTH INJURIES” Id. at 44-48. It covers the special cases of product liability against pharmaceutical manufacturers of Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Celexa/Lexapro, and other drugs. Id. “Several antidepressants have been linked...
In Burkeen v. Commonwealth, No. 122718, the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed a conviction for malicious wounding, even though the unprovoked assailant only struck his defenseless crime victim with a single bare fist blow to the face. “We hold that, under the circumstances, there was...
The Trial Lawyer is the quarterly publication of The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Its Winter 2013 issue features an article on medical malpractice: “LITIGATING IDIOPATHIC NECROTIZING FASCIITIS CASES.” Id. at 20-22. Idiopathic necrotizing fasciitis (”NF”) cases often are more difficult than secondary NF...
On January 22, 2014, Mr. Waterman filed in the Virginia Supreme Court the Amicus Curiae Brief of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (“VTLA”) for Appellants he authored in the consolidated wrongful death case of Harman v. Honeywell International, Inc., No. 130627. The appeal raises issues...
On January 10, 2014, the Virginia Supreme Court issued its opinion in the alleged defamation case of Webb v. Virginian – Pilot Media Cos., LLC, No. 122024. It affirmed unanimously a trial entering judgment in favor of Defendant, despite a $3,000,000.00 jury verdict for Plaintiff....
On June 5, 1995, a recumbent bicyclist on the Colonial Parkway was struck from behind by a York County school bus, which immediately killed him. The collision was unwitnessed, and the driver’s self-serving account was exculpatory. But Mr. Waterman brought the physical evidence to life...
On January 10, 2014, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided against the Defendant in the sexual abuse appeal of Linnon v. Commonwealth, No. 130179. It relied in part on Mr. Waterman’s brain injury case, Burns v. Gagnon, 283 Va. 657 (2012). Id. at 6. Linnon upheld...
On January 10, 2014, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided the case of Simpson v. Roberts, No. 121984. It held that an infant’s claim against a doctor for injury sustained in utero was subject to the medical malpractice “cap” Id. at 13. “The facts of the...
In Hagwood v. Newton, 282 F.3d 285 (4th Cir. 2002), the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the survivor benefits waiver of a premarital agreement was invalid and unenforceable under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended by the...
Trial is the monthly publication of American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for January 2014 is entitled “Technology @ Work”. Its lead articles are “THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA,” id. at 16-20; “DOES YOUR WEBSITE CLICK WITH CLIENTS,” id. at 22-27; “ESSENTIAL...
During December 19-20, 2013, Mr. Waterman concluded a six-figure settlement with an automobile insurer, Main St. America Assurance Co., for a Williamsburg couple injured when rear-ended at only five (5) miles per hour. The car accident occurred early in 2013 at Sentara Circle on Mooretown Road...
American Association for Justice’s monthly magazine, Trial, reports “Verdicts & Settlements”. Its December 2013 issue reports two settlements of serious personal injury claims in the special case of premises liability. Id. at 8, 10. “Failure to Provide Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter at Boat Slip” covers a Virginia case mediated into settlement...
During December 11-16, 2013, Mr. Waterman and his legal assistant are attending the 3rd Annual Advanced Reptile seminar in Guanacoste, Costa Rica. That 4-day seminar is presented by noted medical malpractice lawyer, Don Keenan, and revered jury consultant, David Ball. Mr. Waterman has been a Reptile seminar attendee, book reviewer,...
Trial is the monthly magazine of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), formerly American Trial Lawyers Association (“ATLA”). Its issue for December, 2013, features “Professional NEGLIGENCE,” including three articles about medical malpractice. The first Trial article is “BRINGING YOUR MED-MAL CASE IN FEDERAL COURT” Id. at 24-30. The second is “HOSPITAL LIABILITY FOR...