- Ben Glass | March 25, 2007 6:51 AM |
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MiscellaneousI posted earlier about this inane idea to pass a law to immunize from liability these groups who are developing commercial space flights. Now the bill sits on the Governor's desk and I suppose he is seriously considering one more immunity bill for Virginia. (I'm not against space flight for real people. Great if you can afford it, I imagine. ) What I do think is wrong is for the state to grant...
- Ben Glass | March 24, 2007 10:02 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsIn this case the plaintiff was hit head on by a tow truck that had crossed the double center lines. An independent witness testified that the defendant was talking on a cell phone and that she saw the driver lean over for something prior to impact. The defendant claimed that a "phantom vehicle" cut him off.The plaintiff was hospitalized at Norfolk General Hospital for two weeks and underwent...
- Ben Glass | March 23, 2007 2:06 PM |
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MiscellaneousThere are some reports now coming out that it was rat poisoning in the pet food that is being recalled nationally. According to CBSRat poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets said Friday.The toxin was identified as aminopterin, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker...
- Ben Glass | March 23, 2007 10:38 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe first class action lawsuit, with 95 pet owners, has been filed in Wisconsin.The lawsuit, against Menu Foods Inc.,alleges that it produced and distributed pet food that might be dangerous, and possibly deadly, to animals.We have received several calls on these cases and will help coordinate Virginia claims. We will be working with other firms nationally who are handling the Menu Foods pet...
- Ben Glass | March 22, 2007 5:34 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeMy friend Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Chuck Boyk has a great post about a terrific new medical malpractice decision from OHIO.It seems that Ohio has expanded the time that parents of minors have to fill a "loss of consortium" claim for injuries suffered by their children by medical malpractice. This is a lot better than Virginia for a lot of reasons:First, in OhioGenerally, children have until...
- Ben Glass | March 17, 2007 3:10 PM |
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Tractor-Trailer AccidentsNot that they are not nice place to live but a new study rates these two states the deadliest state for truck crashes.Seven years since its creation by Congress to improve the safety of trucks, the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration "is still putting cargo over people,'' said Joan Claybrook, chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. "This federal agency has failed miserably.''In...
- Ben Glass | March 17, 2007 1:05 PM |
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MiscellaneousIn a recent case in federal court the judge ruled that Aetna Life Insurance Company's decision to permanently terminate disability benefits to an employee was wrong and those benefits would be reinstated. Most disability insurance companies will only make payments to you if you are disabled and under the "regular care and attendance" of a physician. Here there was a period of time during which...
- Ben Glass | March 17, 2007 2:27 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeAll too often the insurance defense attorneys go on a "fishing expedition" in a medical malpractice case to try to find "dirt" in a patient's past medical records.Attorney Eric Turkewitz explains how, in New York, an appellate court has just made it a little more difficult for the fishing expedition to take place. Now, there must be an initital showing of a compelling need for some records,...
- Ben Glass | March 15, 2007 1:00 PM |
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MiscellaneousIn a case from the Supreme Court of Virginia, Allstate Insurance Company has been told to pay the owner of a boat that sunk over $40,000.00. Allstate had denied coverage under the insurance policy that it sold the boat owner. It lost at trial, appealed, and lost again.The boat owner had disconnected a water pump from the boat in order to take the water pump to someone else to repair. He...
- Ben Glass | March 15, 2007 9:28 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA local teenager, who was 17 at the time of the accident, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter yesterday in Arlington Circuit Court. Apparently, evidence at trial was that she attained speeds in excess of 100 MPH on the George Washington Parkway. One youth was killed and one other very seriously injured.The young driver now faces up to 10 years in the state penitentiary and she's in front...
- Ben Glass | March 14, 2007 8:38 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeVirginia medical malpractice law requires that before serving a medical malpractice lawsuit on a Virginia doctor the plaintiff or his attorney must have in his file a signed "Certification of Merit" from an expert witness that says, in effect, that the case is valid. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has recently thrown out a similar requirement in that state on the basis that the requirement,...
- Ben Glass | March 14, 2007 6:20 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a major fraud on the American employee. Through statute and interpretation by the Supreme Court of the United States insurance companies have been clothed in an almost ironclad protection of their decisions regarding insurance benefits for employees.In this case filed in the federal court in Norfolk, the plaintiff is suing for a...
- Ben Glass | March 13, 2007 11:13 PM |
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MiscellaneousWhen a dental hygienist sued because her disability insurance claim was denied, the insurance company contended that her claim, bought through the American Dental Hygienist Association, was covered by the federal law of ERISA.Why?Because ERISA gives the insurance company a HUGE advantage--(1) it's decision given deference; (2) no jury trial; (3) no real trial at all; (4) no "real damages" except...
- Ben Glass | March 13, 2007 11:44 AM |
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MiscellaneousToday's headlines in national news reports a whopping one BILLION dollar lawsuit filed.Gee...does that sound like too much? Should there be a cap on the recovery of the plaintiff?Is this going to stifle business? Are insurance rates going to go up?Is this a travesty?.... another case of some poor schmuck plaintiff bringing a biz to it's knees?Nah, it's just Biz v. BizViacom v. GoogleYou won't be...
- Ben Glass | March 13, 2007 6:18 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsIt looks as though our 16- and 17-year-old drivers in Virginia will soon be prohibited from using cell phones while the vehicle is in motion. The proposed law allows 16- and 17-year-old drivers to use their cell phone in an emergency but they have to pull off the highway and park.Statistics from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Virginia Commonwealth University Transportation Safety...
- Ben Glass | March 13, 2007 2:33 AM |
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MiscellaneousAnother study shows that there is no relationship between "caps" on jury verdicts in medical malpractice cases and malpractice insurance rates. Oregon has the lowest malpractice claims of any state and the state high court abolished caps seven years ago.Caps on verdicts only hurt the most seriously injured yet there is no compelling evidence that the imposition of caps does anything for...
- Ben Glass | March 13, 2007 2:03 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA question that sometimes comes up in jury deliberation is whether or not the jury should include as a part of its award the total amount of the injured person's medical bills. Some believe that because these bills may have been covered by insurance that to include them in the award would be a "double recovery."Generally, the law is that the jury should include the entire amount of the medical...
- Ben Glass | March 12, 2007 3:12 PM |
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MiscellaneousA jury ordered Prudential Insurance Co. to pay $15.5 million to an woman who was denied her disability benefits. The woman applied for benefits because she suffers from chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, lupus, and an immune system disorder.One thing that immediately comes to mind is that this wasn't her employer's group disability policy. Those policies are virtually worthless (as explained in my...
- Ben Glass | March 12, 2007 7:08 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeHere's an interesting list of malpractice prevention tips from a doctor's blog. I happen to agree with this list but believe most doctors will never go for it.Look at #2, for example: Giving the patient a detailed record of the visit before they leave the office. when you leave the car repair store what do you get? A list of everything they did as well as a list of recomended services. Most...
- Ben Glass | March 12, 2007 6:06 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeA Virginia Beach Circuit Court jury deliberated 30 minutes before returning a verdict of just under $2 million against a physician at Chesapeake General Hospital. The plaintiff alleged that the obstetrician mismanaged the baby's shoulder dystocia by applying excessive traction to the baby's head resulting in an Erb's palsy. The baby suffered a serious injury including avulsion of nerve roots...
- Ben Glass | March 11, 2007 5:51 AM |
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Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)A federal court in Richmond has thrown out a lawsuit against a NASCAR racetrack and another occupier of the property based on the plaintiff's "contributory negligence." A federal court in Richmond, Virginia has thrown out a personal injury lawsuit against a NASCAR racetrack and another occupier of the property based on the plaintiff's "contributory negligence." According to published reports...
- Ben Glass | March 10, 2007 5:47 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsAn arbitrator has awarded a woman over $114,000.00 in damages against Checkered Flag Motor Car Company in Norfolk after the woman allegedly told the sales rep that she wanted a one-owner vehicle in her price range that had not been wrecked. The arbitrator found instead that the car had been owned by several owners; had been in a major front-end collision; and it had been repossessed. Attorney...
- Ben Glass | March 09, 2007 5:39 PM |
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MiscellaneousAOL has got a place at their website where they repeat the same old tired stories designed to frighten people into tort reform. This crap comes around, usually in the form of spam email, several times a year. Why is AOL investing its resources in repeating this nonsense?Could it be that AOL has faced the civil justice system and gotten caught?Consider:Sevearl times in the recent past, the civil...
- Ben Glass | March 09, 2007 5:41 AM |
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MiscellaneousIn Virginia we do not elect our trial judges in terms of a popular election. Rather, they are selected by the Virginia General Assembly and approved by the Governor. Recently, a judge being interviewed for one of the vacant judgeships in Norfolk contends that the republican state senator interviewing her asked her questions having nothing to do with her qualifications to be a judge. Mary G....
- Ben Glass | March 08, 2007 4:30 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeSome Florida doctors who lost a case to the tune of over $100 million are now suing their defense attorneys, for turning down a chance to settle for $1.5 million.A Tampa Website has the full storyIt would be really interesting to climb into the defense and insurance file in this case. If it's like any in the Washington, D.C. area recently the insurance company was probably calling the...
- Ben Glass | March 08, 2007 5:35 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeYou would think in this age of technology that we would have eliminated errors in filling prescriptions, especially when the filling is being done in the hospital. Not so. We are looking at a case right now involving a woman who, on her day of discharge, was given medications actually intended for a psychiatric patient. She questioned the nurse, who assured her that the drugs were for her.They...
- Ben Glass | March 07, 2007 5:22 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsThe Virginia General Assembly has passed two measures designed to reduce the time and cost of pursuing smaller automobile accident cases..In the past, you could file a smaller case (maximum recovery $15,000) in in the Virginia General District Court and use affidavits to prove your medical care and costs. The problem was that defendants, often seeking to make things too expensive, could either...
- Ben Glass | March 02, 2007 5:45 AM |
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MiscellaneousYesterday the Food and Drug Administration expanded the scope of its Salmonella warning regarding ConAgra's Sylvester, Georgia processing plant. Apparently bulk peanut butter was used in several types of ice cream toppings:Sonic Brand Ready-To-Use Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10.5 oz cans.Carvel Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10 oz. cansJ. Hungerford Smith Peanut Butter Dessert Topping in 6...
- Ben Glass | March 01, 2007 4:47 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeThe West Virginia Record is reporting an interesting medical malpractice case where West Virginia's requirement of a pre suit certificate of merit in malpractice cases is under challenge. As the District of Columbia moves towards requiring pre-suit notification to defendants and mandatory early mediation of claims, we'll all be following this W. Virginia case.The specific challenge raised is:...