All Topics

• The Death and Injuries at Virginia (VA) Tech Still Significant News in Virginia (VA)

  Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton | May 17, 2007 4:21 PM | 0 CommentsNorfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton, VA

  As a Virginian specializing in personal injury and wrongful death cases, I read the newspapers carefully, especially my local paper, the Virginian Pilot published in Norfolk, Virginia (VA). Each morning I am on the lookout to see what legal news there is particularly as it relates to personal injury practice in Virginia (VA). I have been amazed that there hasn't been any indication of law...

• Fleet Bowel Prep Lawsuit for $10,000,000

  Ben Glass | May 16, 2007 4:56 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  Norfolk, Virginia and AAJ member Jeffrey Breit has filed a $10,000,000 lawsuit against the manufacturer of Fleet's bowel prep. The claimant claims Fleet's store bought solution interacted with her high blood pressure drugs she was taking, causing kidney failure.The lawsuit alleges that the manufacturer "had known for at least 12 years of the potential of the product to produce dehydration,...

• Win or Loss in Low Impact Case?

  Ben Glass | May 16, 2007 4:47 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  Automobile accident with no property damage and a three-year history of chiropractic care before the accident results in a verdict awarding less than the medical bills.An Alexandria Circuit Court jury has awarded $2,625.00 in a case in which the plaintiff claimed damages of almost $6,500.00. According to published reports, the insurance company had offered $5,000.00 to settle the case. Of...

• Injury Lawyer From Norfolk, Virginia (VA)

  Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton | May 16, 2007 3:19 PM | 0 CommentsNorfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton, VA

  I have lived in Norfolk, Virginia (VA) since I came back from law school at the University of Virginia 18 years ago. Norfolk, Virginia (VA), where I was born and raised, has really been on the upswing lately and is now a really great city to live in. Although the population of the city of Norfolk, Virginia (VA) proper has shrunk a bit to 241,000 people, there is a trend for people moving back...

• Frivolous Judge Hit With Ethics Complaint

  Michael Phelan | May 16, 2007 3:10 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Judge Roy Pearson, Jr., who filed a $65 million lawsuit against a dry cleaner for losing a pair of his pants, has brought great embarrassment to the legal profession. The profession is fighting back. The American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, filed an ethics complaint against Pearson with the D.C. Bar.

• Bush Nominee to Head CPSC Receives Payola from Manufacturers Ass'n

  Michael Phelan | May 16, 2007 2:30 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Michael Baroody, the senior lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) nominated by President Bush to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), will receive a $150,000.00 payment from NAM when he takes his new government job; a job that involves enforcing consumer laws against members of the association. Sounds like payola to me. Even Baroody characterized the...

• Telephone call. Did not settle case.

  Ben Glass | May 15, 2007 4:36 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  A Rockingham County Circuit Court judge has ruled that even though an insurance claims adjuster and a plaintiff reached a verbal agreement by telephone to settle a case for $1,500.00, the cover letter from the insurance adjuster clearly contemplated that the settlement would only be final once the release was signed and the settlement check cashed. Therefore the claimant, who consulted with an...

• Brain Injury Verdict Among Virginia's Largest

  Rick Shapiro | May 15, 2007 4:24 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  A woman was recently awarded 12 million dollars for a brain injury from a 2003 fall. The Hampton, Virginia (VA) jury made this large award in a slip and fall accident case. The large multi-million dollar jury award is probably among the highest in the slip and fall/premises liability category in Virginia (VA) history, and the plaintiff was represented by Stephen Smith, of Hampton, Virginia...

• Train Accident Lawyer From Norfolk, Virginia (VA)

  Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton | May 15, 2007 2:57 PM | 0 CommentsNorfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton, VA

  I live in Norfolk, Virginia (VA), the home of Norfolk Southern Railroad. I have been doing automobile accident injury cases in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) for about a decade before I joined my current firm of Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis, and Appleton, PC. That was in 1997 and since that time I have been doing train wreck and FELA cases for railroad workers who get hurt on the...

• Railroaders dismounting off of moving equipment in the past is basis for FELA (Federal Employers' Liability Act) claims today.

  Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton | May 14, 2007 3:18 PM | 0 CommentsNorfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton, VA

  Until the 1980's and 1990's, the major U.S. freight railroads routinely had train crews getting on and off moving railcars.At different times they used this dangerous practice at CSX and Norfolk Southern and the predecessor railroads like Conrail. Even after the railroad made a new rule saying it was dangerous to get off and on moving equipment, it took awhile for the practice to stop...