Virginia Injury Lawyers Blog

May 23, 2016

Product Liability Lawsuit Against Under-Ride Guard Manufacturer Results in Million-Dollar Verdict

Earlier this month, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued an opinion affirming a product liability plaintiff’s jury verdict in the amount of $1,200,000. In the case, Quilez-Velar v. Ox Bodies, Inc., the court determined that the lower court properly admitted the plaintiff’s expert witness testimony and that the jury’s verdict should stand.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiffs in the case were the surviving family members of a woman who was killed when her car slid under a garbage truck that had not been properly fitted with a safe under-ride guard, which was supposed to prevent vehicles from sliding under the rear of the truck in the event of this type of accident. The evidence at trial showed that the truck was owned and operated by the local government, but the under-ride guard was manufactured by the defendant. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the guard only and did not proceed against the government.

At trial, the plaintiffs had an accident reconstructionist testify that he knew of an alternate design that “would have been [a] safer design in the instant accident.” The defendant admitted that the expert was properly qualified as an accident reconstructionist, but it challenged the expert’s testimony, arguing that he did not conduct the necessary tests to be qualified as an expert on the subject. The trial court reviewed the expert’s report and determined that his “conclusions are well-explained, and its use of crash-test data appears appropriate.” The court also explained that the defendant did not adequately explain why the expert should have conducted additional tests. The judge admitted the expert’s testimony.

May 16, 2016

Slip-and-Fall Plaintiff’s Case Dismissed for Failure to Comply with Procedural Notice Requirement

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

Earlier last month, a Maine appellate court issued a written opinion affirming the dismissal of a plaintiff’s case after it was established that the plaintiff did not comply with the notice requirement contained in a relevant statute. In the case, Deschenes v. City of Sanford, the plaintiff provided oral but not written notice of his intent to file a lawsuit. The court determined that oral notice did not count as “substantial compliance” with the rule, and it affirmed the case’s dismissal.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiff was visiting city hall to obtain information on how he could get a copy of his daughter’s birth certificate. While he was there, he tripped on some raised tread on a step and then fell down the flight of stairs. When he reached the bottom, he slid into a glass door, exacerbating his injuries.

After the man’s fall, city employees on the scene provided him with some basic first-aid until emergency responders arrived. Afterwards, the man was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries. Before he left, he told emergency responders that he had tripped on some raised tread on the stairs.

May 11, 2016

Workplace Accidents in Virginia

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

When an employee is injured while on the job, the most common remedy is workers’ compensation. In fact, in most cases of Virginia workplace injuries, workers’ compensation will be the sole means by which the injured employee can recover compensation. This can, and often does, act to limit a negligent employer’s liability in the case of the serious injury or death of one of its employees.

However, workers’ compensation may not be the only remedy that an accident victim can pursue. For example, if the employer has not properly set up and paid for workers’ compensation insurance, the company may not be covered under the program. Alternatively, if the negligent act resulting in the worker’s injuries was not the fault of the employer, the injured employee may be able to file a claim against the at-fault party, even if the injured party was at work at the time the injury occurred.

A Recent Example of a Nearly Non-Compliant Employer

In a recent case out of Utah brought by an employee against his employer, the lower court found that the employer was not covered by workers’ compensation. In the case, Nichols v. Jacobsen, the plaintiff was injured while disassembling some scaffolding at a work site. He filed a traditional negligence lawsuit against his employer. The employer asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, based on the fact that workers’ compensation was the employee’s sole remedy, and the employee had failed to pursue it.

May 3, 2016

Car Accident Victim’s Award Upheld after Government’s Appeal

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

Earlier this month, the Nebraska Supreme Court issued an opinion in a personal injury case brought against a local government, alleging that the negligence of a government employee resulted in the plaintiff’s injuries. In the case, Moreno v. City of Gering, the government admitted that its employee was at fault in the accident, but it contested the amount of damages sought by the plaintiff. Thus, the case proceeded to trial on the damages issue only.

The Facts

The plaintiff was injured after she was ejected from a bus. Apparently, the woman was riding in a county bus when a volunteer fire-fighter negligently struck the bus. After a trial in front of a judge, the plaintiff was awarded about $575,000. Some of the damages award was designated to cover the cost of a surgery the plaintiff underwent after the accident.

Government Immunity Can Be Waived

Government immunity acts to protect state and local governments from liability in some situations. However, even if a government is entitled to immunity, that government will not necessarily assert its immunity to prevent the plaintiff’s recovery. In some cases, as was the case above, the government recognizes that an employee’s negligence resulted in harm to a member of the public, and the government wants to make things right.

April 26, 2016

State Supreme Court Finds Restrictions on Seat Belt Evidence Unconstitutional

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

The Arkansas Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that struck down a state statute restricting the admissibility of seat-belt non-use evidence in an auto accident lawsuit, finding the rule was unconstitutional under the Arkansas constitution. The Arkansas ruling is demonstrative of recent changes in several states, where courts are moving toward admitting such evidence in civil negligence lawsuits, although the laws continue to vary between states and based on the nature of the proposed evidence.

The plaintiff in the case of Mendoza vs. WIS International was a passenger in a vehicle that was being driven by the defendant when the defendant allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, causing an accident resulting in the plaintiff’s injuries. The plaintiff filed a personal injury lawsuit against the defendant and his employer, seeking damages for the injuries that were suffered in the crash. Once the case was filed, the defendant attempted to admit evidence that the plaintiff had not been wearing her seat belt when the crash occurred, thus contributing to the cause of her injuries and barring her recovery as a matter of law.

Comparative Negligence May Prevent a Plaintiff From Recovering Damages

Many jurisdictions, including Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, have laws that can prevent an accident victim from recovering damages against a negligent driver if the victim’s negligence contributed to the cause of their injuries. These “contributory negligence” statutes are used to prevent victims from recovering damages in situations in which both the victim and the defendant were negligent and contributed to the cause of the accident or the injuries to the plaintiff. In states that have modified comparative negligence statutes, a plaintiff may not be able to recover any damages if it is found that they are over 50% responsible for their injuries.

April 18, 2016

Court Allows Plaintiff to Rely Solely on Circumstantial Evidence in Lead-Based Paint Lawsuit

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

Earlier this month, a Maryland Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a case brought by a woman who claimed that she was exposed to lead in dangerous amounts as a child when she lived in a property owned by the defendant. In the case, Rowhomes, Inc. v. Smith, the court ultimately determined that, although there was no physical or direct evidence that the defendant’s property contained lead, the evidence was sufficient to survive a summary judgment motion.

Summary Judgment Motions in Personal Injury Cases

Before a case is submitted to a jury, either party can ask the court to rule on the evidence presented, in hopes of obtaining a summary judgment. If a court determines that the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, still requires a verdict in favor of the moving party, summary judgment is appropriate. If summary judgment is granted, the case is over, essentially before it even began. A summary judgment motion is a common way for a defendant to “test the waters” in personal injury cases, getting a feel for how the judge will view the evidence before proceeding to trial.

Rowhomes, Inc. v. Smith: The Facts of the Case

In Rowhomes, the issue for the court to decide was whether the plaintiff could survive a summary judgment motion without any direct evidence that the defendant’s property contained lead-based paint at the time when the plaintiff lived there. This was an issue because the home had been demolished since the plaintiff moved out, and it was never tested for lead-based paint prior to its demolition.

April 11, 2016

$4.5 Million Auto Accident Award Reversed Because Expert Witness Requirement Was Applied Incorrectly

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

The Nevada Supreme Court recently reversed a lower court’s ruling that awarded a personal injury plaintiff nearly $4.5 million for an auto accident claim. The initial ruling, which was entered by default against the defendant as a sanction for violating several pretrial orders against presenting a low-impact accident defense, will be set aside, and the plaintiff will be required to try the case again or agree to a settlement with the defendant.

The Plaintiff and Defendant Were Involved in an Accident that Appeared Relatively Minor

The case, Rish v. Simao, involved an auto accident that , according to the Nevada Supreme Court’s opinion, occurred in relatively slow-moving, stop-and-go traffic. Although the plaintiff in the case refused medical treatment at the scene of the crash and claimed that he was not injured at the time, serious injuries allegedly developed in the days or weeks following the accident. Some time after the crash occurred, the plaintiff retained counsel and filed a personal injury lawsuit against the defendant, alleging that the defendant’s negligence resulted in serious and ongoing injuries that required significant medical treatment.

The Plaintiff Files a Pretrial Motion to Exclude Specific Defense Testimony

Relying on an interpretation of a prior Nevada case, the plaintiff successfully argued before trial that the defendant should not be permitted to argue that the crash was a low-impact crash, which couldn’t have caused the alleged injuries, without retaining a biomechanical engineer as an expert witness first. Agreeing with the plaintiff and finding that the defendant had not retained such an expert, the judge granted the plaintiff’s motion. The judge also ruled that the defendant would not be permitted to discuss the nature of the accident or show pictures from the accident scene to the jury at trial. This ruling left little room for the defendant to give a defense at trial without such an expert, but the case moved on.

April 4, 2016

Federal Court Seeks Clarification of State Law in Premises Liability Lawsuit

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

As a general rule, the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit has their choice when it comes to the forum that hears the case. One of the choices the plaintiff must make is whether to file the lawsuit in state or federal court. There are many considerations that go into forum selection, but the law that will be applied to the case is one very important factor.

Federal courts are most accustomed to applying federal law. However, in some situations, a federal court will need to apply the law of a certain state in order to resolve the case. This is exactly what happened in a recent premises liability case filed in federal court that arose out of an accident that occurred in Oregon.

Johnson v. Gibson: Is a City Employee an “Owner” of the Public Land He Maintains?

The case arose when the plaintiff stepped in a small hole while jogging in a public park. According to the court’s written opinion, the hole was dug by a city employee, who was charged with maintaining the park. The plaintiff named the city employee who dug the hole, as well as his supervisor, in the lawsuit.

March 25, 2016

West Virginia Court Finds in Favor of Plaintiff in Road Rage Accident Case

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia handed down an opinion in a case that was based on a truck accident caused by another driver’s dangerous and aggressive driving. In the case Phillips v. Stear, the appellate court reversed a jury’s verdict that the plaintiff failed to prove his case. The court did so based on the defendant’s failure to admit that he was recently issued a citation for reckless driving after testifying that he was a safe and cautious driver by nature.

Phillips v. Stear: The Facts

The plaintiff was injured as a result of an accident involving the defendant. According to the court’s written opinion, the plaintiff was cut off by the defendant, who had pulled in front of the plaintiff and slammed on his brakes. The plaintiff lost control and crashed his truck. He sued the defendant, seeking compensation for his injuries.

At trial, the defendant took the witness stand to testify to his own good character and record of safe driving. On cross examination, the plaintiff asked the defendant about a recent reckless driving citation, but the defendant failed to admit to the citation and told the court he “did not recall the event.”

March 18, 2016

Plaintiff Victorious in Uninsured Motorist Claim Insurer, But Awarded Zero Dollars by Jury

by Sidney Schupak, Esq.

Juries are one of, if not the single most, unpredictable variable in any personal injury case. While a skilled attorney will do everything they can to ensure that their client is left with a fair jury, there is no way to read the minds of potential jurors and foresee how they will view certain issues that may come up at trial. It is therefore critically important that personal injury attorneys prepare a solid legal argument on behalf of their client, and also present it in a polished, professional manner.

Jury Awards Plaintiff Zero Dollars in Recent Personal Injury Case

Earlier this month, a Nebraska jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, but awarded the plaintiff a zero-dollar verdict. In the case, Lowman v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company, the plaintiff was injured when he was struck by an underinsured motorist. Because the motorist was underinsured, the plaintiff looked to his own insurance carrier to help make up the difference.

State Farm admitted that the underinsured motorist was responsible for the accident, but contested whether the driver’s negligence resulted in the plaintiff’s injuries. Because the plaintiff’s medical bills had already been paid, the only claim she was making was for the pain and suffering she sustained as a result of the accident.