Virginia Injury Attorney Blog

On August 31, 2012, Mr. Waterman filed William M. Snovell, Executor of the Estate of Bernadette Teresa Connelly Snovell, Deceased v. Williamsburg Facility Operations, LLC, d/b/a Consulate Health Care of Williamsburg, and “Jane Roe/John Doe” in Circuit Court for York County and the Town of Poquoson, Virginia. It is another patient fall case.

The State Medical Examiner has certified that the death of 81 year-old Bernadette Snovell was caused by her fall, fractured ribs, and pneumothorax suffered as a patient at Consulate Health Care of Williamsburg. Hence her husband as Executor of the Estate has alleged wrongful death.

Snovell claims medical malpractice arising principally from the alleged failure of Consulate Health Care of Williamsburg to engage bed/chair alarms ordered for her safety by her attending physician. Snovell also claims numerous other shortcomings, including inaccurate record-keeping, failure to relocate her near the nursing station, and material treatment delays.

The nursing home lawsuit seeks $4,550,000.00 in damages. In 2005, Mr. Waterman got a jury award of $1,600,000.00 for another fall victim at Riverside Hospital, Inc.’s Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News Circuit Court, which then record-setting verdict was upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2006 in Riverside Hosp., Inc. v. Johnson, 272 Va. 518 (2006).

On August 23, 2012, Mr. Waterman was selected by his legal peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for 2013. This legal recognition is the 7th consecutive time since 2007 that he has been named to Best Lawyers.

His legal recognition in 2013 Best Lawyers is for his work in 2 separate practice areas: Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiff and Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiff. In addition to representing patients for medical malpractice, Mr. Waterman also represents victims of vehicle accidents, sexual abuse, and other cases of personal injury and wrongful death.

Selection for Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than 4,000,000 confidential evaluations by the top attorneys in the United States. The American Lawyer has coined Best Lawyers as “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice,” making its legal recognition a singular honor.

The August 2012 issue of Trial, the monthly magazine of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”) www.justice.org, reports key “Verdicts and Settlements”. One entitled “Court Sanctions Supermarket for Destroying Video of Slip and Fall” recounts a $2,300,000.00 Georgia jury verdict after the judge struck all defenses of Kroger Co. for Kroger erasing incident footage in a special case of premises liability.

Trial’s “College Student Dies After Fraternity Pledge Activity” reported a $4,660,000.00 settlement of a North Carolina case against the national Theta Chi Fraternity for its alleged failure to enforce anti-hazing policy, resulting in wrongful death at the hands of its local chapter. Another negligence article, “Failure to Provide Helmets at Segway Event,” covered a $10,000,000.00 Connecticut jury verdict against Segway, Inc. for not having or even warning about helmets at a “Segway Challenge” demonstration/competition.

Trial is the monthly magazine of the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), of which Mr. Waterman has been a member for over two decades. Its August 2012 issue focuses on “Recreational Torts,” including recreational vehicle crashes.

Lead articles of Trial cover several recreational circumstances of personal injury. “Injuries on Deck” navigates passengers injured on cruise ships; “Mayhem in the Park” addresses carnival, water park and other amusement park injuries; "Ringing the Bell on Concussions" tees up coach and physician mismanagement of traumatic brain injuries in youth sports; and “Danger on the Open Road” surveys design and manufacturing defects in recreational and other modified vehicle crashes

On August 10, 2012, Mr. Waterman filed Plaintiff’s Second Motion to Compel against Defendants in the medical malpractice case of Shirley F. Burrell v. Riverside Hospital, Inc., No. CL1101633F-15 in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. Among other things, Riverside now objects to answering about and to producing it’s fall risk assessment and intervention materials that it taught to its nursing students, its new nursing employees, and its existing nursing employees – which materials support the Plaintiff fall victim’s position and contradict Riverside’s position in Burrell.

In an earlier patient fall case, Riverside Hospital, Inc. v. Johnson, 272 Va. 518 (2006), the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the discovery and the admissibility of Riverside’s similar nursing school, orientation, preceptorship, and in-service materials. Mr. Waterman obtained a $1,600,000.00 jury verdict against Riverside in Newport News Circuit Court in Johnson.