Virginia Injury Attorney Blog

Pre-trial mediation has enjoyed such success and popularity that increasingly Virginia circuit courts are requiring litigants to submit to it shortly before trial. In Newport News, Hampton, York County and other venues in Hampton Roads, parties must mediate vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, and many other cases.

The format of court-facilitated mediation is the same as that of private mediation. The main difference is that the court provides the mediator, who always is a retired Virginia circuit court judge, at its own expense – a real saving to the parties.

Across Virginia, the success rate of court-facilitated mediation apparently is around 70%. On the Peninsula, some of the more popular mediators boast success rates of 85%+.

Federal courts in Virginia also are mandating mediation in personal injury, employment, and other civil cases. Federal magistrates, current and senior, routinely serve as mediators there.

Circuit court mediators tend not to be as successful in resolving vehicle accident, medical malpractice, and other personal injury or wrongful death cases involving substantial injuries and damages; which the parties themselves commonly take to private mediation, except in “no offer” cases. But court-facilitated mediation shines in resolving the small and moderate size vehicle accident cases, with them usually settling within an hour or two (or not at all).

Continue reading "Virginia Mediation: Court-Facilitated – a Lawyer’s Requirement " »

Posted by Avery T. "Sandy" Waterman, Jr., Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Client Considerations , Insurance Companies

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You do not have to rely on the good word of patient trial lawyers alone. Read about medical malpractice causing wrongful deaths in To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System from the Institute of Medicine, which was established by the National Academy of Sciences.

First published by the National Academy Press in June 2000 and in its sixth printing by May 2007, To Err is Human exposes the actual high incidence of deadly medical error that prevails throughout the United States. It reveals too how the general public misperceives what really is going on.

Experts estimate that as many as 98,000 wrongful deaths occur in any given year from medical errors that occur in hospitals. That’s more deaths than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS – three causes that receive far more public attention. Indeed, more people die annually from medication errors alone than from workplace injuries.

Despite would-be “tort reformers” railing about so-called frivolous lawsuits, the fact is that medical errors remain underreported. The Institute of Medicine prefaces that medical errors are “a serious concern in health care that, if discussed at all, is discussed behind closed doors.” That is the “conspiracy of silence” about which patient attorneys have complained for years.

Do not be misled by the propaganda and hysteria of insurance companies, healthcare providers, and other conspirators. Get the true facts from an impartial non-profit leading authority, the Institute of Medicine.

Order, read and share your own copy now. Although its list price is $34.95, To Err is Human has been available from amazon.com for as little as $27.96, shipping and handling included.

Continue reading "Malprctice Wrongful Deaths - a Lawyer's Exposé " »

Posted by Avery T. "Sandy" Waterman, Jr., Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Insurance Companies , Medical Malpractice , Wrongful Deaths

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On December 2, 2008, Suffolk Circuit Court ordered Progressive Specialty Insurance Company and its insured Defendants to provide auto accident statements to a wrongful death Plaintiff. The victim was the guest passenger of an auto rear-ended by a dumptruck driver. Unconscious at the scene, he soon was brain dead and had life support terminated. Two Progressive claims adjusters recorded a half-dozen statements of their insured drivers and an independent eyewitness within one to six days of the accident.

But Suffolk Circuit Court rejected the Progressive claim of special privilege. It considered “possible impeachment” and the “possible suppression of relevant evidence which could relate to witness credibility,” as well as Plaintiff’s need. The pending wrongful death vehicle accident case is Burr v. R.C. Paving and should be tried later this year.

Continue reading "Suffolk Orders Vehicle Accident Statements – a Lawyer’s Discovery" »

Posted by Avery T. "Sandy" Waterman, Jr., Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Insurance Companies , Vehicle Accidents , Wrongful Deaths

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