"A New Era for Noncompetes"

With the economy on an uptick, are you thinking your employees should sign noncompete agreements, so you can protect your clients from competitors?

Lisa A. Bertini has been inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America which includes induction into the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute. Fellowship is highly selective and by invitation only based on effectiveness, accomplishment, and superior ethical reputation. It is an honorary society that is aggressively diverse in its composition and consists of less than one percent of elite trial and appellate lawyers in North America.

Amberley Hammer successfully settled a wrongful death case for $1.7 million for the lovely family of an eighteen month old little boy who presented to the emergency room with respiratory distress. The baby’s respiratory distress was untreated and mismanaged resulting in his cardiac arrest and death.

Jury Awards $5 Million for Spinal Injury
Lisa O'Donnell and Amberley Hammer represented a patient who was 16 years old when he underwent pectus excavatum surgery on January 30, 2007, during which the defendant provided anesthesia care. Plaintiff claimed that his blood pressure dropped extremely low during the surgery which went uncorrected by the defendant, causing an ischemic injury to his spinal cord. The injury caused paralysis of his lower limbs and neurogenic bowel and bladder. Through months of physical therapy, plaintiff was able to regain function of his legs, however, he continues to have neurogenic bowel and bladder, weakness in his lower extremeties, and temperature and sensory deficits in his lower extremeties.
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Lisa Bertini, as co-chair of the VTLA employment and civil rights section, hosted a luncheon where Whistleblowing Law was highlighted. The Supreme Court case Ligon v. County of Goochland was discussed in detail from the time the client made his complaint of fraud and abuse of taxpayer recourses to the filing of the defamation and Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act case.

Lisa O’Donnell at the 2011 Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (VTLA) annual convention became the president-elect.

Lisa Bertini, Lisa O’Donnell and Amberley Hammer were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).

Infant suffers brain injury from placental abruption
Settlement: $2.3 million
At 35 weeks pregnant, plaintiff went to the labor and delivery emergency room at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, complaining of severe lower abdominal cramping that started earlier that morning with a pain level of 8 on a scale of 10. She was not connected to a fetal heart monitor for almost one hour after her presentation. Once she was placed on a fetal heart monitor; the fetal heart rate pattern had a minimal variability and was non-reactive, a very alarming sign. A physician was not notified until approximately one hour after that time. An emergency cesarean section was performed over two-and-a-half hours after admission for severe fetal bradycardia and possible placental abruption. The findings during the c-section were a complete placental abruption. The baby suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury that is permanent, and she will require lifelong care. The case was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act. [11-T-044]

U.S. to pay $2.3 million to settle malpractice case

Lisa O’Donnell presented Don’t Dread the DME – Strategies to Defeat the Beast at the 2011 VTLA Annual Convention
So you’ve received word from defense counsel that that they want to have your client examined by a physician of their choosing. Perhaps you’ve been provided with a proposed order pursuant to Rule 4:10 ordering the exam to tak e place. Don’t dread the inevitable conclusion that will likely be reached by this defense doctor that your client’s injuries couldn’t possibly have come from the automobile collision, or that your client does not suffer from a traumatic brain injury. Rather begin your preparation of what can and should be a lively and fact-filled cross examination at trial that just might reveal the desperate measures that the defendant is taking to avoid responsibility for the injuries he or she caused. Your preparation and strategies begin the moment you learn about the 4:10 exam and which doctor has been hired by the defense. The following: steps and strategies should be considered in every case:

BOH In the News

We recently asked some of you to share with us your thoughts on your experiences with the firm for inclusion on our website. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of your responses and the truly wonderful things that you were willing to share about us and with us! If you’d like to contribute your thoughts for possible inclusion on the site, please feel free to do so via email to: Zamanda Ramsey

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