Latest | Virginia Beach Legal Examiner

Doctor apologies prevent lawsuits for medical malpractice

New Virginia (VA) law allows doctors and hospitals to apologize to the people they hurt by medical errors and not have it used against them in court. This law was part of a compromise worked out between doctors and lawyers in a recent Legislative Session. Getting this law passed was a smart play by

By Richard Shapiro

/ 21 Jun 2007

Retained surgical sponges: a known medical error

Editor Note: My partner, Rick Shapiro, posted a May 2009 update article on surgical sponges/towels and a new technology that embeds a bar code and wand system that tracks sponges to prevent serious…

By Jim Lewis

/ 19 Jun 2007

"Funny" insurance ads are offensive to this injury lawyer

Insurance company advertising seems to involve lots of jokes these days. Obviously, some advertising executive has convinced the insurance companies that they can increase their profits [44 billion in 2006] and market share by having comic ads about insurance. If you watch TV you’ve seen these insur

By Jim Lewis

/ 11 Jun 2007

New York Governor to Fight Against Worker Misclassification

After a report was published by Cornell University saying approximately 704,000 workers in New York are misclassified as independent contractors, Governor Spitzer has promised to focus on identifiying and classifying workers correctly. The state loses out on unemployment insurance taxes and workers’

By The Legal Examiner

/ 9 Jun 2007

Two Tractor Trailers Collide in Maryland

Two tractor-trailers were driving on Interstate 70 Friday morning when they collided, causing one truck to spill corrosive chemicals. The trucking accident happened in Frederick County. The accident happened when an Arnold Trucking tractor-trailer ran out of fuel as it traveled up South Mountain, tr

By The Legal Examiner

/ 9 Jun 2007

Mount Carmel Nursing Home Cited for 16 Federal Violations

The Mount Carmel Nursing Home in Greenfield, Wisconsin was cited for numerous violations and needs to have them fixed before any new admissions will be paid for with state funding. The home was in danger of being closed in 1998, but since then has had a record of very few violations. The nursing hom

By The Legal Examiner

/ 9 Jun 2007

Unborn Child Allowed to Sue for Medical Malpractice

A 2-year-old boy is allowed to bring forth a medical malpractice suit against the doctor that misdiagnosed his father a month after he was conceived according to an appeals court. A doctor did not correctly identify colon cancer and instead diagnosed it as diverticulitis. Judge Michael Gibbs should

By The Legal Examiner

/ 8 Jun 2007

E. Coli Contaminated Meat Recall Expanded

370,000 more pounds of ground beef were added to a recall that covers meat sold in 11 states. The ground beef could potentially be contaminated with a deadly form of E. coli bacteria. The bacteria can cause dehydration and bloody diarrhea. The recalled products may contain the O157:H7 strain of E. c

By The Legal Examiner

/ 8 Jun 2007

One Man Killed in North Carolina Car Accident

A group of five people traveling through North Carolina were involved in a single car accident on Saturday. One man was killed and all the others were hospitalized with injuries. The driver of the car is 80-years-old. The driver was driving north on I-95 through Four Oaks, N.C., about 12:30 p.m. Sat

By The Legal Examiner

/ 8 Jun 2007

Portsmouth Injury Lawyer Discusses Passenger Cases

Authored by: Randall AppletonAs an attorney living in Portsmouth, Virginia, I have noticed in our local papers that serious motor vehicle wrecks occur on a regular basis in all the Tidewater cities: Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk and Chesapeake. An important point for passengers in veh

By Richard Shapiro

/ 6 Jun 2007

Radiation and Radioactive Exposures May Have Impacted Railroad Workers

Our law firm, Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis, and Appleton, has a special concentration in railroad injury matters, as well as all forms of personal injury. We have recently been retained on cases involving railroad workers who have developed cancer and other radiation related illness and disease as

By Richard Shapiro

/ 1 Jun 2007

New Virginia law makes auto accident lawsuits quicker.

The Virginia legislature passed various new laws affecting civil litigation which go into effect on July 1, 2007. One of the most important changes was getting rid of an old procedure called removal which allowed insurance companies in automobile accidents to take a case out of the faster Virginia (

By Richard Shapiro

/ 30 May 2007