Brien Roche
Sometimes opposing counsel may want to obtain records and/or speak with a plaintiff’s healthcare provider. That typically is not allowed. Under the HIPAA statute, there may however be an avenue to allow such …
Brien Roche
To assign something means to sell it. Certain claims may be sold. For instance contract claims may be sold. You see that all the time in terms of debt collection. Debt collectors will …
Brien Roche
Sometimes in the course of personal injury litigation it’s necessary to sue someone who is in jail. That person may have been the at-fault party in a crash and subsequently is in prison. …
Brien Roche
Sometimes in a lawsuit, one party may want the file sealed. On the other hand they may want part of the file sealed. Whether or not that can happen is governed by the …
Brien Roche
The Virginia Consumer Protection Act was initially passed in 1977. It was passed as remedial legislation to promote fair and ethical standards between suppliers and the consuming public.
It protects in particular a consumer …
Brien Roche
Fraudulent behavior in the context of a medical malpractice case is not unheard of. However it is unusual. The court addressed such an issue in the case of Dell v. French, 38 Va. Cir. …
Brien Roche
Insurance policies are contracts. They are simply agreements. No different than most other contracts.
What follows is an explanation of contract law and some incorporation of insurance contract law.
First, some general definitions. A contract is …
Brien Roche
Construction contractors and tradespeople are required to be licensed in Virginia. Virginia Code § 54.1-1103(A) requires that “[n]o person shall engage in or offer to engage in contracting work or operate as an …
Brien Roche
In police abuse of force cases, the officer may raise a defense of qualified immunity. That defense is an affirmative defense. The burden rests on the defendants to prove it. Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. …
Brien Roche
Distracted driving is a frequent cause of auto crashes.
Cell phone and texting usage while driving causes crashes. Knowledge that a person you are loaning your auto to uses a cell phone while driving …