In March of 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handed down a much-anticipated ruling in Bailets v. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, unanimously ruling that noneconomic damages like humiliation and mental anguish are recoverable for whistleblowers who are determined to have been harmed in violation of Pennsylvania’s whistleblower law. In Bailets, an employee with ten years of service […]

It is the middle of the night, and you receive a phone call that one of your vehicles has been involved in an accident. With everything that starts racing through your mind, one of your first thoughts should be—I need to get a statement about what happened from my driver. And, while that seems simple […]

Attendees at our firm’s seminars will have heard the term “spoliation,” referring to the destruction of evidence.  The issue typically comes up in the context of documents or evidence that is transitory, such as data from a Truck’s ECM, or an outdoor accident scene.  Essentially, a party warns another party by letter to preserve evidence.  […]

Employers are regularly reminded by insurance carriers and defense attorneys that they should gather detailed evidence surrounding the circumstances of an accident. Recent case law highlights the importance of even the most minute details. The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission follows the “actual risk test.” The test, which is highly fact-specific and subjective, is outlined as […]

As those familiar with the trucking industry know all too well, it has become common practice for plaintiffs to seek damages against brokers in the event of trucking accidents. Their purpose in doing so is to find the entity with the deepest pockets as well as to add more defendants and causes of action to […]

At the request of the Northam Administration, Republican State Senators Mark Obenshain of Rockingham County and Bill Carrico of Grayson County co-sponsored legislation in the 2018 General Assembly directing the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to study the feasibility of imposing tolls on large trucks traveling on Interstate 81. The bill sponsors’ stated goal is to […]

 Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month, you have heard and read stories about a previously obscure British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.  Without going into great depth in this article, Cambridge Analytica apparently gained access to data obtained through a Facebook app developed by a Cambridge professor, which included information about […]

RICHMOND – Last year, Virginia recorded the highest number of motorcyclist fatalities in a decade, and, as the weather warms again, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) urges motorcyclists and motorists to do their part to prevent deaths this year. One-hundred-and-seven motorcyclists were killed in 2017 on Virginia roadways, compared to 72 in 2016 […]