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Legal News

Veterans Disability

• The Department of Veteran's Affairs Responsible for Veterans Exposed to HIV
  Jun 18, 2009

  A congressional panel is pressing the Department of VA to disclose on Tuesday whether non-sterile equipment that may have exposed 10,000 veterans to HIV and other infections was isolated to three Southeast hospitals or is part of a wider problem.

  "Somebody is going to have to take responsibility," said U.S. Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' oversight and investigation subcommittee.

  The subcommittee scheduled Tuesday's hearing in Washington to discuss mistakes involving endoscopic equipment used for colonoscopies and other procedures at its hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga. with top agency officials and to receive a yet-unreleased report by the VA's inspector general.

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• Department of Veterans Affairs Confirms Fifth Patient Positive for HIV
  Jun 18, 2009

  Five patients of the Department of Veterans Administration have tested positive for HIV because of contaminated medical equipment at three different VA hospitals.

  In addition to the five, seven patients tested positive for hepatitis due to the same reasons, bringing the total to 33 patients now with hepatitis.

  The spread of disease is the direct result of equipment that was not sterilized properly. Patients were exposed to dirty instruments used for colonoscopies, ear, nose and throat procedures covered in the bodily fluids of others.

  Nearly 11,000 former sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines could have been exposed at the hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Augusta, Georgia. The agency says it doesn't yet know if the HIV and hepatitis cases are related to its treatment.

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• 3 Veterans Administration (VA) patients Test Positive for HIV in Tennessee Clinics
  Jun 18, 2009

  Three patients exposed to contaminated medical equipment at Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals have tested positive for HIV, the agency said Friday. Initial tests show one patient each from VA medical facilities in Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Augusta, Ga.; and Miami has the virus that causes AIDS, according to a VA statement. The three cases included one positive HIV test reported earlier this month, but the VA didn’t identify the facility involved at the time. The patients are among more than 10,000 getting tested because they were treated with endoscopic equipment that wasn’t properly sterilized and exposed them to other people’s body fluids.
  
  For the rest of this article click here.
  
  For another article on the Veterans Administration Hospitals visit this site. - 83 - 90

• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Expands Health Care Eligibility for Nondisabled
  Jun 16, 2009

  WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has started expanding the number of nondisabled moderate-income veterans eligible for health care in its system.

  It expects that with a new regulation going into effect Monday, nearly 266,000 veterans, for the first time, can use its medical centers and clinics starting next year.

  The veterans eligible are from a category known as "Priority 8." They were blocked from enrollment in 2003. Under the new regulation some, but not all who fall in this category, will now be eligible.

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Local Virginia News

• $65M Lawsuit Blames BJ's Wholesale Club in Virginia Slaying
  Apr 02, 2009

  A woman who was shot and wounded by her estranged husband after he killed her sister has filed a lawsuit against the BJ's Wholesale Club where the crimes happened in April 2006.

  The lawsuit, filed by Karen Phillips in Norfolk Circuit Court in March, seeks $65 million.

  Her husband, James Phillips, was convicted in 2007 of wounding her and killing her sister, Linda Baggett, at the store in the Western Branch section of Chesapeake. Phillips was sentenced to two life terms plus eight years.

  Karen Phillips was a store employee. She claims in her lawsuit that BJ's knew about the danger posed by James Phillips and failed to protect her from him. The couple had been married for 14 years but were separated and were going through a divorce.

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• New Virginia Driver's License Focus on Security
  Mar 23, 2009

  In April of 2009, the state Department of Motor Vehicles will redesign licenses and identification cards with balck and white pictures. There will also be a second, smaller photo of the driver that will be visible from both sides of the license. According to the DMV the black and white photos are better for security reasons. The Virginia Beach Buckner DMV location will be one of the first sites to make the switch this April. It will take about eight years for all Virginia automobile licenses and identification cards to be converted to the new format. - 86 - 90

• A Virginia State trooper collided with a car on the shoulder of I-64 in Hampton
  Mar 16, 2009

  A state trooper was taken to a hospital after colliding with a car using the shoulder of Interstate 64. The trooper was on her way to a crash at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on a motorcycle with her lights and sirens shortly after 9 a.m. when the driver of the car using the shoulder lane tried to get out of the trooper's way and attempted to get back into the flow of traffic, but wasn't successful. - 87 - 90

General

• Toyota Charged With Trying to Conceal and Destroy Accident Case Evidence
  Sep 02, 2009

  "Automaker Toyota has been charged in a class action suit with illegally hiding evidence from plaintiffs in cases stemming from highway deaths and injuries across the U.S. Biller, a managing counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., in Torrance, Calif., from 2003 to 2007, claimed in his lawsuit that he repeatedly complained to supervisors that the company was illegally withholding evidence. Biller, 46, said that when he learned of the company's failure to produce test data from an engineering subsidiary, he attempted to collect and preserve the information. Nonetheless, the engineering unit 'was allowed to destroy relevant information and documents that should have been produced in, approximately, over 300 rollover accidents involving roof crush issues.' The suit also claims that Toyota regularly withheld records on its internal standard for roof strength, and allowed witnesses to testify that the standard didn't exist. "
  
  
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• Supreme Court Ruling on Tobacco Punitive Damages
  Apr 20, 2009

  The Supreme Court has thrown out a cigarett maker's appeal of a $79.5 million award to a smoker's widow, likely signaling the end of a 10-year legal fight over the large payout.
  
  In a one-sentence order, the court left in place a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court in favor of Mayola Williams. The state court repeatedly upheld a verdict against Altria Group Inc.'s Phillip Morris USA in a fraud trial in 1999, when Williams convinced a jury that the company should be held accountable for misleading people into thinking cigarettes were not dangerous or addictive. - 89 - 90

• Virginia Beach Oceanfront OKs Drive-Throughs
  Mar 16, 2009

  "The Planning Commission approved on Wednesday two fast-food restaurants with drive- through windows, projects city officials said contradicted the goal of a pedestrian-friendly urban village on Laskin Road near the Oceanfront..." - 90 - 90

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