by KPMLAW | Apr 18, 2019 | KPMBlog, News, Profiles, Uncategorized
Chris Bergin has been selected to the 2019 Virginia Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit...
by KPMLAW | Apr 16, 2019 | KPMBlog, News, Profiles, Uncategorized
Randy Lenhart has been selected to the 2019 Virginia Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. This is Randy’s first appearance on the list. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit...
by KPMLAW | Apr 16, 2019 | KPMBlog, News, Profiles, Uncategorized
Andrew Willis has been selected to the 2019 Virginia Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Andrew has been honored as a Rising Star each year since 2017. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit...
by KPMLAW | Apr 16, 2019 | KPMBlog, News, Profiles, Uncategorized
Rachel Riordan has been selected to the 2019 Virginia Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Rachel has been honored every year since 2015. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit...
by KPMLAW | Mar 25, 2019 | KPMBlog, News, Profiles, Uncategorized
Written by Andy Webb, Esq. Edited by Gary Reinhardt, Esq. A reciprocal insurance exchange is “an unincorporated association in which members (as individuals, partnerships, trustees, or corporations) exchange contracts and pay premiums through an attorney-in-fact for the insurance of each other.” Reciprocal Exchange: Legal Definition, Merriam-Webster.com, https://www.merriam-webster.com/legal/reciprocal%20 exchange (last visited March 6, 2019). Historically, insurance exchanges were formed by individuals or corporations engaged in a similar line of business who together undertook to indemnify one another from certain kinds of risks by a mutual exchange of insurance contracts. See Lee v. Interinsurance Exchange, 50 Cal. App. 4th 694. Often times insurance exchanges were started to avoid questionable risk pools. For example, USAA (a reciprocal insurance exchange with a military focus and over ten million customers) was founded by military officers who believed they were better drivers than average civilians. See Andrew Verstein, Enterprise Without Entities, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 247, 267 (2017) (citing Paul T. Ringenbach, USAA: A Tradition of Service 1922-1997, at 20). Today, policyholders in a reciprocal insurance exchange—often known as “subscribers”—act through a common attorney-in-fact and are simultaneously both insurers and insureds. This method of providing insurance is different from mutual insurance companies because insurance exchanges do not have a corporate existence; instead, they are simply an unincorporated association of individuals who swap potential liabilities between themselves. 43 Am. Jur. 2d Insurance § 72 (2016). Reciprocal Insurance Exchanges’ Unique Legal Position Due to their unique structure, certain distinctive legal questions arise in litigation involving reciprocal insurance exchanges. One of the most relevant of these questions is where are reciprocal exchanges “citizens” for the purpose of diversity...
by KPMLAW | Mar 25, 2019 | KPMBlog, News, Profiles, Uncategorized
Written by Lee Hoyle Edited by Brian A. Cafritz All tort cases, at the broadest level, consist of two elements: liability and damages. If the defendant prevails on liability, the plaintiff necessarily recovers nothing. However, the converse is not always true. The Virginia Supreme Court has reaffirmed twice in the past two years that a plaintiff who prevails on liability is not necessarily entitled to recover any damages. As long as the evidence supports such conclusion, the jury is free to decide that the plaintiff was not injured and award no damages. In Gilliam v. Immel, 293 Va. 18 (2017), the plaintiff was the driver of a vehicle struck from behind by the defendant’s vehicle. The plaintiff went to the emergency room complaining of neck and low back pain. After the emergency room, however, her treatment focused on shoulder pain, eventually requiring surgery. She presented testimony from her shoulder surgeon, but did not provide other testimony on the reasonability or necessity of her medical treatment and bills. The defendant presented expert testimony denying that her shoulder injuries were related to the accident. Neither party presented evidence directly on the causation of the plaintiff’s emergency room treatment. The jury returned a verdict finding the defendant liable but awarding no damages. Shumate v. Mitchell presented a similar, but slightly different scenario. ___ Va. ___, 822 S.E.2d 9 (2018). Like Gilliam, the plaintiff in Shumate was the driver of the front car in a rear-end accident. The plaintiff in Shumate, however, had a long and ongoing history of treatment for pain similar to what she claimed in the accident. She went to...
