News

Jonathan Petty recently won surgical malpractice jury trial in Federal Court in Richmond, Virginia.  Our client presented to the emergency department with complaints of severe abdominal pain.  Despite radiology studies consistent with a large bowel obstruction, the surgeon failed to timely operate causing him to suffer severe injuries.  Click here to read more.

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Jonathan Petty has been invited to lecture for the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association's seminar on expert witness testimony.  Medical malpractice trials rise and fall on the quality of the expert witnesses.  Jonathan addresses the Virginia Supreme Court's most recent opinion on expert witness designations, John Crane, Inc. v. Jones.  Click here to read Jonathan's article titled John Crane Pain. 
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PLEASE NOTE CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE AND THAT CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE UNDERTAKEN BY THE LAWYER.

In February 2009, a Prince Edward County, Virginia jury returned a verdict in excess of $3.7 million verdict on behalf of one of our clients in a medical malpractice case.  The case involved a radiologist’s failure to recognize a bowel injury that our client had sustained in a motor vehicle accident.  The resulting delay in diagnosis caused her to suffer horrible injuries.  Despite the obvious error, the radiologist’s insurance carrier never offered one penny to settle the case.  It is believed that this verdict is the largest plaintiff’s verdict in a medical malpractice case in the history of Prince Edward County.

Click here to learn more about this case.

If you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice or other serious injuries, please call us at (804) 288-1661 or click here to email us for answers to your legal questions.
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On October 31, 2008, Tom Williamson prevailed in an important medical malpractice case in the Virginia Supreme Court.  Our client suffered permanent injuries with the birth of her child.  Her obstetrician, employed by the Eastern Virginia Medical School practice group, argued that she could not be sued for medical malpractice because she worked for a "charity."  Tom Williamson successfully argued before the Virginia Supreme Court that the Eastern Virginia Medical School was not a charity and its physicians must be held accountable for medical malpractice.  Please click here to read this Virginia Supreme Court decision.

Tom Williamson has prevailed in numerous court decisions protecting the rights of medical malpractice victims to hold their doctors, hospitals, and nurses accountable for their severe injuries or wrongful deaths.  Tom Williamson is also a frequent speaker and is well-published on the topics of medical malpractice, products liability, and trial practice.  You can read his articles in our online library.

If you or a family member has been a victim of medical malpractice, please contact us by email or call us at (804) 288-1661 for a free consultation.

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PLEASE NOTE THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN SPECIFIC CASES DEPEND ON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. PAST CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN FUTURE CASES UNDERTAKEN BY A LAWYER.

Attorney Jonathan Petty obtained a $1.6 million arbitration award in a medical malpractice case.  Jonathan represented the family of a 56 year old woman admitted to the hospital with a small bowel obstruction.  The general surgeon failed to take her to surgery in a timely fashion and she died of consequences of her small bowel obstruction without ever being operated upon. 

Click here to learn more about this complex medical malpractice case. 

At Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. we represent victims of medical malpractice, defective products, and other types of personal injuries throughout Virginia including Richmond, Hampton Roads, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Petersburg, and northern Virginia.  If you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, please call us at (804) 288-1661 or click here to email us discuss your legal rights. 
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The FDA has announced that a California company has recalled 1 million pounds of pistachios that may be contaminated with Salmonella.  Salmonella food poisoning can cause serious injuries and can be fatal to the very young, the elderly, and those with impaired immune systems. Click here to go to our blog to read more about the recall.
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Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Thomas W. Williamson, Jr., a member of the law firm Williamson & Lavecchia L.C., as the “Richmond Best Lawyers Personal Injury Litigator of the Year” for 2009.

After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities.

These specialties are Banking Law, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Corporate Law, Family Law, Personal Injury Litigation, and Real Estate Law and only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 15th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2009), is based on more than 2.5 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings in our surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Steven Naifeh, Managing Editor of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession. We would like to congratulate Thomas W. Williamson, Jr. on being selected as the ‘Richmond Best Lawyers Personal Injury Litigator of the Year’ for 2009.”

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Best Lawyers® selects lawyers for inclusion based solely upon evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.  Not only was Tom Williamson recognized by his peers as being one of the best personal injury lawyers, he was honored as the 2009 Lawyer of the Year for Personal Injury Litigation (Virginia) based upon his particularly high level of peer recognition.

Throughout his thirty year career, Tom Williamson has been representing victims of catastrophic injuries including motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and defective products.

 Tom’s skilled advocacy on behalf of his clients has been recognized in publications such as Richmond Magazine®, Best Lawyers in America®, and Virginia Superlawyers®.  On our website you can read decisions of the Virginia Supreme Court Tom has obtained for his clients and articles Tom has published on trial advocacy, expert witnesses, defective products, medical malpractice, and insurance law.

 If you or a loved one has been seriously injured due to medical malpractice, a defective product, or has suffered other types of personal injuries, please call us at (804) 288-1661 or click here to email us for a free consultation.

 

 

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Carolyn Lavecchia is one of only seventeen Virginia attorneys recognized in the publication Virginia Super Lawyers 2007 for expertise in representing victims of medical malpractice. The magazine Virginia Super Lawyers 2007 mailed surveys to approximately 19,000 active Virginia attorneys and asked them to nominate the best attorneys they have seen in action. Only the top 5% were selected for publication in Virginia Super Lawyers 2007. Carolyn has over 20 years of experience handling serious injury and death cases due to medical malpractice. Prior to becoming an attorney, Carolyn was a nurse practitioner on the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia. Combining her health care experience with her skills as a trial lawyer has earned Carolyn the admiration of her clients and the respect of her opponents. Carolyn leads the elder abuse section of Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. representing victims of abuse at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. For more information about Carolyn, please view her profile or contact us for more information.

Please call us at (804) 288-1661 or click here for a free consultation.

Carolyn Lavecchia represents victims of medical malpractice and other serious injuries throughout Virginia including Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Petersburg, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Hampton Roads, Farmville, Lynchburg, and northern Virginia.
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One of the biggest challenges in pursuing medical malpractice lawsuits is finding qualified experts who are willing to testify for the plaintiff. New to our website is Tom Williamson's article on effective strategies to locate experts. The article was published in the VTLA Journal. Tom's article is supported by over 30 years of experience representing victims of medical malpractice and defective products.  Click here to read Tom's article on finding qualified experts and numerous other publications authored by Tom Williamson and the attorneys at Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C.

If you would like a free consultation with Tom Williamson, please call us at (804) 288-1661 or click here.  Tom represents victims of medical malpractice, defective products and other serious injuries throughout Virginia including Richmond, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Charlottesville, Farmville, Hampton Roads and northern Virginia.
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For the third year in a row Tom Williamson has been recognized by Virginia Super Lawyers as one of the top 50 lawyers in Virginia out of 25,000 Virginia lawyers.  Additionally, Tom was one of only 22 lawyers recognized for representing victims of medical malpractice.

Tom has been representing victims of medical malpractice, defective products and other wrongful conduct in Virginia for over thirty years.  He is a past president of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and is well published in the areas of medical malpractice and trial tactics.  For more information about Tom, please visit his profile on our website or click here to contact Tom.

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The magazine Virginia Super Lawyers 2008 mailed surveys to approximately 18,000 active Virginia attorneys and asked them to nominate the best attorneys they have personally observed in action. Only the top 5% were selected for publication in Virginia Super Lawyers 2008, and only 22 were recognized for plaintiff's medical malpractice.  Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. is proud that three of our lawyers, Tom Williamson, Carolyn Lavecchia, and Jonathan Petty were recognized for representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice actions.   No other law firm in Virginia has three of its lawyers recognized for representing victims of medical malpractice.

If you would like to learn more about Tom Williamson, Carolyn Lavecchia, and Jonathan Petty please see their attorney profiles on our website or click here to contact them.

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Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. welcomes Wendy Moore, RN to our full time staff.  Wendy has extensive experience in critical care, cardiac, and pre-operative nursing.  Wendy is a graduate of the MCV School of Nursing and has fourteen years of experience as a legal nurse consultant.  As a nurse consultant, Wendy will assist us in evaluating cases, researching medical and nursing literature, locating experts, and preparing complex medical cases for trial. 
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Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. is pleased to announce that we have launched a Spanish language version of this website to better serve the Latino community.  The Spanish version of this website has detailed information about our practice areas, our experience, frequently asked questions about medical malpractice, defective products, nursing home abuse, and more.  Please click here to visit our Spanish website.
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Jonathan Petty was included as one of only six “Virginia Rising Stars” in the publications Virginia Super Lawyers 2007 (Rising Stars) and Richmond Magazine for his skill in handling medical malpractice cases on behalf of injured persons and their families. The lawyers selected for inclusion on this prestigious list were nominated and selected as the best up-and-coming lawyers in their practice areas aged 40 years and younger. Only 2.5% of the total lawyers in Virginia are listed in Rising Stars.

Jonathan has been handling medical malpractice and other cases involving serious injury and death for over twelve years. For information about his background, please visit Jonathan’s profile.

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The American Academy of Trial Counsel is a lawyer honorary comprised of experienced and effective litigators throughout the United States, and represents less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Fellowship in the Academy is limited and by invitation only. Academy Fellows are deemed to be among the best trial lawyers in the American bar, who have exhibited accomplishment in litigation and trial work, and have superior ethical reputations. The composition of the Academy is aggressively diverse, with recognition of excellence in litigation across all segments of the bar. In addition, the Academy is dedicated to promoting superior advocacy, professionalism and ethical standards among its Fellows and Members.
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Tom Williamson joins a distinguished group of lawyers who have been listed in the book The Best Lawyers in America for twenty years or longer. Tom was recognized in the specialties of medical malpractice law and personal injury litigation. Selection in the book The Best Lawyers in America is based on confidential surveys of the top lawyers around the country. Click here to read the letter from the editor-in-chief of Best Lawyers congratulating Tom.
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Bausch & Lomb recently recalled its ReNu with MoistureLoc® contact lens solution from the worldwide marketplace. This solution has reportedly been linked to dangerous fungal eye infections known as fusarium keratitis. If untreated this infection can damage the cornea and possibly lead to blindness.
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PLEASE NOTE THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN SPECIFIC CASES DEPEND ON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. PAST CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN FUTURE CASES UNDERTAKEN BY A LAWYER OR LAW FIRM. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A CASE, PLEASE CONTACT US SO WE CAN DISCUSS THE SPECIFIC FACTS OF YOUR CASE AND YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.

In this case, Tom obtained a $1.5 medical malpractice verdict in Richmond Circuit Court for a patient who suffered brain damage when he underwent a procedure to implant an ICD, which is commonly called a pacemaker. According to Virginia Lawyers Weekly this was tied for the fifteenth highest verdict of all cases tried in Virginia in 2005.

After the device was placed, the plaintiff was administered 50mg Brevital for deep sedation in order to test the device. Defendant cardiologist had been trained and certified in deep sedation anesthesiology and was responsible for administration and monitoring of the patient during deep sedation; an electrophysiologist was implanting the ICD. Testing was uneventful. During the procedure the oxygen saturation levels dropped and following the testing the electrophysiologist noted that plaintiff was not breathing properly. At some time after the device was implanted and before patient was intubated, defendant had left the procedure room and was in the monitoring room when he was called back to the patient.

Plaintiff's expert was an anesthesiologist who testified as to the standard of care for monitoring during deep sedation. Plaintiff's expert testified that the injury was caused by failure to manage the airway and assist the breathing of the sedated patient.

Click here to read the full trial report published in Virginia Lawyer's Weekly on December 16, 2005.
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Tom Williamson was again chosen for inclusion in the Legal Elite civil litigation category published by Virginia Business Magazine, in its December 2005 issue. According to Virginia Business Magazine, the Legal Elite represents an effort to identify the very best lawyers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With help from Virginia Bar Association and the research resources of Virginia Business, the magazine polled more than 7,500 lawyers asking them to nominate lawyers in 12 categories of law picked by Virginia Business. Tom was one a select group of attorneys chosen by his peers for inclusion in the Civil Litigation category.

Tom Williamson practices with Williamson & Lavecchia L.C. of Richmond, Virginia. For more than twenty five years, Tom has represented persons harmed by medical malpractice, defective products, insurance company misconduct and other types of negligent and wrongful conduct. Richmond Magazine previously named Tom the top Product Liability, Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice lawyer in Richmond, Virginia based upon a survey of 2,000 practicing lawyers. Please see Tom's full curriculum vitae to learn more about Tom's background and experience.
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