The Supreme Court granted four appeals this week: will contest, certificate of analysis, workers’ comp, and asbestosis on the high seas.

Summaries after the jump.

 

SANDERS v. COMMONWEALTH, Record Number 101870 from the Court of Appeals of Virginia

Counsel

  • Gregory K. Matthews and Brenda C. Spry (Office of the Public Defender) for the appellant.
  • Mary E. Harris (Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney) for the appellee.

Assignments of Error

  1. The trial court erred in admitting into evidence the hearsay statements contained in the certificate of analysis prepared by a laboratory technician who was not present in court.

WEEDON v. WEEDON, Record Number 101901 from the Circuit Court of King George County

Counsel

  • James P. Cox, III (Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen & Tweel, PLLC) for appellant.
  • Shelly R. Collette (Pirsch & Associates) trial counsel for appellees.

Assignments of Error

  1. The trial court erred in failing to determine that Dorothy Rose Weedon had the requisite testamentary capacity when she executed the 2008 Will.
  2. The trial court erred in failing to properly weigh the evidence of the fact witnesses at the time of the execution of the 2008 Will by ruling that the drafting attorney did not have the right to delegate certain duties owed to the testator.
  3. The trial court erred in ruling the 2008 Will was the result of undue influence.
  4. The trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the expert witness of the contestants and by giving undue weight to the evidence of the expert witness contrary to Virginia law.
  5. The trial court erred by failing to rule that the contestants did not have sufficient corroborative evidence to support their allegations of lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence.

REDIFER v. CHESTER, Record Number 101902, from the Circuit Court of Augusta County

Counsel

  • James B. Feinman (Law Office of James B. Feinman) for appellant.
  • Francis Chester for appellees.

Assignments of Error

  1. The trial court erred in dismissing Barry Redifer’s civil suit because he had obtained an award from the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission.

JOHN CRANE INC. v. HARDICK, Record Number 101909 from the Circuit Court of the City of Newport News

Counsel

  • Eric G. Reeves, Brian J. Schneider, C. Stinson Lindenzweig (Moran Reeves & Conn PC), and Michael A. Pollard (Baker & McKenzie LLP) for appellant.
  • William W.C. Harty, Robert R. Hatten, Donald N. Patten, Hugh B. McCormick, III and Erin H. Hieronimus (Patton, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein, L.C.) for appellees.

Assignments of Error

  1. The trial court committed reversible error by allowing the jury to award nonpecuniary damages for the wrongful death of a Navy sailor, who alleged an “indivisible” injury from exposure to asbestos that occurred, in part, on the high seas.
  2. The trial court committed reversible error in allowing Respondent to introduce evidence of asbestos exposure from gasket removal, where Respondent did not prove that any gasket removed was more likely than not a gasket supplied by Petitioner. The trial court compounded that error by precluding Petitioner from introducing circumstantial evidence of Mr. Hardick’s exposures to asbestos-containing products supplied by other entities.