Virginia Injury Lawyer BlogAs reported by the Associated Press, the case of The Estate of Daniel Kim versus Virginia Tech, wasn’t about the money, it was about the change in protocol to help students who were in danger of committing suicide. See: In a family’s grief, determination to force university to tell parents of suicidal students
Firm wins Changes in VA TECH suicide policy, scholarship in remembrance of Daniel Kim
(November 18, 2011 — Fairfax, VA). Virginia Tech University has agreed to revise policies and protocols regarding parental notification of potentially suicidal students as a result of a lawsuit brought by partner Gary Mims over the suicide death of student Daniel Kim of Reston.
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We’re Moving!
Sickels, Frei & Mims is relocating to 3925 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 402 in Fairfax, VA as of December 28, 2011. Our phone number (703-925-0500) and fax number (703) 925-0501) will remain the same.
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“Legal Lions” Distinction Conferred on Firm Partners
Fairfax attorneys Gary Brooks Mims was named to the list of “Legal Lions” by Northern Virginia Magazine, which recently published a roster of the top personal injury and criminal lawyers in the region.
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Sickels, Frei and Mims partner, Gary B. Mims, of Reston and Fairfax Virginia, wins settlement for victim of medical error resulting in the loss of both legs following throat surgery
Patient goes to Prince William Hospital for throat surgery, and is discharged a year later with both legs amputated above the knees.
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Sickels, Frei & Mims Earn “BEST LAW FIRM” Ranking by US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
The Fairfax, Virginia law firm of Sickels, Frei & Mims has earned a Top Tier, Best Law Firm Ranking by US News and World Report in its first-ever publication of law firm rankings. The firm was ranked Top Tier for Personal Injury and Top Tier for Medical Malpractice among all of the law firms in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
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Tort Reform/Frivolous Defense
With the near omnipresent discussion about Tort Reform, one can’t help but begin to think that there are too many “frivolous lawsuits” being filed, and even won. Just about the only law suits the news reports on are the ones where someone got a ridiculous verdict for a tiny accident. Are these true? Maybe some of them. But, by and large, they are exaggerated or have missing facts that the news didn’t bother to include. Most people do not realize that there are methods in place to keep truly frivolous suits from being filed – and certainly from going to a jury and being won. But that’s another blog for another time.
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Woodbridge Virginia Woman Loses Leg Due To Medical Error
Medical malpractice recently cost a Woodbridge, VA woman her leg. The 57-year old Prince William County woman checked into the hospital for routine knee replacement surgery. In preparing the femur, the surgeon drilled all of the way through the back of the bone and severed her artery. Attempts to repair the artery were unsuccessful and the woman’s leg had to be amputated. The defense argued that the injury was simply a known risk of the procedure. HSFM partner Gary Brooks Mims successfully argued that the surgeon used excessive force when drilling and that his negligence violated the standard of care. The case settled for $1.275 million, which will enable the woman to modify her home and to acquire necessary mobility aids to accommodate her life without her leg.
In Virginia, have you given up your right to sue when you have signed a waiver?
The waiver. Everyone knows it. We’ve all signed one. If you want to engage in an activity (little league, summer camp, high school sports or triathlon, for example), chances are someone is going to want you to sign away all your rights.
In 1890, the Virginia Supreme Court addressed the issue of waivers in Johnson’s Adm’x v. Richmond and Danville R.R. Co., 86 Va. 975 (1890) and ruled that such waivers were not valid. In quintessential 19th century language, the Court reasoned that “to hold that it was competent for one party to put the other parties to the contract at the mercy of its own misconduct…can never be lawfully done where an enlightened system of jurisprudence prevails. Public policy forbids it, and contracts against public policy are void.
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Virginia Tech lawsuit isn’t about suicide – It is about suicide prevention
Reston, Virginia father William Kim wants to prevent other families from enduring the indescribable pain of losing a child to suicide. His son, Virginia Tech senior Daniel Kim, died in 2007 from a gunshot wound to the head – just weeks after the school had received an email from one of their son’s friends detailing his suicidal behaviors.
In our lawsuit filed last week, Virginia Tech and its administrators are charged with negligence – not for his suicide – but for failing to follow its own published protocols for dealing with a suicide emergency. The school’s protocols require that any student threatening suicide “be seen by the psychologist on call.”
Daniel Kim was never seen by the psychologist on call or any trained mental health professional or contacted by anyone from the University and, sadly–the warning email was never shared with Kim’s parents.