Ellen C. Bognar

A Hampton jury awarded Christopher Denton $25 million after a cardiologist read his cardiac test results as normal, diagnosed a minor heart infection, and sent him home on over-the-counter medication, months before Denton suffered a massive heart attack that left him functioning with roughly half his cardiac capacity.

A Richmond jury awarded $23 million to a commercial truck driver who suffered a traumatic brain injury, crushed pelvis, and right-leg amputation when a Moen Inc. tractor-trailer parked in the emergency lane of I-295 pulled back into traffic and was struck by his rig at highway speed.

A speeding Allied Concrete truck tipped onto a car on the Thomas Jefferson Parkway in June 2007, killing Jessica Lester and injuring her husband. A Charlottesville jury in December 2010 awarded her widower and her parents $10.58 million in total. The trial court cut the widower's wrongful death award, and the Supreme Court of Virginia reinstated the full verdict in January 2013.

A Fredericksburg jury awarded $6.5 million to a young attorney left with permanent spinal cord damage after his primary care physician repeatedly dismissed neurological symptoms without examination, producing what was then reported as the largest medical malpractice verdict in Virginia history. The award was reduced to $1.55 million under the state damages cap, and the judgment was later reversed on an evidentiary ruling, sending the case back for a retrial on causation and damages.

A 40-year-old motorcyclist lost his left leg below the knee after a driver turned left across his path on U.S. Route 1 in Ashland, Virginia. The trial judge ruled the driver negligent as a matter of law and struck the contributory negligence defense, leaving only damages for the jury. On November 20, 2025, a Hanover County jury awarded $6 million after about 30 minutes of deliberation. The defendant has noted an appeal.