The Library

Gentry Locke for the Defense In August of 2019, Gentry Locke attorneys successfully resolved two commercial vehicle overweight citations by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for two different clients operating trucks on state highways. Both of the citations were in excess of $13,000. After developing legal strategies for defending the citations, each of the cases was negotiated for reductions in the amount of the citations — over ninety percent in one case, and over seventy percent in the other, thereby saving the clients significant expense. If you need assistance in a matter involving the DMV, especially commercial overweight vehicle […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Augusta County Circuit Court The Defendant, an oral surgeon, removed our client’s wisdom teeth when she was 12 years of age. During that surgery, the Defendant completely severed the left lingual nerve and perforated the lingual plate. This has caused numbness, hypersensitivity, discomfort, and pain to the left side of our client’s mouth that she will suffer until the day she dies. The Defendant refused to accept responsibility for her surgical negligence, so we proceeded to trial to hold the Defendant accountable and prevent this from happening to another person. An Augusta County jury unanimously […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Roanoke City General District Court Our client, a national restaurant chain, was sued by a creditor seeking garnishment of an employee’s wages to satisfy the employee’s debt. When a creditor receives a judgment against a person, the creditor will send a garnishment summons to the employer, resulting in the employer paying a portion of the employee’s wages to the court. In this case, the Restaurant did not have to pay any of the employee’s wages into the court because under the garnishment statute, the employee did not make enough money. The creditor then tried to include tips […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Bedford County Circuit Court On Mother’s Day in 2015, our client learned that her husband had been shot in the back of his head and killed. The shooter was taken into police custody and acknowledged that he had been drinking alcoholic beverages over the last 30 hours and had been burning brush in a barrel, having had little sleep. The shooter alleged that he saw his victim driving too fast and decided to confront the man. The shooter acknowledged a heated confrontation, but he claimed he acted in self-defense and that the victim acted as an aggressor. Specifically, the shooter alleged […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Supreme Court of Virginia Gentry Locke attorney Monica Monday represented FCi Federal, Inc., the appellee, in an appeal involving a dispute between government contractors. On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the circuit court’s decision to set aside a multi-million dollar jury verdict. This case provides guidance on breach of contract claims arising out of teaming agreements. Additionally, the Supreme Court also addressed a question of first impression, holding that lost profits for fraudulent inducement are not recoverable when they are based on the terms of an unenforceable agreement. CGI Federal, Inc. entered into a […]

Gentry Locke for the Defendant City of Winchester Circuit Court The City of Winchester circuit court has reduced a $125,000 jury verdict to $50,000 due to a defect in the plaintiff’s Complaint. The Complaint contained an ad damnum seeking the amount of damages sought. It specifically sought “not less than $50,000” in compensatory damages, “plus punitive damages.” The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $50,000 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages. The defendant retained Gentry Locke after the jury verdict to handle post-trial motions. The defense moved the court to set aside the entire […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiffs Henry County Circuit Court Our clients, a married couple, lost their home in a house fire. They entered into a written real estate contract to purchase another home. They would pay cash using their homeowners insurance payment from the fire loss. The parties signed the contract, set a closing date, and completed the home inspection. The sellers performed a septic cleaning and inspection and had a termite inspection done. The sellers then purported to terminate the contract. They cited a provision in the contract requiring the buyers to show proof of funds to close. They buyers had submitted a USAA […]

Gentry Locke for the Defendant Campbell County Circuit Court Gentry Locke attorneys Kevin Holt, Amanda Morgan and Glenn Pulley represented a crane, rigging and erection service company in a breach of contract and quantum meruit case. The plaintiff, a former company vice president, alleged that our client breached a 1994 Split Dollar Life Insurance Agreement that involved $500,000 in life insurance coverage, plus the payment of monthly post-retirement benefits for 15 years based on the policy’s cash value.  The written agreement was terminated pursuant to its terms in 2012, but then was allegedly reinstated in 2013 in a conversation between the […]

Gentry Locke for the Defendant United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia We represented a large national bank in a long-term disability (LTD) claim arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  The plaintiff was a bank employee until she ended her employment due to physical disabilities. She was paid LTD benefits until the results of an independent medical examination revealed that her current symptoms no longer supported a finding of total disability. Accordingly, her LTD benefits were terminated. The plaintiff brought a claim for breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA against the bank in addition to a more […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Roanoke City Circuit Court There are two important rules in the practice of radiology: (1) a radiologist must communicate all pertinent anatomy and diagnoses on imaging studies; and (2) a radiologist must clearly and effectively communicate, leaving no room for misunderstandings by clinicians. If a radiologist does not do both of these things, patients will suffer misdiagnoses that will cause serious injury and/or death. On August 16, 2016 our client presented to the LewisGale Medical Center Emergency Department with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting after having undergone a colonoscopy the day before. Our client’s clinicians […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Warren County Circuit Court In May of 2016, our client traveled northbound on Interstate 81 in Warren County, Virginia. When our client approached an interstate crossover, a work truck for an asphalt and paving company illegally used the crossover to go from I-81 South to I-81 North. This resulted in a substantial crash which caused our client’s vehicle to catch fire. The driver of the work truck was charged with reckless driving and illegal use of a crossover, and was ultimately found guilty of both charges. Our client suffered a broken leg which required surgery, extensive […]

Gentry Locke for the Defendant United States District Court, Western District of Virginia After being informed that our client intended to file a trade secret misappropriation case in Ohio on behalf of its business, the opposing company filed a declaratory judgment action in Franklin County Circuit Court seeking a ruling that it had not misappropriated any of our client’s trade secrets. Gentry Locke attorneys Kevin Holt and Alicha Grubb then removed the Virginia case to Federal Court and moved to have it dismissed.  The Virginia Federal Court granted the motion, finding that the opposing company had improperly filed the declaratory judgment action first in “an improper attempt […]

Gentry Locke for the Defendant Fairfax County Circuit Court Gentry Locke attorneys successfully defended a large, residential real estate brokerage firm in a breach of contract case.  The plaintiff, a North Carolina consulting firm, designed new commission plans for our client’s thousands of real estate agents in the mid-Atlantic region. The plaintiff contended that it was owed $1.4 million in cumulative incentive payments based on improvement to the brokerage’s “company dollar” percentage, or profit margin, over the five-year period following adoption of the plans. However, under a plain reading of the contract and the brokerage’s financial performance, no incentive payments were […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Circuit Court for the County of Richmond Gentry Locke successfully represented property owners in a zoning dispute. The County’s zoning administrator approved plans for the property owners to build a two-story garage on their property, and the zoning administrator certified that the plans fully complied with the County’s Zoning Ordinance. However, unbeknownst to the property owners, the zoning administrator did not review the zoning application or the building plans. In good faith reliance on the zoning administrator’s certification of compliance with the Zoning Ordinance, the property owners built the garage. Several months after construction was […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Fairfax County Circuit Court Karen Ebersole was 55 years old when a right middle cerebral artery bifurcation aneurysm was incidentally found on MRI.  She was a candidate for both neurosurgical and neuro-endovascular intervention.  She ultimately chose to pursue a neuro-endovascular “coiling” procedure to be performed by the defendant doctor.  Ironically, the defendant doctor was one of the partners at Fairfax Radiological Consultants, Ms. Ebersole’s long-time employer.  The procedure was performed on May 6, 2013 under general anesthesia.  The paralytic drug rocuronium was used for paralysis at the beginning of the procedure to facilitate intubation.  The […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Gentry Locke represented a two-year-old girl and her mother’s estate. The girl was riding with her mother and father when their car collided with another car. There was evidence that both drivers had been drinking and one was speeding. Tragically, both of the girl’s parents died in the crash, as well as the driver of the other car. The girl suffered injuries as did the two passengers in the other car. The estate of the driver of the other car and his insurance company blamed the girl’s mother and grandmother for allowing the girl to ride with her father […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Pulaski County Circuit Court The driver of a truck on I-81 in Pulaski County rear-ended our client’s car when traffic had come to a stop. He was unable to stop in time as a result of not paying attention to traffic conditions. As a result of his inattentive driving, our client suffered injuries to her neck and back. Attorneys for the truck driver claimed that her injuries were the result of extensive pre-existing conditions and were not caused by the crash. Despite the dispute over the cause of the injuries, the defense settled the case for […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Montgomery County Circuit Court, then Supreme Court of Virginia Gentry Locke defended two subcontractors, along with their performance bond surety companies, against a claim by a general contractor related to a construction project at Virginia Tech. The project was completed in the late 1990s. Virginia Tech pursued a claim for defective work against the general contractor and resolved that dispute for a $3 million settlement. The general contractor then pursued a claim for breach of contract and indemnification against several subcontractors and sureties. The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the trial court’s ruling that the statute […]

Our client was neurologically intact when he was admitted for evaluation to an acute care hospital for possibly unstable cervical fractures. An in-hospital fall caused tetraplegia (a type of paralysis) and a traumatic brain injury. Our attorneys were prepared to present evidence showing that the assigned nurses deviated from the standard of care by not identifying our client as a high falls risk, and by not putting in place high falls risk interventions and injury precautions, including a bed alarm set at the correct sensitivity level.

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff County Circuit Court located in northern Virginia Gentry Locke represented a woman in her early 40s who underwent a wisdom tooth removal performed by a general dentist. She suffered a permanent nerve injury during the extraction, which she contended resulted from the dentist failing to refer her to an oral surgeon for the procedure. Our client’s experts contended that the removal was too complex for a general dentist to undertake and that the standard of care required referral to an expert in the field of extractions. Had such a referral been made, the tooth would have […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense U.S. District Court, Western District, Roanoke Division, VA The plaintiff sued her former employer, a non-profit, alleging sex discrimination, a hostile work environment, constructive discharge, and retaliation. All claims except for the hostile work environment were dismissed prior to trial. Our client, the employer, denied that harassment occurred and maintained that they were not notified of any harassment until shortly before the employee quit. After a three-day trial, the jury found that the plaintiff had been subjected to a hostile work environment by co-workers but not by the supervisor. The jury also agreed that the employer […]

Gentry Locke for the Appellee Circuit Court of Carroll County and the Court of Appeals of Virginia In a divorce appeal, the Court of Appeals of Virginia has affirmed a trial court’s ruling that the husband deserted the marriage. The desertion finding was supported by evidence that the husband belittled his wife, placed demands on her that she could not meet, and voluntarily left the marriage. The Court also refused the husband a credit for mortgage and car payments he made after the separation. Finally, the Court of Appeals granted our client’s request that the husband pay her attorney’s fees and […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Giles County Circuit Court Gentry Locke successfully defended a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit filed by a former Narrows High School principal against The Virginian-Leader, the local Giles County newspaper. The mayor of the Town of Narrows wrote a letter to the editor, in his private capacity, which was published by the The Virginian-Leader. In fall 2015, the former principal filed a 23 count lawsuit claiming, among other charges, defamation. Gentry Locke represented The Virginian-Leader; the mayor was represented by separate counsel. The Court found that the statements at issue were not defamatory, which was fatal […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Western District of Virginia, Abingdon Division On June 7, 2013, Shawn McKee presented to a hospital emergency department in Lebanon, Virginia. He was treated by Dwight L. Bailey who was, at the time, a licensed physician. Despite numerous signs and symptoms consistent with a potentially fatal condition known as a pulmonary embolus (“PE”), Mr. McKee did not undergo the required test to diagnose a PE, a CT scan. Dr. Bailey testified that the CT scanner at the hospital could not accommodate Mr. McKee’s size, which is why one was not done as he had ordered. […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Roanoke County Circuit Court The plaintiffs sued their insurance company, claiming the insurance company wrongly denied coverage for replacement of an 8,800 square foot roof. They claimed their roof was irreparably damaged by a hailstorm. The insurer excluded the claim on the basis that the roof had eroded and was totally deteriorated prior to the hailstorm occurring, and therefore no hail damage was compensable. After a two-day trial, the jury came back with a verdict in favor of our insurance client.

Gentry Locke for a national wireless carrier Montgomery County Board of Supervisors After months of work by our Zoning and Land Use team, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved eight special use permit applications that Gentry Locke filed on behalf of a national telecommunications carrier. The approvals granted by the Board of Supervisors authorize the carrier to upgrade existing wireless telecommunications equipment on eight cell towers located throughout Montgomery County, which will provide faster, 4G/LTE technology to consumers of two major wireless providers. Handling one such special use permit application can be challenging.  Having eight such applications pending at the same […]

Gentry Locke for the Creditor. United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia Gentry Locke attorneys represented an unsecured creditor in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. Our client was the liquidating agent for a former credit union. Our client filed a proof of claim for unjust enrichment based on an undocumented loan to the bankrupt debtor. The liquidated credit union failed as a result of fraud committed by two former executives, who have since pled guilty to federal criminal charges.  One executive was the debtor’s mother-in-law. Debtor objected to the claim stating he never received the proceeds of the […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense U.S. District Court, Western District, Roanoke division Gentry Locke represented a municipality in a jury trial in which a former city employee alleged disability discrimination. The plaintiff alleged that his employer did not accommodate his disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. After the plaintiff presented all of his evidence, the court granted our motion and dismissed the case. The plaintiff filed but later dropped an appeal.

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia – Roanoke Division Our client, a Vietnam Veteran, went to the Salem Veterans Administration Medical Center (“Salem VAMC”) for vascular surgery on his leg. During the course of the surgery, the surgeon did not properly identify our client’s anatomy, thereby causing a blood vessel injury. Our client’s healthcare providers at the Salem VAMC knew, or should have known, that it was critical to assess our client’s leg after the surgery to ensure there was proper blood flow. They did not do so and watched as […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense Fourth Circuit of Appeals Plaintiffs were two counties that brought a fraudulent inducement and breach of contract lawsuit against a corporation and two individuals. The corporation, which is now defunct, had designed and installed emergency radio systems for the counties. The counties claimed that the company and its representatives had defrauded the them, but they never specified how. Our clients argued that they breached no contract and did not defraud the counties. As a result of the lack of required detail in the counties’ pleadings, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Roanoke City Circuit Court There are two main rules on the Greenway, which is a shared-use pathway in the Roanoke Valley: (1) travel in a predictable and consistent manner; and (2) look before you turn.  These are rules that reasonable and prudent people follow throughout the day whether driving, riding, walking, jogging, or running. Unfortunately, on June 11, 2012 a runner, by his own admission, chose to violate both of these rules when he made a U-turn at a dangerous location on the Greenway without giving any warning or looking before he turned. His justification for […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Roanoke City Circuit Court Our client had a broken arm in which she had a rod placed to allow the bone to heal. A medical rule is that a doctor must never manipulate a broken bone unless the broken bone has been fully healed for a good amount of time. Even though the rod was relatively recently placed and our client’s broken arm had only healed approximately 30%, the defendant orthopedist chose to remove the rod and then manipulate our client’s arm. As the defendant orthopedist did this, he heard a loud snap and later […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff A Virginia Court In September of 2008, the Plaintiff’s father underwent multilevel fusion surgery. The surgery started around 8:00 in the morning and lasted until around 8:00 at night. At the start of the surgery, the Plaintiff contended that her father developed signs and symptoms consistent with renal failure, which would require that the surgery be stopped and additional treatment be administered to correct his condition. The surgery continued and, after it concluded, the Plaintiff’s father was transferred to the ICU. Sadly, he remained at the hospital in October of 2008 for a total of 32 days, […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff Roanoke County Court Our client had foot pain and went to a podiatrist. A general rule of podiatry is that a podiatrist must never inject a broken foot because it can cause a permanent and severely debilitating condition known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (“RSD”), which is now known as complex regional pain syndrome (“CRPS”). The podiatrist assumed that our client’s foot was not broken, even though she had many signs and symptoms of a broken foot, and injected it.  A couple of weeks later our client returned to the podiatrist with a foot that was […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff A Virginia Court The Plaintiff filed suit against her health care providers for failing to timely diagnose her with cancer. The case began in October 2010 when the Plaintiff underwent a screening mammogram to follow up on an abnormality noted on a CT scan performed a month earlier. Because of the abnormality, the Plaintiff should have undergone a diagnostic mammogram, which is a more sensitive test than a screening mammogram and would have focused on the area of the breast where the abnormality was detected. As a result of undergoing the wrong test, the Plaintiff’s […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia – Harrisonburg Division We successfully represented a university in Virginia in a lawsuit by a former department director who raised numerous claims, including discrimination on the basis of race and gender, violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family Medical Leave Act, and a number of other state and federal laws. The  judge termed the complaints a “machine gun spray” of allegations. Following lengthy motions to dismiss and oral argument, the magistrate judge has recommended dismissal of all claims with prejudice.

Gentry Locke for the Defense. United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia Our client, a building industry manufacturer, has successfully persisted in its defense of hostile work environment/sexual harassment claims filed by a former employee. The case was originally dismissed on summary judgment in 2013. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the retaliation claim, but remanded the hostile work environment claim for trial. Following a three-day jury trial in federal court in Roanoke on April 21, 2015, a jury vindicated the employer and dismissed the claim. No appeal has been taken, so after […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff A Virginia Circuit Court Our client’s husband was admitted to a rehabilitation facility for treatment following a stroke. He required feeding through a tube in his stomach. While at the rehabilitation facility, the feeding tube became dislodged and was improperly replaced. This resulted in the tube feedings entering the stomach, ultimately causing the death of our client’s husband.

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff City of Martinsville Court Our client needed her gallbladder out and went to a general surgeon. A rule with respect to general surgery is that a surgeon cannot clip and cut any anatomy unless the surgeon is positive about the anatomy that he/she is clipping and cutting. There is a procedure known as the “critical view of safety” that, if used appropriately, positively identifies the anatomy that should be clipped and cut while removing a gallbladder. While the general surgeon was removing our client’s gallbladder, she was unsure of the anatomy and did not utilize […]

Gentry Locke for the Plaintiff. Tazewell County Circuit Court Our client underwent a hysterectomy performed by an OB/GYN in July 2008 which resulted in a vesico-vaginal fistula. This caused her to continuously leak urine. The same OB/GYN who performed the hysterectomy tried to correct the fistula surgically, but the surgery failed due to improper technique and not having the appropriate specialist assist with the surgery. Our client leaked urine constantly for the next 6 months until a urologist repaired the fistula. Our client filed suit against the OB/GYN and her professional corporation. The jury deliberated for approximately one hour before returning a verdict for our […]

Gentry Locke for the Company/Defendant. Federal Court in Roanoke, followed by Arbitration Team Carriers, a company based in Covington, Virginia, has prevailed in a labor arbitration case filed against it by the United Steelworkers Union (USW). The litigation began with the USW filing a Complaint in Federal Court in Roanoke. The Court issued a partial preliminary injunction that enjoined the Company from taking certain action until an arbitrator ruled on a grievance filed by the USW against the Company. After the Court announced its preliminary ruling, the USW issued a national press release accusing the Company of “failing to live […]

Gentry Locke for the Defense. Appomattox Circuit Court The plaintiffs (home owners) filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the defendant mortgage company’s interest in their house. They argued that the lien was obtained by fraud due to a national home mortgaging online system. Represented by Gentry Locke, the defendant, a mortgage company, asked the court to dismiss the case. After briefing and oral argument, the Court dismissed the case permanently, judging that the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim, and that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Defense. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division This product liability case arose when the plaintiffs were injured in an industrial explosion. The plaintiffs and their employer, a hazardous materials removal company, were hired to inspect ducts for possible aluminum dust, which is combustible. Plaintiffs found dust in one duct and attempted to remove the dust using ungrounded vacuuming equipment. They claimed the explosion started in an inert external baghouse, and had two experts who opined the same. The Court excluded their expert opinions as unreliable. The summary judgment for our client was based […]

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Plaintiff. Fredericksburg City Circuit Court Our client, a 49-year-old man, presented at a hospital to receive an epidural steroid injection to his lower back, to be performed using CT fluoroscopic guidance. Approximately sixty seconds after the injection of Kenalog, the Plaintiff began to experience paralysis. Evidence revealed that the Defendant had injected the steroid into an artery, causing a stroke in the Plaintiff’s spinal cord leading to permanent paralysis. After a four-day jury trial, the jury returned after 2.5 hours of deliberations with a $6.4 million verdict for the Plaintiff.

Tazewell County Circuit Court Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Plaintiff, along with Co-counsel Tom Scott of The Street Law Firm. While at Clinch Valley Medical Center on April 19, 2008, our client developed priapism, a urologic emergency which required immediate evaluation by a urologist. Our client’s attending physician failed to timely obtain a urologist to evaluate him and, as a result, the priapism went untreated for approximately 16 hours. This caused permanent erectile dysfunction. After more than 3 days of evidence, a jury of 7 women and 1 man deliberated for approximately two-and-a-half hours before returning a verdict for our […]

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Defense Salem City Circuit Court In a residential construction dispute, a contractor sued homeowners for $385,000 for alleged unpaid extra work. Gentry Locke represented the homeowners in defense of the lawsuit. After a six day jury trial, the jury only awarded the contractor a de minimus amount of approximately $6,000.

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Defendant Virginia Board of Medicine The Virginia Board of Medicine leveled disciplinary charges against our client, a pain management physician, for allegedly excessive and improper prescribing of opioid medications to a patient who had recently completed inpatient detox treatment. Following a hearing, the Board dismissed all charges. It found that the inpatient treatment records showed only that the patient was opioid dependent, not opioid addicted. As the patient had long-term chronic pain problems, she would be expected to be dependent on opioids to manage that pain. In short, the Board concluded that the physician […]

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Defense Montgomery County Circuit Court The case involved a slip-and-fall with an ad damnum (demand) for a half-million dollars. The plaintiff fell in her sister-in-law’s yard in November of 2005. Gentry Locke represented the sister-in-law defendant, and following the sister-in-law’s death in 2012, represented her estate. Guy Harbert and Catherine Huff defended the case on the grounds that the plaintiff could not prove what caused her fall, and that our client had no notice of a defective condition in her yard or of the plaintiff’s presence in the yard at the time of the fall. At trial […]

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore for the Plaintiff Arbitration Our client suffered cervical injuries when the car she was driving was rear-ended by a taxicab driver. The cab driver was charged with following too closely and paid a fine, but argued that our client negligently operated her car and caused the collision. The parties agreed to arbitrate the matter. The arbitrator found the cab driver negligent and returned an award for our client.