The Library

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 […]