By W. Davis Powell | Byrne Legal Group
Byrne Legal Group attorney Davis Powell recently published an article in Virginia Lawyer Magazine analyzing the impact of COVID19 on Virginia’s standard of care and civil immunity provisions for medical malpractice cases. Virginia Lawyer Magazine is the official publication of the Virginia State Bar and is sent to every attorney in the Commonwealth. The full article is reprinted here below. If you have questions about the standard of care or Virginia’s immunity statutes, please feel free to contact one of our attorneys.
By Graham K. Bryant | Byrne Legal Group | Published in Virginia Lawyer Vol. 69 | October 2020
As most attorneys have learned since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a wide variety of video conferencing platforms are available with each one having unique features and quirks. No single platform has become standard for judicial use. Instead, courts across the Commonwealth have adopted a variety of video technologies as they adapt to pandemic procedures.
For instance, the Supreme Court of Virginia held its first video conference merits session in June using the Polycom platform, while the Court of Appeals of Virginia has instead opted to use Microsoft Teams for its writ arguments and panel hearings. Zoom, generally considered the leading videoconferencing platform, is widely used in Virginia’s federal courts. Despite Zoom’s ubiquity, it is unlikely that Virginia’s appellate courts will begin using it due to lingering security concerns, particularly considering the Texas Supreme Court’s recent two-month struggle to regain control of its administrative systems after a ransomware attack.
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By Michael Schwartz | Richmond BizSense
The Clay Suites, which is undergoing renovations at 3117 W. Clay St. (Michael Schwartz photo)
With future growth and millennial attorneys in mind, a local law firm is moving out of its downtown coworking digs and headed for Scott’s Addition. Byrne Legal Group, founded last October by namesake Sean Byrne and several others who left Hancock Daniel in Henrico, has signed on for a new office at the Clay Suites development under construction at 3117 W. Clay St.
Byrne Legal Group is pleased to announce that Attorney Davis Powell and paralegal Abby Wills recently won the reversal of a client’s life sentence in a federal criminal case pending before the Eastern District of Virginia. Legal assistant Deb White also played a major role assisting in the case. The client had been serving life in federal prison after being convicted in 2000 for his role in a 1997 drug conspiracy murder plot. Though the client was not the shooter, he was sentenced to an automatic life sentence due to the mandatory sentencing guidelines in place at the time. Paradoxically, the confessed shooter received only a ten year sentence.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is the first state to adopt COVID-19 Safety Rules applicable to Employers and Employees that must be implemented in order to remain complaint with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry Standards. The Emergency Temporary Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention: SARS-CoV-2 Virus That Causes COVID-19 went into effect on July 27, 2020 and will remain in effect for six (6) months or until the Governor’s State of Emergency has been lifted. Below is some guidance on the new requirements with which businesses and practices must comply while the Emergency Standard is in effect.
June 23, 2020 | By Chris Mazzolini | medicalconomics.com
The coronavirus pandemic has affected many aspects of healthcare — including medical malpractice. Sean P. Byrne, JD, a malpractice defense lawyer, discusses how COVID-19 has scrambled a physician's malpractice risks, and what doctors need to do to prepare.
On April 28, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued Executive Order No. 60 (2020), officially titled “Clarification of Certain Immunity from Liability for Healthcare Providers in Responses to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).” While Virginia law already has immunity statutes for emergency times, there was some question as to the extent that these provisions would apply during the COVID-19 crisis. The Governor’s order provides important clarity to these questions.
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, a number of scammers and criminals have already started trying to profit from the public’s fear regarding the pandemic. Fraudulent schemes asking patients to either pay cash or trade personal information for unapproved COVID-19 tests and treatments have popped up online and in social media. Many of these scams are aimed elderly individuals.
After nearly two years and endless negotiation amongst stakeholders, the Virginia House and Senate unanimously passed legislation to eliminate surprise hospital billing for Virginians covered under state-regulated health care plans. State-regulated health care plans are those that are fully insured or provided to government employees. ERISA plans and coverage provided by a single employer must opt into the law for it to apply. This could still leave millions of Virginians vulnerable to surprise billing practices.
As Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases continue to arise across the United States, healthcare providers are facing extraordinary challenges. While patient care remains the most important consideration in this difficult time, many healthcare institutions are grappling with unprecedented questions on issues of patient safety, risk management, and regulatory compliance.
By Anthony S. Cottone | Byrne Legal Group | Issue 05 | Published on PLDQ
Anthony S. Cottone authored an article involving Tarasoff Statutes, addressing when a mental health provider may owe a duty to third parties for the actions of their patients. The article was published in the PLDF Quartlery’s first issue of 2020, and was the featured article. You can read this article here.
Byrne Legal Group is pleased to announce that attorney Davis Powell has been promoted to Partner. Davis focuses his practice on defending healthcare providers in complex civil and criminal litigation.
By Michael Schwartz | Richmond BizSense
Looking to live up to a family lineage of entrepreneurial attorneys, a veteran local health care attorney has struck out on his own after more than 20 years at the same firm. And he’s brought a group of lawyers along for the ride.
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By Byrne Legal Group
When our team decided to launch the Byrne Legal Group we took inspiration from our health care provider clients. Our clients do what they do because they live to serve and help people in need. They heal the sick, fix the broken, and save the dying. But as good as modern medicine is, the dedicated people who work in the field are never satisfied with the status quo and are always working to improve. Same here.
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By Roxanne C. Millan, Esq. | Byrne Legal Group
In November 2019, I travelled with my husband, Daniel Millan, MD (Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia, VCU), and members of the pediatric urology team from VCU: Tony Herndon, MD, Rebecca Zee, MD, and Natalie Swavely, MD. With the support of IVUMed, an organization founded with the goal to provide urology services.
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