Virginia Injury Lawyer Blog

Fairfax, VA, United States — August 20, 2021 – Frei, Mims and Perushek partner Steven M. Frei  was recently voted by his peers as  2021 “Lawyer of the Year” for Medical Malpractice – Plaintiffs law in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region.

  Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year,” making this accolade particularly significant. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer-review assessments.

Receiving this designation reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity.

The March 2020 issue of “ED Legal Letter” features a discussion by Gary Brooks Mims on the difficulties of establishing causation in malpractice claims against emergency medical providers. Mims cited as examples several of his cases where the emergency physicians failed to diagnose stroke, resulting in serious injuries. The failure to diagnose the stroke, Mims explained, was clearly negligent but what makes the case difficult is the issue of causation. In the article, he says, “If the ED defense can prove the injury would have happened regardless of the ED physician’s treatment, even if the treatment was negligent, the ED physician would get off because the negligence would not be a proximate cause of the injury.”

“ED Legal Letter” is a monthly publication for “emergency medicine malpractice prevention and risk management. Mims is quoted in the article “Causation Difficult for Plaintiff in ED Malpractice Claim.”

The personal injury law firm of Sickels, Frei and Mims today announced that partner Charles Sickels is retiring from the firm at the end of 2019. He has moved to Richmond where he will continue serving selected business clients. The firm also announced that Gary B. Mims will assume the role of managing partner.

In a career that has spanned 45 years, Sickels helped hundreds of people succeed in personal injury cases. Over the years, he also developed special expertise in business law. He has nurtured dozens of small and large business clients to plan and structure their organizations, as well as handle contracts, employment disputes, and commercial transactions.  In addition, he served as the registered agent for many organizations doing business in Virginia.

Among Sickels’ many career achievements is a landmark case that ultimately redefined “not to compete” covenants in Virginia. His case, Home Paramount Pest Control v. Rector, is still recognized as a leading decision on post-employment restrictions in Virginia.

by Matthew Perushek

Photo by Blogtrepreneur, under CC: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

You and your attorneys have won! After nearly two years of pre-trial preparation, involving obtaining and reviewing medical records; depositions of witnesses, doctors. and experts; countless motions, meetings, and phone calls, your case was argued and won before a jury of your peers.  Finally, it’s over and now, finally, you will receive your just compensation.

The Virginia Supreme Court has affirmed a trial win by attorneys Gary Brooks Mims and Matthew Perushek, leaving in place the $800,000 jury verdict for a woman who suffered partial blindness after a cosmetic eye procedure. Under Virginia law, plaintiffs are entitled to interest on the verdict amount until the appeal process is completed. In this case, that amounted to an additional $74,000 for the plaintiff.

“While it is unfortunate that my client had to wait more than a year to receive compensation for her serious injury, we are gratified that the high court affirmed the verdict and sent a message that our cross-examination of the expert witnesses was appropriate,” said Mims, a partner with the Fairfax firm of Sickels, Frei and Mims.

Mims’ client was left functionally blind in her right eye after undergoing blepharoplasty to remove excess skin from her upper eyelid. (For  more information, see the Case Result.)

We are proud to announce that Sickels, Frei & Mims partners have once again been named to the Best Lawyers in America list for 2020. Since first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

The partners were named to this prestigious roster as:

Steven M. Frei: Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs, Medical Malpractice Law-Plaintiffs