The homeowner plaintiffs who alleged illness and loss from mold and won $4.75 million have their Loudoun County jury verdict reduced or set aside by the trial court for a total recovery of $1.45 million by the Circuit Court.  The premises liability case is Meng v. The Drees Co., and this decision was handed down by the Loudoun County Circuit Court in Leesburg, Virginia on March 5th, 2009.

In reducing the jury verdict on one of the claims made by the injured plaintiffs, the Court considered the Defense counsel’s request for “remittitur” or a post-verdict reduction allowed under Virginia law.  The Loudoun Circuit Court senior judge reasoned, “Total special damages were $577,000, including medical specials of $28,000. Considering the absence of permanent injury and other damages for which recovery is unavailing, as a matter of law, the amount of special damages claimed and the complexity of the issues, the court finds the jury verdicts, as to the negligence counts, were excessive. The court will order remittitur.”  To read the rest of today’s coverage in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly.