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The Smith Law Center Is Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America4 min read

Stephen Smith

by | Sep 20, 2022

Smith Law Center

The Smith Law Center and founder Stephen M. Smith have been recognized by the prestigious Best Lawyers in America organization for 2023.

The attorneys at The Smith Law Center are proud of the work we have accomplished for spinal cord and traumatic brain injury sufferers and their families. We are grateful to have been nominated by our peers and selected for recognition based on our achievements by The Best Lawyers in America.

To learn more about the significance of being named as “Best Lawyers,” read on. If you need to speak with an attorney about catastrophic injury and how a personal injury lawyer can help, call our Hampton, Virginia offices directly at (757) 244-7000, or schedule a free, confidential consultation with us online. We are here to help.

What Does It Mean to Receive the “Best Lawyers” Award?

To be recognized for The Best Lawyers in America® award, an attorney must be nominated by their peers. Lawyers cannot pay a fee to participate in or be recognized by Best Lawyers. For this reason, the Best Lawyers award is widely recognized as a reliable and unbiased evaluation of an attorney’s professional performance.

  • Only the top 5.3% of all practicing attorneys in the U.S. were selected for inclusion in the 29th edition of the Best Lawyers award.
  • Nominations are made after evaluating comprehensive peer-review surveys from across the country with a transparent methodology process to accurately award deserving lawyers and firms.
  • Attorneys and firms can win recognition for excellence in their geographical area, as well as overall stellar performance in a specific legal practice area.

The Best Lawyers publication began in 1983 and has editions in nearly 70 countries that cover 145 legal practice areas.

In What Practice Areas Has The Smith Law Center Been Named “Best Lawyers”?

Here are the categories in which our firm has been named Best Lawyers for 2023:

The Smith Law Center’s special focus practice areas also include:

We are deeply honored that the work we do in service of our clients and their families has been noticed by our colleagues and peers.

A plaintiff’s attorney is the lawyer who represents the plaintiff, aka the person who is suing or who brings the lawsuit. In personal injury law, a plaintiff’s attorney is the lawyer who works on behalf of the injured person to pursue damages from negligent individuals, businesses, or companies.

Award Categories — Notable Settlements and Verdicts

Here are some of the case results we’ve obtained for our clients in the award categories of medical malpractice and personal injury:

  • Personal Injury:
    • $60+ million trial verdict for a gas station manager with a mild head injury after vehicles crashed into the establishment he managed
    • $14.59 million mid-trial settlement for a woman injured after a defective motorcycle tire installation caused a crash and injury
    • $12+ million verdict against a grocery mart for a mild traumatic brain injury — at the time, the largest slip and fall verdict in Virginia state history
  • Medical Malpractice:
    • $2.2 million for a child injured by a hospital in surgery for a brain injury
    • $1.175 million for a woman Injured by a hospital in surgery for a mild TBI

Every verdict and settlement we achieve is done to improve the lives and futures of our clients.

Contact Award-Winning Personal Injury Attorneys

We congratulate our attorneys at The Smith Law Center for their achievements, and the life-saving, life-changing work they do for injury sufferers and their families. Personal injury cases can range from dog bites to occupational hazards to transportation accidents. If you’ve been injured due to negligence, defective products, or unsafe premises, you deserve compensation for the costs and losses you’ve endured.

A substantial damages award or settlement can help afford medical treatment which could mean the difference between a partial vs. a full recovery. The funds could help keep your family whole and in your home by replacing lost past and future wages. Additional funds negotiated or awarded at trial could help ensure financial stability for years to come — guaranteeing at-home healthcare, or sending children to college so they can gain vital independence in shaping their own lives.

To speak with an award-winning, proven attorney about your needs for representation, call us directly at (757) 244-7000, or reach out online to schedule an appointment. Your decision to pursue justice today could vastly improve your tomorrows.

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ABOUT SMITH LAW CENTER

Our lawyers are more than lawyers. They are people who understand your injuries and the law that surrounds your options when it comes to holding others accountable.

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IF WE DON’T WIN, YOU DON’T PAY

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If you or a relative had a severe reaction to military housing mold, it might be time to talk with a toxic mold lawyer. Mold is everywhere, and can be dangerous. Researchers have linked mold to serious respiratory illnesses in some individuals.

Smith Law Center may be able to help if a property owner failed to keep you safe from mold in your military housing. We are one of Virginia’s oldest and most successful firms. We know how to hold negligent property owners responsible, especially when the military is involved.

Call us at (757) 244-700 or contact us online to set up a free consultation. There’s no fee for learning more about Virginia mold laws, your rights, and your legal options.

Mold in Military Housing

Black mold in military housing became widely known when Reuters published an investigation in 2018. Since then, the Department of Defense and the housing providers were supposed to take steps to improve the situation.

Unfortunately, a 2020 audit by the DoD Office of Inspector General found many issues, including the need for mold remediation, still persist.

Monetary Awards in Military Housing Toxic Mold Cases

If the property owner lets toxic mold run wild and continue to cause you harm, talk with our toxic mold attorneys about filing a lawsuit.

You may receive financial compensation for:

Service members and their families do not receive different types of damages than civilians. These are civil lawsuits in traditional courts of law.

Military Housing Mold Toxicity Symptoms

The Institute of Medicine discovered there was evidence connecting exposure to indoor mold with:

  • Upper respiratory tract symptoms;
  • Coughing;
  • Wheezing;
  • Asthma symptoms in individuals with asthma; and
  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals with weak immune systems.

There is also limited evidence that mold causes respiratory illnesses in healthy children or causes people to develop asthma.

Understanding Exposure to Toxic Mold in Military Housing

The topic of toxic mold is complicated. This Is in part because the term “toxic mold” isn’t accurate. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains mold isn’t toxic or poisonous. However, some molds are toxigenic, which means they produce toxins called mycotoxins.

Mold is common in military housing because it’ll grow anywhere there’s moisture. That includes on and inside walls, carpet, upholstery, wallpaper, and heating and air conditioning systems. This is especially pronounced in humid conditions such as those present in Virginia.

Some people have no difficulties around mold, even large infestations in their homes. Other individuals are sensitive to molds, including those that produce mycotoxins. Someone can have a severe reaction when exposed to a large amount of mold indoors.

People may be more likely to experience mold toxicity symptoms if they have:

  • Allergies,
  • An underlying lung disease,
  • Immune suppression,
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder,
  • Asthma, or
  • Another chronic respiratory disease.

Common Types of Military Housing Mold

When you’re trying to learn more from the CDC and other resources, you’ll see the word “fungus” a lot. Mold is a type of fungus, which is something that exists all around us. Fungi are living organisms different from animals, plants, and bacteria. There are over 200,000 types of fungi and over 100,000 types of molds.

If you discovered mold in your military housing, it could be Cladosporium, Penicillium, Stachybotrys chartarum, Aspergillus, or many other types. Stachybotrys is what everyone knows as black mold. Aspergillus is a common indoor fungus, which releases mycotoxins and can cause illness. Your symptoms may resemble common allergy or asthma symptoms.

Who is Liable for Military Housing Mold?

Since 1996, most military housing has come under the management of private companies:

  • Belfour Beatty Communities: Fort Eustis and Fort Story/li>
  • Lincoln Military Housing: Dahlgren, Little Creek, Naval Station Norfolk, Northwest Annex, Oceana, Portsmouth, Quantico, and Yorktown/li>
  • Hunt Military Communities: Fort Lee and Langley AFB

Outside of Virginia, Lendlease and Corvias Military Living are two more housing providers. Together, these five companies formed the Military Housing Association.

Military families living in on-base housing must take their complaints to their private management company — not the military. The company is responsible for providing habitable conditions and making repairs, including mold remediation.

If you’re unsure about your rights, review your state law and local ordinances about mold. In general, it’s the landlord’s responsibility to provide a habitable unit, which means it has to be safe to live in. A unit isn’t safe if it’s causing a tenant health issues due to mold.

The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act requires landlords to disclose if there’s mold in the written report of the move-in inspection. If a tenant discovers visible mold in the unit, then the Act requires the landlord to remove the mold and relocate the tenant until it’s gone at no additional cost to the tenant.

Unfortunately, many families find their housing providers aren’t receptive to complaints. Attorney Stephen M. Smith has handled many mold lawsuits against military housing providers who fail to abide by their lease terms and the law when it comes to mold remediation and other hazards.

Other Hazards in Military Housing

Many service members and their families deal with uncomfortable, if not hazardous, conditions in privatized military housing, including:

Lead Paint: Lead-based paint can cause headaches, nausea, fatigue, irritability, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, seizures, organ damage, and in extreme cases, death.

Asbestos: Exposure to asbestos harms a person’s lungs, and can lead to lung fibrosis (scarring), lung cancer, and mesothelioma.

Radon: Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. It naturally forms underground, however cracks and gaps in buildings lead to over-exposure indoors.

Poor Water Quality: Dozens of military sites have water with detectable levels of harmful chemicals.

Other issues involve rodent or insect infestations, pesticides, and faulty electrical wiring.

What Happens When a Lot of People Get Sick?

Sometimes mold exposure impacts a single individual or family. However, when the mold spreads throughout military housing, it can impact hundreds or thousands of people.

Occasionally, a large enough group of people are injured to allow for a class action or mass tort lawsuit. A class action lawsuit is one where a class representative acts as the plaintiff on behalf of the group of hurt individuals. Not every victim participates in the lawsuit. There are rules about when a group is big and similar enough to create a class action.

Mass tort lawsuits are different. When there are fewer plaintiffs who have their own set of circumstances, each person files a lawsuit. For efficiency’s sake, one or a couple of law firms may represent most plaintiffs, and the lawsuits are consolidated in a federal court.

Call the Military Housing Mold Lawyers at Smith Law Center for Help Right Away

Mold cases come about in a few ways. You or a loved one may start getting sick, and after weeks or months of struggling to find answers, you finally realize your military housing has a mold infestation. In other cases, you struggle with visible mold and then become ill.

Once you connect the illness with the mold, it’s time to talk with a toxic mold lawyer. Reaching out to an attorney early helps you build a strong compensation claim. We know how to collect evidence, identify who is liable, and craft a successful argument for a settlement or court award.

Attorney Stephen M. Smith has decades of experience handling injury claims and has been internationally recognized for his work. He has litigated cases involving catastrophic injuries and complex legal and scientific issues. In 2019, he was inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame.

You’re in good hands when you come to Smith Law Center for help. Reach out online or call (757) 244-7000 to schedule your 100% free consultation.

Military Housing Mold Lawsuits: FAQs

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DELIVERING RESULTS SINCE 1949

We are one of Virginia’s largest and most successful law firms.

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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Use the simple form below to send a message directly to our lawyers. We will respond within 1 hour or less during business hours.

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