Robinson, Mark H.

Terrence Graves is the chairman of the Risk Management practice group. He focuses his practice on the defense of commercial trucking, toxic torts, products liability, and premises liability cases. A significant portion of his practice also includes first party actions involving insurance coverage issues. He is the immediate past president of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, an 850 member statewide bar association whose primary focus is the leveling of the playing field in civil litigation through education, advocacy and fellowship.

Recent successful cases handled by Terrence include:

• Obtaining a defense verdict following a two day jury trial in a case that involved allegations of negligence including a claim for punitive damages against our client, a truck driver, that arose due to the client having to avoid deer in the highway.
• Obtaining a defense verdict for our client, the owner of a apartment building following a two day jury trial in a case that involved claims of negligent maintenance and repair of a set of common area stairs that were located on the outside of the apartment building that the plaintiff alleged were slippery due to the formation of mildew and algae.
• Representing a client in multiple matters arising out of a major gasoline spill involving claims of property damage and personal injury, which were ultimately resolved following two mediations and on terms that were very favorable to our clients.
• Obtaining a defense verdict in two cases involving claims by both plaintiffs that they were injured following the collapse of the ceiling in a home they rented from our client.
• Obtaining summary judgment and dismissal of a case involving catastrophic injuries resulting from an electric shock received while the plaintiff was moving steel beams delivered by our client at a construction site.
• Obtaining summary judgment and dismissal of a case that involved the alleged lead poisoning of an infant plaintiff with allegations of permanent brain damage.
• Obtaining a defense verdict in a premises liability case involving the partial severing of the plaintiff's ear while the plaintiff and the defendant were working on a pickup truck.

He also has extensive experience in defending and advising self-insureds and in coordinating post accident/pre-litigation investigations. Terrence also represents and advises insurance companies and insureds in first party actions regarding coverage issues. Terrence's work in the toxic torts area has allowed him to become well acquainted with the regulations promulgated by Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality. An additional focus of his practice involves the extensive use of mediation and arbitration in appropriate cases.

Terrence is the author of Insurance Law in the University of Richmond Law Review, November 1998. He is listed in Best Lawyers In America, in Virginia Super Lawyers in 2007 - 2009 and in the Virginia Business's 2006, 2007 and 2008 "Virginia Legal Elite." In 2008, Terrence was selected as a "2008 Leader in the Law" by the Virginia Lawyers Weekly for his service as the first African-American President of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys.