2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 119
Commending Peter C. DePaolis.
Agreed to by the Senate, March 11, 2026
WHEREAS, Peter C. DePaolis, a trusted attorney who spent four decades as a champion for personal injury victims in Virginia and Washington, D.C., retired in 2025; and
WHEREAS, after graduating as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar from Lafayette College in 1971, Peter DePaolis served the nation for two years as a lieutenant in the United States Army, then earned his law degree from the George Washington University Law School, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif; and
WHEREAS, Peter DePaolis served as a judicial law clerk under a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, then as an assistant United States attorney in Washington, D.C.; and
WHEREAS, in 1980, Peter DePaolis joined the law firm that became known as Koonz McKenney Johnson & DePaolis LLP; for 46 years, he exclusively represented those harmed by accidents and medical negligence, earning the admiration of colleagues and clients alike for his integrity, legal acumen, compassionate advocacy, fairness, and collaborative leadership style; and
WHEREAS, early in his career, Peter DePaolis won a landmark decision in Wilson v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. , which established the right of asbestos victims to file two separate claims, one for asbestosis and the other for subsequently diagnosed mesothelioma or asbestos-induced cancers; the decision has been followed by courts throughout the country and has led to successful recoveries for thousands of victims of asbestos diseases; and
WHEREAS, Peter DePaolis also was plaintiff's counsel in Fearson v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. , another important case, which held that in a latent occupational disease action brought by an asbestos insulation installer's widow, the statute of limitations began to run when the installer discovered he had bronchogenic carcinoma, not when he was previously diagnosed as having asbestosis; and