The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed a Loudoun jury’s $400,000 verdict against the owner of a Northern Virginia real estate developer for his 2021 assault of a Purcellville resident and local horse boarder. The panel’s unanimous opinion denying the appeal effectively ended Jeffrey C. Sneider’s bid to overturn a June 2025 jury award against him.
Bosson Legal Group, representing horse boarder Kimberly Fox, originally filed the case in 2023, alleging Sneider recklessly drove at Ms. Fox to intimidate her into silence about Sneider’s Huntridge Preserve development. Following a two-day trial, the jury held Sneider liable for one count of assault, finding Sneider acted with actual malice against the Plaintiff, and awarded her $50,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages. The punitive damages were later reduced to the statutory limit of $350,000.
Sneider argued the circuit court abused its discretion in denying his motion to compel Ms. Fox to submit to a mental examination, a motion to bifurcate the issue of punitive damages, and a motion for mistrial. The appellate panel upheld the circuit court’s rulings, finding Sneider’s motions for mental examination and bifurcation were rightfully denied as lacking good cause, owing to their untimely filing. Finally, the panel determined the trial court issued a curative jury instruction warning the jury to disregard the potentially mistrial-inducing testimony. Sneider failed to demonstrate the jury did not adhere to the instruction or that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for mistrial.
The lawsuit arose from Sneider’s October 2021 assault of Fox, during which the developer raced his truck at high speed towards Ms. Fox and another horseback rider, before swerving or halting his vehicle at the last minute. According to eyewitnesses, Sneider made three runs at the riders, missing them by just a few feet each time. Meanwhile, the riders risked being thrown from their saddles by the spooked horses, which could have led to serious injury or death. While Ms. Fox and the other rider struggled to regain control of their horses, Sneider jeered from his truck, saying “Your horse is smarter than you.”
In the following months, Ms. Fox lived in fear that Sneider would threaten her again, and stopped horseback riding altogether – an activity Ms. Fox used to treat her pre-existing anxiety condition. Years later, Ms. Fox still suffers severe anxiety, recurring nightmares, and is still unable to visit the site of the assault.
At the June 2025 trial of the matter, trial attorneys Tim Bosson and Robert Rose presented testimony from numerous eyewitnesses and successfully defeated several eleventh-hour motions raised by the Defendant on the day of trial, including a motion for mistrial. Defendant’s counsel sought to suppress evidence of Sneider’s considerable net worth, and claimed that Ms. Fox had withheld records of her mental health treatment. The jury rejected these claims and found Sneider liable for the assault.
Sneider v. Fox, Record No. 1522-25-4, Oct. 13, 2026. CAV (Frucci). From the Circuit Court of Loudoun County (Snow). Stephen G. Donches II (Donches Law PLLC, on briefs), for appellant. Timothy P. Bosson (Robert G. Rose; Bosson Legal Group, PC, on brief), for appellee.