Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from February 2007

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from February 2007

How to choose a forensic accounting firm.(forensic accounting)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Dolan Media Newswires Forensic accounting has come into the spotlight in recent years, in the wake of the scandals at Enron and other large corporations, and the need to investigate money trails of terrorists. But...

So who owns your e-mail once you die?(privacy rights)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Dolan Media Newswires Ever wonder what happens to your e-mail after you die? So do many estate planning lawyers. Until recently, the question was purely academic, kicked around by attorneys on Internet chat rooms....

Virginia House Courts of Justice Committee reports out House Bill 2829.(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Legislation doesn't get more straightforward than this: The doctrine of worthier title is abolished in this Commonwealth as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. Last week, the House Courts...

Virginia law firms announce personnel changes and promotions.(Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney promotes Martin A. Bruehs, Melissa M. Hayworth)(Gentry Locke Rakes and Moore LLP appoints Lewis A. Conner)(Marcari, Russotto, Spencer and Balaban PC appoints Adam Smith )
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Mark G. Carlton and Danielle D. Giroux have been named partners at Harman, Claytor, Corrigan and Wellman in Glen Allen. Carlton earned his undergraduate degree from Virginia Commonwealth University...

Roanoke, Va. firm opens second office in Charlottesville.(Lichtenstein, Fishwick and Johnson PLC )(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Roanoke firm of Lichtenstein, Fishwick & Johnson PLC has opened a second office in Charlottesville. John E. Lichtenstein, a partner in the five-lawyer firm, said the office at 401 E. Market St....

Virginia U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne to take senior status.(Claude M. Hilton)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Robert E. Payne, a U.S. District judge in Richmond since May 1992, will take senior status, effective May 7. Payne turned 65 last year and becomes eligible for senior status in May, when he completes 15 years of...

Virginia court awards family $780K for mold in the apartment.
February 5, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper A Richmond Circuit Court jury has awarded $780,000 to a family who contended that they were injured by toxic mold in a Norfolk apartment. Thomas and Rose Odaris first complained to Morton G. Thalhimer Inc., the...

Attorney Glenn C. Lewis is the ideal president of the Virginia Bar Association.
February 5, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper In one important way, Glenn C. Lewis is the ideal president of the Virginia Bar Associa-tion. "I'm a hopeless flack for the legal profession," he said. "I love lawyers." Founder of The Lewis Law Firm with...

Virginia Court of Appeals revisits the issue of therapist testimony in domestic relations cases.(Bullano v. Bullano)(Rice v. Rice)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Deborah Elkins Divorce lawyers whose clients are contemplating divorce may need to give the clients Miranda warnings before they make a last-ditch effort at marriage counseling. The need for a warning arises in light of an...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 5, 2007.(Bacon v. City of Richmond)(Emmett v. Kelly)(Gilliam v. S.C. Dep't of Juvenile Justice)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Disability Discrimination - ADA - Retrofitting - Public Schools The City of Richmond, Va., is not required to fund a federal court order mandating system-wide retrofitting of city...

U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia Case Summaries: February 5, 2007.(Bank of Southside Virginia v. Host & Cook LLC)(Foxworth v. U.S.)(TRG Holdings LLC v. Leckner)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Default Judgment - 'Good Cause' A district court refuses to set aside a default judgment because the party against whom judgment was entered has no meritorious defenses, and it...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 5, 2007.(Turzac Construction Corp. v. Commonwealth)(Richards v. Commonwealth)(Lightfoot v. Commonwealth)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Unlicensed Contractors - Sanction Reversal The Court of Appeals reverses a circuit court decision affirming an administrative decision of the Department of Professional and...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: February 5, 2007.(City of Portsmouth v. Cederquist Rodriguez)(GiniCorp v. Capgemini Government Solutions LLC)(Commonwealth v. Douglas)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Municipal - Arbitration - Dillon Rule The Dillon Rule that controls the power of local government does not prohibit enforcement of an arbitration provision contained in a 1999...

Verdicts & Settlements February 5, 2007: Insurance company ordered to pay for Va. man's pool heater.(Williams v. Encompass Services Corp.)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Worker fell 10-14 feet from a homemade "cherry picker" (comprised of a wooden box on a forklift) and landed on his back. The insurance company denied payment for a swimming pool heater for claimant's...

Verdicts & Settlements February 5, 2007: Va. surgeon prevails on med-mal claim.(Nester v. Paul W. Kampfe)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The patient was first seen by a different general surgeon, Dr. Tarasidis, who performed a posterior internal sphincterotomy for an anal fissure and also removed an anal papilla. Dr. Tarasidis then left...

Verdicts & Settlements February 5, 2007: 65-year-old Va. waiter mediates workers comp claim for 100K.(Abdul-Khalek vs. Hotel Washington)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The 65-year-old claimant from Springfield injured his shoulder and neck, necessitating emergency surgery in Lebanon while he was on vacation visiting family. The foreign surgery and medical care was...

U.S. District Court rules Fair Debt Act covers company credit card.(Perk v. Worden)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Deborah Elkins A woman who charged personal expenses to her corporate credit card is protected by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The collections lawyer who sued the woman alleged that she had violated her credit card...

Questions out of line, judicial candidate in Va. says.(Mary G. Commander)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Mary G. Commander, a candidate for two vacant judgeships in Norfolk, has blasted the state senator likely to select those judges for what she viewed as inappropriate comments during an interview. Sen. Nick Rerras,...

Commentary: Trends 2007: Coming down the track in the year ahead.(Column)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Paul Fletcher Every year at about this time, we fearlessly look through a glass, darkly, in an effort to flag the trends or issues to watch in the year ahead. This year's edition features several different items relating to...

Toxic mold jury award set aside by Richmond circuit court judge.
February 12, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper A Richmond circuit judge has set aside a $760,000 jury verdict in favor of a family who contended that they were sickened by toxic mold in a Norfolk apartment. Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr. concluded in an opinion...

U.S. District Judge Ellis takes senior status, Va. senator seeks advice on replacement.(T.S. Ellis III)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff T.S. Ellis III, a U.S. District judge in Alexandria since August 1987, will take senior status in April. Ellis is the second Eastern District judge to announce this year that he will take senior...

Va. Legal Community Obituaries: February 12, 2007.(Perry W. Sarver)(F. Sheild McCandlish)(Barbara Lou Andrick)(T.A. Williams)(Obituary)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Perry W. Sarver Retired Shenandoah Circuit Judge Perry W. Sarver died Dec. 27 after suffering a stroke. He was 75. Judge Sarver earned his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech, and went on...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 12, 2007.
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Public Employee - Undercover Officer - Sex Discrimination - Qualified Immunity A sheriff is entitled to summary judgment based on qualified immunity in a female former narcotics...

U.S. District Court Va. Eastern Case Summaries: February 12, 2007.(Norfolk Dredging Co. v. Phelps )
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Unseaworthiness - Limitation Of Liability A seaman who alleges he hit his head on a hatch and sustained injuries attributable to the Tug CHARLIE's unseaworthiness and who has filed a...

U.S. District Court Va. Western Case Summaries: February 12, 2007.(Raker v. Frederick County Public Schools)(Cooper v. Bonaventura)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Student Free Speech - Abortion Literature - Injunction A high school student who previously distributed abortion literature on annual pro-life solidarity days, in the school...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 12, 2007.(Gautier v. Commonwealth)(Lynchburg Division of Social Services v. Cook)(Travelers Property Cas. Co. Of America v. Ely )
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Sentencing - Malicious Wounding A defendant's sentence for malicious wounding is vacated and his case remanded because the trial court erred in amending its original sentencing order...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: February 12, 2007.(Minor v. Gal-Tenn Corp.)(Roper v. FCGMI Inc.)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Amended Pleadings - Fictitious Name A circuit court denies reconsideration in this suit against a motel and holds that defendant's failure to comply with Va. Code Sect. 59.1-69...

Verdicts & Settlements February 12, 2007: Injury from blow from rack in store settled for $1.125M.
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, a 52-year-old male, went to a local department store to purchase a tie. While kneeling down to look at a selection of ties on a lower shelf, a three-sided metal rack containing gloves and...

Verdicts & Settlements February 12, 2007: Passengers settle claims from crash with tow truck.(Carlos and Juana Mendoza v. Bankers Adjustment Company)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The van in which the plaintiffs were passengers was broadsided by the defendant's tow truck which had run a red light. There was no dispute regarding liability. Following extraction from the van,...

Verdicts & Settlements February 12, 2007: Realty transferred to settle sex abuse claim.(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The victim was a 10-year-old fifth grader during the five months time-span that her 55-year-old step-grandfather repeatedly exposed himself to her and requested that she touch his sexual parts when he...

Verdicts & Settlements February 12, 2007: Plaintiff wins $450K verdict when infection turns septic.(Smotherman v. Robert R. Harry, M.D. and Mid-Atlantic Health Alliance, Inc., DBA Surgical Associates of Fredericksburg)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff On Sunday morning, Oct. 28, 2001, plaintiff presented to the Mary Washington Hospital Emergency Department with a painful boil on his posterior. While in the ED, he spiked a fever to 103.1. Labs showed...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 19, 2007.(In re Baltimore Marine Industries Inc.)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Government Contractor Debtor - Bankruptcy Estate - Subcontractor Payments A bankruptcy court erred in directly paying to a subcontractor of debtor, a government contractor, the...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: February 19, 2007.(Virginia)(Deichman v. U.S.)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative FOIA - Settlement Plaintiff, who worked for the Joint Experimentation Directorate of the U.S. Joint Forces Command and who filed a Freedom of Information request with the agency...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: February 19, 2007.(Virginia)(Getronics USA Inc. v. Bank Services of Virginia Inc.)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Forum Selection - State Court In this contract dispute, the court finds that a contract provision calling for application of Virginia law "as applied to transactions taking place...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 19, 2007.(Bolden v. Commonwealth)(Delaware v. Prouse)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Continuance - Weapon Possession A trial judge did not err in granting the commonwealth a continuance because the arresting officer was unavailable to testify on the date originally...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: February 19, 2007.(Chasen v. Chasen )
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Domestic Relations Property Settlement - Marital Asset - Scrivener's Error A husband's attorney has failed to prove through correspondence with wife's counsel that the parties' property...

Commentary: 10 myths about lawyer marketing.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Jennifer Yeager As marketing professionals, we tend to encounter a number of the same challenges within each firm. While we acknowledge that each law firm is unique, ultimately marketers are dispensing very similar advice and...

The art of asking for referrals.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Mark Powers Dolan Media Newswires Two years ago, Boston personal injury lawyer Russell Rosenthal adopted the practice of asking clients for referrals. It was a simple but powerful marketing tool that caused his client referrals to...

What is the best plan for marketing your firm?
February 19, 2007... Byline: David Swanner Dolan Media Newswires I write about practice management and marketing a goodly amount and get a decent number of e-mails and questions about marketing and what is the best plan of action for their firm. There's no...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: February 19, 2007.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Virginia Beach law firm of Norris & St. Clair has named Adam H. Lotkin as a member and will operate under the new name of Norris, St. Clair & Lotkin. Lotkin concentrates his practice in the areas...

Peeling sticker won't support traffic stop, drugs suppressed.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Paul Fletcher One afternoon in February 2005, Officer Bryan of the Henrico County Police saw a white 2001 Ford drive by his car as he sat in a grocery store parking lot. The other car was five feet away. The driver wasn't...

Indigent defense pay proposals move ahead.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Proposals for better pay for public defenders and court-appointed attorneys are still alive in the General Assembly, although differences between the House and Senate court-appointed bills remain. Proponents of...

Med-mal verdicts returned for docs' failure to diagnose.(Case overview)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Juries in Norfolk and Prince Edward County have returned multi-million dollar medical malpractice verdicts in cases based on an allegation of an incorrect diagnosis by an emergency room doctor. ...

Virginia Atty. General seeks overturn of Supreme Court cases.(Robert F. McDonnell)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell is backing bills that would, in effect, overturn three rulings last year in criminal cases by the Supreme Court of Virginia. "Consistent with the attorney general's...

Virginia State Bar offers ethics guidelines for lawyers on public bodies.
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Virginia State Bar's Standing Committee on Legal Ethics has issued a proposed opinion that would eliminate the bright-line rule that generally bars members of a law firm from appearing before a...

Verdicts & Settlements February 19, 2007: $2M awarded in death of 9-year-old.(Russell E. Wood, Sr., Administrator of the Estate of Tiffany Danielle Wood v. Drs. James O. Carleo and Charles Cole, and Emergency Physicians of Tidewater, PLC)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Nine-year-old Tiffany Danielle Wood collapsed on March 11, 2000, while playing basketball and suffered a seizure with convulsions and loss of consciousness. The seizure lasted for 45 seconds. She was...

Verdicts & Settlements February 19, 2007: Jury is out 30 minutes in Erb's Palsy case.(Twan Johnson, a minor, etc. v. Gregorio C. Uy, M.D.)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff Venus Bowles delivered Twan Johnson at Chesapeake General Hospital on Aug. 24, 2004. The baby was delivered by Dr. Uy. During the delivery, Dr. Uy encountered a shoulder dystocia. Plaintiffs...

Verdicts & Settlements February 19, 2007: Jury returns $3M verdict in heart case.(a case of medical malpractice and wrongful death)(Estate of John Wayne Marker v. Dr. Robert Evans and Southside Community Hospital)
February 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff On Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, a Prince Edward County jury returned a $3,000,000.00 verdict in favor of the Estate of John Wayne Marker and against Dr. Robert Bruce Evans, an emergency room physician. On...

Legislators seek to punish employers of undocumented workers.
February 26, 2007... Byline: Arthur Serratelli It is an open secret that the I-9 regulations are riddled with loopholes. The biggest one (which is big enough to drive a truck through), as anyone in human resources will tell you, is that an employer may not...

An overview on immigration-related employment compliance.
February 26, 2007... Byline: Sharvari Dalal-Dheini and Eileen Morgan Johnson In the ever-changing world of immigration compliance, knowing the legal nuances of the law is a challenge. This article provides you with an overview of the immigration-related...

Virginia law firms announce personnel changes and promotions.(A. Everett Hoeg and Lisa M. Hughes)(Sands Anderson Marks and Miller appoints Margaret F. Hardy and Paige A. Levy)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Two wealth management and trusts & estates attorneys, A. Everett Hoeg and Lisa M. Hughes, have joined the Northern Virginia office of Venable LLP as a partner and of counsel, respectively. Both...

General contractors and subcontractors don't have to take the same steps to perfect mechanic's lien.(The Capstone Contracting Co. v. American Eagle Self Storage LLC )
February 26, 2007... Byline: Paul Fletcher Quick quiz for the construction lawyers: To perfect a mechanic's lien, do a general contractor and a subcontractor have to take the same steps? The answer: No, according to a Prince George County Circuit judge....

Virginia employer wins whistle blower retaliation claim.(JDS Uniphase Corp. v. Jennings)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Deborah Elkins When a tax director for a broadband and communications company was fired, then sued, he sought shelter under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, claiming the company retaliated against him for telling them they had a higher tax...

Virginia judge survives effort by two legislators and four attorneys to deny him second term.(Dean W. Sword Jr.)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Portsmouth Circuit Judge Dean W. Sword Jr. survived a determined effort last week by two legislators and four other attorneys to deny him a second term. Legislators don't record negative votes when they vote for...

University of Richmond law school dean's bond with W&L president led to deanship.(Rodney A. Smolla)(Kenneth P. Ruscio)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper The relationship that University of Richmond law school Dean Rodney A. Smolla developed with Kenneth P. Ruscio, his counterpart at UR's Jepson School of Leadership Studies, appears to have been the key to Smolla's...

Virginia State Bar's Standing Committee on Legal Ethics gets comments on advisory opinion 1829.
February 26, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia State Bar's Standing Committee on Legal Ethics is getting what it asked for: comments on advisory opinion 1829. However, those comments aren't coming in the form of 10 copies to the VSB's executive...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 26, 2007.(U.S. v. Kimbrough)(Hussain v. Gonzales )
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Miranda Warnings - Mother's Questions - Firearms Charge A district court erred in suppressing defendant's statements made in response to his mother's questions about what else he had...

U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia Case Summaries: February 26, 2007.(Termini v. Life Insurance Co. of North America )
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Jury Demand - ERISA - AD&D Benefits A woman suing an insurance carrier under ERISA for a declaratory judgment that she is entitled to accidental death benefits under the...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 26, 2007.(Wright v. Commonwealth)(Nurses 4 You Inc. v. Ferris)(B.P. Solar v. Jones)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Common Law Burglary - Nighttime Occurrence - Lesser- Included Offense There was insufficient evidence to prove that items stolen from the victim's home by defendant and others high on...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: February 25, 2007.(Banc of America Leasing & Capital LLC v. ePlus Group Inc.)(Georgalas v. Kilgore)(Capstone Contracting Co. v. American Eagle SelfStorage LLC )
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Indemnity Clause - Attorney's Fees - California Law A circuit court denies reconsideration of its earlier conclusion at trial, that the indemnity clause at issue here contemplates...

Verdicts & Settlements February 26, 2007: Virginia dentist prevails in med-mal case.(Farley v. Dr. Doe)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was a 27-year-old woman with a variety of psychosomatic health related problems by medical history, who presented to the defendant, a general dentist, on Oct. 6, 1997, having lost the...

Verdicts & Settlements February 26, 2007: Virginia wrongful death suit settles for $350K.(Richardson L. Watkins and Ellen Thurman, Co-Executors of the Estate of Torrance Watkins, deceased v. Ann B. Adams and William J. Brady as Co-Administrators of the Estate of Francis T. Brady)(Brief article)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiffs' decedent was a restrained, front-seat passenger in a 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit driven by defendants' decedent. They were traveling in a southerly direction on Route 679 approaching its...

Verdicts & Settlements February 26, 2007: Arlington plaintiff recovers only $5K from rearender.(Bryner v. Snyder)(Brief article)
February 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant rearended plaintiff's vehicle on Interstate 66. Liability was conceded at trial. Plaintiff did not present any medical testimony of injuries. Plaintiff complained of constant pain since...