Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from January 2004

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from January 2004

Virginia attorney general's domestic violence plan is unveiled.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Paul Fletcher As the General Assembly gets ready to open its 2004 session this Wednesday, Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore has been preparing a package of proposals designed to curb domestic violence and to aid in its prosecution....

4th Circuit rules insurance carrier's conduct waived policy limitation period.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Paul Fletcher Even though an insurance policy contains a provision requiring a policyholder to sue within two years in the event of a dispute, the policyholder can bring a claim where the carrier corresponded and negotiated for two...

Norfolk starts Virginia's first mental health court.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Matthew Philips This month the Norfolk Circuit Court will implement a mental health court to deal with mentally ill people charged with class one and class two misdemeanors. Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Poston will preside over...

Federal judge in Roanoke disposes of one of oldest cases in the Western District.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Back at the turn of the year, with a stroke of the pen, a federal judge in Roanoke disposed of what is believed to be one of the oldest cases in the Western District. At issue: a landfill in...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: January 12, 2004.(Kathryn H. Psimas joins Wilks & Alper)(Thomas W. Aldous joins McGuireWoods LLP)(that Dean Rutley joins Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC )
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Hampton Roads-based firm of Kaufman & Canoles has formed a "Hospitality Law Group." Edward R. Stolle of the firm's Virginia Beach office will chair the group. The practice was formed to...

Verdicts & Settlements January 12, 2004: Fairfax jury awards $866,000 to rear-end accident victim.(James vs. Envirite, Inc)(negligence case )
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The 56-year-old plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle on Route 15 in Haymarket which was stopped and waiting to turn into the auto repair shop that he owns. The truck driver driving an 18-wheeler...

Verdicts & Settlements January 12, 2004: Mining LLC awarded $3M for breach of contract.(Pocahontas Mining LLC v. Jewell Ridge Coal Corporation and Thames Development, Ltd.)(Brief article)
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in favor of the plaintiff in Pocahontas Mining Limited Liability Company v. Jewell Ridge Coal Corporation on Jan. 11, 2003. This was a suit for damages. The defendant...

Verdicts & Settlements January 12, 2004: Medical malpractice suit settles for $1 million.(Brief article)
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In July 2000, the plaintiff presented to the hospital for a planned induction of labor. She was two weeks past her due date. At the hospital, she came under the care of the defendant, her OB/GYN...

Verdicts & Settlements January 12, 2004: Head-on collision suit settles for $500,000.(negligence case)
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was the driver of a van which was struck head-on on Route 340 in Bentonville. The plaintiff had just turned right into the northbound lane of Route 340 off Route 613. The defendant was...

Verdicts & Settlements January 12, 2004: Head-on collision suit mediated for $975,000.(negligence case )(Brief article)
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was returning to his home in the early morning hours of March 16, 2002. He had been drinking and playing cards at a cousin's home. He was operating a SUV which was struck head-on by a...

Verdicts & Settlements January 12, 2004: Defense verdict returned in med-mal suit.(Lyons v. Jaffe and General Surgical Specialists)(medical malpractice case)
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff This case involved injuries sustained by the patient following laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed by the defendant general surgeon on August 4, 2000. During the closed portion of the procedure, the...

Roanoke City Circuit judge rules product price list can be protected as 'confidential'.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Deborah Elkins A salesman's use of his former employer's price list may be a breach of a confidentiality agreement the salesman signed with the former employer, a Roanoke City Circuit judge has ruled. A paper products company...

Can you hear me now?
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff How does a lawyer know when his persistent attempts to get an objection on the record have gone too far and antagonized the judge? When the judge ratchets up a contempt penalty over a matter of...

Virginia Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: January 12, 2004.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Dischargeability Of Debt - Tax Returns - Ch. 7 Where debtor "just didn't get around to filing his" income tax returns in 1990 and 1992, and did not submit income tax statements for...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 12, 2004.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Environmental - Cleanup Costs - Reimbursement On rehearing en banc, the Virginia Court of Appeals holds that a Richmond trial court erred in upholding the Department of...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: January 12, 2004.
January 12, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Noncompete Agreement - Paper Sales - Customer Price Sheet A paper sales company may sue a sales representative who left after 23 years to work for a competitor on a claim that the...

Virginia's Largest Verdicts of 2003.(MillionMercExchange LLC vs. eBay Inc., case of intellectual property infringement)(Jesse Sheckler vs. Virginia Broadcasting Corporation)(medical malpractice case)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff #1$35 MillionMercExchange LLC v. eBay Type of Case: Intellectual Property Court: USDC, Eastern District Virginia Attorney: Greg N. Stillman, Norfolk Summary: A Norfolk federal jury found that...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 19, 2004.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Schools IDEA - Learning- Disabled Student - Private School Tuition A district court erred in concluding that defendant school system failed to provide a "free appropriate public education"...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: January 19, 2004.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Duty To Defend - CGL Policy - Subcontractor Exclusion Where joint developers of a shopping center assert that defendant general contractor's subcontractor damaged a Wal-Mart store...

U.S. District Court VA Western Court Summaries: January 19, 2004.(Dingus v. Moye)(excessive force case)(U.S. v. Macher)(bankruptcy case)(Strong v. Continental Casualty Co)(denial of long-term disability benefits case)(Virginia )
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Fee Request - Illegal Wiretapping Although defendant, the ex-husband of one of the plaintiffs, admitted to his interception of plaintiffs' telephone conversations in violation of the...

Attempt to auction off the state of West Virginia on eBay draws 56 bids.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff It vanished from the online world just minutes after eBay learned of the joke, but an attempt to auction off the state of West Virginia last week drew 56 bids and nearly enough promised dollars to fill...

3rd Circuit opinion includes footnote to Richmond-based appellate court's musings on 'toeballs'.(Daffy's Inc. was sued by Gucci International for selling knock-offs )(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The learned judges of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals likely are accustomed to seeing their legal reasoning cited by other courts. But they may have done a double-take when they saw a recent...

Fairfax sheriff to charge prisoners at the adult detention center $1 a day.(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff No one ever confused the Fairfax County jail with a motel, but they now have something in common. Both require you to pay to stay. Fairfax Sheriff Stan Barry announced last week that effective...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: January 19, 2004.(Ann Kiley Crenshaw joins Kaufman & Canoles)(Debby Cochran and Amy Owen opens law offices)(G. Wythe Michael and Roderick W. Simmons joins Hirschler Fleischer )
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Ann Kiley Crenshaw has joined the Virginia Beach office of Kaufman & Canoles as a partner in the litigation section. Crenshaw practices commercial litigation, land use and zoning, and has worked...

Tax reform, budget top legislative agenda for VA General Assembly session.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Tax reform and the state budget almost certainly will grab the biggest headlines, but legislators also will battle over issues ranging from gay rights to drunken driving during the 60-day General...

Virginia's new sodomy law would apply only to public acts.(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Virginia Crime Commission signed off last Tuesday on legislation prohibiting sodomy in public but also recommended keeping a broader anti-sodomy law similar to an unconstitutional Texas statute. ...

Virginia gun control advocates to push keeping guns out of bars.(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Gun-control advocates, heartened by Democratic gains in the House last fall, will push to keep guns worn in plain sight out of bars just as concealed guns are, and to give local school divisions the...

Father can pay expenses for children directly, VA Court of Appeals rules.(Virginia)(Princiotto v. Gorrell)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Paul Fletcher The Virginia Court of Appeals has allowed a divorced father to pay his children's expenses directly rather than pay child support to his ex-wife. The man had shown that his ex-wife was "financially...

VA Lawyers Weekly presents survey of 'largest verdicts'.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In this issue, Virginia Lawyers Weekly presents its survey of "The Largest Verdicts of 2003." To compile this year's survey, Assistant Editor Matthew Philips surveyed Verdict & Settlement Reports...

Supreme Court of Virginia debuts online mediator directory.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff You have a case you want to take to mediation, and you need a mediator in the Shenandoah Valley with experience in domestic relations. Or perhaps you practice in Northern Virginia and you need a...

Norfolk federal jury awards lawyer-plaintiff $35 million against eBay.(MercExchange LLC v. eBay)(patent infringement case)(Case overview)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Matthew Philips #1 Verdict A Norfolk federal jury in May handed down a $35 million patent-infringement verdict against online auction giant eBay. The plaintiff, a Northern Virginia lawyer, claimed that eBay had used...

Charlottesville jury awards man record defamation award against TV station.(Jesse Sheckler v. WVIR)(Case overview)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Matthew Philips #2 Verdict A Charlottesville jury awarded the largest defamation verdict against a TV station in Virginia history when it found that WVIR, the NBC network affiliate in Charlottesville, had defamed a...

Portsmouth jury awards record med-mal verdict.(medical malpractice case)(Case overview)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Matthew Philips #4 Verdict In October, a Portsmouth circuit court jury issued the largest medical malpractice verdict in Virginia's history. A mother and her nine-year-old daughter were awarded $7.2 million for the permanent...

Large cases down in Virginia, med-mal verdicts up.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Matthew Philips Two findings jump out immediately from Virginia Lawyers Weekly's survey of the "Largest Verdicts of 2003." Really big verdicts are less prevalent. The top verdict of the year was a $35 million award, handed down...

Nationally, large jury verdicts fell in 2003.(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Large jury awards to individual plaintiffs across the country fell dramatically in 2003, according to an annual survey conducted by Lawyers Weekly USA, a sister publication of Virginia Lawyers Weekly....

Richmond Federal District Court Gives Contractor Defense For Sub's 'Defective' Work.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Deborah Elkins A general contractor's commercial liability carrier must defend the contractor against claims that a subcontractor used defective fill material, a Richmond federal district judge has ruled. The contractor's...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 19, 2004.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Motorcycle Registration - Insurance - Motor Vehicle A hearing officer for the Department of Motor Vehicles, affirmed by a circuit court, did not err in suspending defendant's...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 26, 2004.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Cocaine Possession - Felon In Possession Where police followed defendant on a tip that he possessed cocaine, credible evidence supports the trial court's judgment that defendant...

Virginia General Assembly re-elects judges.(new appointments)
January 26, 2004... Byline: Deborah Elkins The Virginia General Assembly has moved quickly to re-elect most of the incumbent judges it interviewed last December, ending the brief period of suspense for that select group. On Jan. 20, the House and Senate...

Verdicts & Settlements January 26, 2004: Father backs over own child.(negligence case)(Brief article)
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff This case was initially declined by two different lawyers. An 18-month-old child was struck by the father when backing-up in the drive way to load a vehicle. The child was found with head wedged between...

Verdicts & Settlements January 26, 2004: Mobile home salesman hit with $90,000 fraud.(fraud and sexual assault case)(Brief article)
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff A female consumer purchased a mobile home from the dealer of a prominent mobile home manufacturer. As instructed by the sales person, the consumer paid substantial money for her down payment, well,...

Verdicts & Settlements January 26, 2004: Lemon Law, fraud cases settled for $43,000.(Brief article)
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The manufacturer settled a lemon law case for $18,000; the dealer's insurance carrier settled fraud case for $25,000. The issue was whether the car was "new" or "used." Also, an issue over whether this...

Verdicts & Settlements January 26, 2004: Wrongful death suit settled for $1.7 million.(Hartley v. Campbell )(negligence case)(Brief article)
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The decedent, a 70 year-old retired State Department foreign service officer, was struck and killed while biking in Fauquier County. The defendant was operating a company pick-up truck while off-duty,...

Commentary: Trends 2004: Issues To Watch In The Coming Year.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Paul Fletcher Our annual peek through a glass, darkly, can start with a few quick truisms: The economy is improving. The budget remains a problem and will dominate this year's General Assembly session. And it's an...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 26, 2004.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Collateral Estoppel - Antitrust - 'Critical & Necessary' Standard Where a District of Columbia district court in 1998 found Microsoft Corporation had illegally maintained a...

Commentary: There they go again.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The General Assembly is back in town and the big fight, as it has been for the past several years, will be over money and the state's budget. That won't stop the delegates and senators from...

Mysterious tribute at grave of Edgar Allan Poe makes reference to France's opposition to Iraq war.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff French cognac was nearly "nevermore" in this year's mysterious tribute at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore. For 56 years, someone has marked the writer's birthday by slinking through the...

Norfolk Circuit Court Rules No Recusal For Former Prosecutor.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Deborah Elkins A Norfolk Circuit Court judge need not have recused himself from hearing a probation revocation proceeding for a defendant convicted of cocaine possession when the judge was the elected commonwealth's attorney in...

Virginia Court Case Summaries: January 26, 2004.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Filing Suit - Time Of Filing - Clerk's Receipt Stamp Where a law firm employee hand-delivered, one day before expiration of the statute of limitations, a personal- injury motion...

Republican Delegates, Va. Trial Lawyers Association Push Tort Reform Bills.
January 26, 2004... Byline: Matthew Philips Republican delegates and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association drew respective lines in the sand last week on the issue of tort reform in the 2004 General Assembly session. Last Tuesday, members of the House...