Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from July 2005

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from July 2005

U.S. Supreme Court rules on music downloading.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson Peer-to-peer file sharing companies may be liable for the distribution of copyrighted material by their consumers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last Monday. The decision, MGM Studios Inc. v. Grokster Ltd.,...

Virginia State Bar seeks input on new proposed Legal Ethics Opinion.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Paul Fletcher New LEO: What Do You Do When You Miss Appeal Date? You represent a criminal defendant, and your client is convicted and sent to jail. He wants to appeal and you file the papers with the proper court. But...

Recidivism rates down for all of Virginia's drug court participants.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins The treatment successes of Virginia's drug courts cannot necessarily be attributed to those courts' "skimming off the top" and choosing "lightweight" offenders already susceptible to treatment, according to a study...

Retired Navy Captain John E. Greenbacker, a lawyer in Baltimore and Halifax, dies at 87.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
July 4, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Retired Navy Captain John E. Greenbacker, who was a lawyer in Baltimore and Halifax after leaving the service, died June 1 in South Boston. He was 87. A native of Connecticut, Captain Greenbacker...

Fredericksburg doctor forced to go to trial without any insurance prevails in wrongful death case.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin A Fredericksburg pediatrician forced to go to trial without any insurance after his former carrier, Doctors Insurance Reciprocal, went into receivership has prevailed in a wrongful death case by the family of baby who...

Gloucester lawyer McClanahan Ingles dies at 58.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
July 4, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Gloucester lawyer McClanahan Ingles died June 10. He was 58. A native of Alexandria, he grew up in Gloucester. A 1968 graduate of Washington & Lee University, he earned his law degree from W&L in...

Commentary: Shop (for insurance) like you're dying.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Neil R.G. Young, Dolan Media Newswires (This article originally ran in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication.) If there's one thing that drives entrepreneurs to distraction, it's insurance: property...

U.S. Supreme Court rules city may seize property for economic development.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson Local governments may seize private property for public use even where the sole purpose is economic development, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled late last month, 5-4. When the city of New London, Conn.,...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 5, 2005.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Preference Payments - Car Dealerships - Floor Plan - Ch. 7 In this adversary proceeding by the Chapter 7 trustee involving three debtor car dealerships owned by one man, the 4th...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: July 4, 2005.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Intellectual Property Copyright Infringement - License Agreement A software company's claims that defendant exceeded the terms of a clickwrap license agreement in terms of the number of Named...

Verdicts & Settlements-July 4, 2005: Ex-DIR insured goes bare at trial, prevails.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff This case was originally tried to a defense verdict in 2000, but the verdict was reversed and the case remanded because the Court had given a jury instruction that the Supreme Court held to be error....

Virginia Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers starts mentorship program for indigent defense.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Paul Fletcher A report commissioned by the American Bar Association last year slammed the quality of the work done by court-appointed lawyers for Virginia's indigent criminal defendants. The General Assembly responded by...

Richmond Circuit judge rules indemnity will not bar trip-and-fall suit.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins A Richmond racetrack cannot escape liability in a trip-and-fall case by invoking an indemnity clause in its lease of its property to the Virginia State Fair. The lease's hold-harmless clause does not get the...

Commentary: Resumes that I really wish had come across my desk.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Mike Boyd (This article originally ran in the Colorado Springs Business Journal, Colorado Springs, CO, another Dolan Media publication.) A lot of paper crosses my desk every week. A lot of it gets a cursory glance and a...

Commentary: Perils to guard against at public Internet places ...
July 18, 2005... Byline: Rick Edvalson (This article originally ran in the Idaho Business Review, Boise, Idaho, another Dolan Media publication.) According to the AAA, a lot of us will be traveling this summer, despite painfully high gas prices. That...

Commentary: Re-tooling the small law firm.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Michael Giardina Practice management is a challenge for any law firm. However, managing workflow case documents, court calendars, phone calls, e-mails, client contact information, invoices, time sheets, and so on, has grown easier...

VA Lawyers in the News: July 18, 2005.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Tara A. Manson has joined Spotts Fain as an associate in the firm's Richmond office. She served as a law clerk in the Office of the Chief Staff Attorney for the Supreme Court of Virginia from 2003-05....

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 18, 2005.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Trustee Standing - Debtor Coconspirators - Ch. 7 A bankruptcy trustee, as assignee of certain creditors, has standing to sue on behalf of the bankruptcy estate to recover damages...

Verdicts & Settlements-July 18, 2005: Driver settles case from collision with tractor-trailer.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, Clifton F. Neal Jr., struck the defendant's tractor-trailer after the defendant began a left turn in front of Neal's car on Route 87 in Henry County. The impact was in Neal's left lane...

International Limousine Service enforces noncompete.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Paul Fletcher In Washington, DC, limousines are ubiquitous. They take dignitaries to and from events. They move groups of visitors and travelers from place to place. But as an industry in the metro DC area, the limo...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: July 18, 2005.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Signature On Pleadings - 'On Behalf Of' - VSB Ethics Hotline Although an attorney argued that she had only drafted a Title VII complaint as a favor to another attorney, and that she...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: July 18, 2005.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Forum Selection Clause - Transfer Motion A Virginia manufacturer of home and garden equipment may sue defendant travel and advertising company for fraud and unjust enrichment in...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 18, 2005.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Child Sexual Abuse - Victim's Letter - 'Recent Complaint' At defendant's trial for numerous sexual offenses committed against his daughter when she was between the ages of 12 and 15...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: July 18, 2005.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Noncompete Agreement - Limousine Service A former operations manager for a limousine service is enjoined from performing similar services for a competing limousine service that...

Verdicts & Settlements-July 18, 2005: Med-mal claim over nerve surgery settled.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was a 36-year-old heavy equipment operator. He worked in the logging business operating a knuckle boom. In January 2001 he pulled on a chainsaw and suffered shooting pain in his right arm. He...

Verdicts & Settlements-July 18, 2005: $1.1M settlement for over radiation during cancer treatment.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In August 2003, the plaintiff began radiation treatments for prostate cancer at the defendant hospital. Radiation was delivered by IMRT, where computer stipulation is used to determine the most...

Verdicts & Settlements-July 18, 2005: Reconstructionist aids in settlement of fatal collision.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff At 9:50 a.m.on Dec. 15, 2003, a clear, sunny day, 58-year-old Lewis A. Lloyd, a self-employed carpenter, was driving his 1995 Dodge Ram pickup on his way to a work site in Orange in the westbound lanes...

American Bar Assn. backs jury trial innovations.(American Bar Association)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher The American Bar Association has produced a progressive set of jury principles, aimed at increasing jury participation and improving conditions for jurors. In February, the ABA's House of Delegates approved...

Verdicts & Settlements (July 25, 2005): Farmers entitled to prescriptive easement.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff's two farms were landlocked. Both farms are located inside a ridgeline that forms a bowl. There is one gap in the bowl and the disputed road ran across defendants' farm from a public road...

Man in California returns Harry Potter book to publisher.(Thorin Brentmar)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Unless you're an unreconstructed muggle, you know that J.K. Rowling's sixth and latest installment of her megabuck Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," was released July 16....

Some automobile license plates are unpopular to drivers.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff This paper has chronicled the Virginia official license-plate hoo-hah for years. There have been license plate stories about Confederate groups that wanted plates. Anti-abortion advocates that wanted...

PA. Court of Appeals overturns jail sentence for woman not mowing yard.(cases)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff A few years back, there was a guy in Fairfax - he actually was a lawyer - who tangled with the Fairfax County government for refusing to mow his grass. Deja vu all over again up in Harrisburg, Pa.,...

Commentary: For The Firm: Marketing On A Shoestring.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Kenneth L. Hardison (This article originally ran in the North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Raleigh, N.C., another Dolan Media publication). Today's competitive business arena has forced all lawyers to market in some form or fashion....

Commentary: Financial planning for self-employed.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Gary Williams Dolan Media Newswires (This article originally ran in the Daily Record, Baltimore, MD., another Dolan Media publication). Given today's economic landscape, job security is not what it used to be. Fewer firms are...

U.S. Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: July 25, 2005.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Disability - Mentally Retarded Adults - Group Home Rules A county group home's adoption of a policy that prohibited a mentally retarded adult man, a group home resident, from...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 25, 2005.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Probation Revocation - Continuance A trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying defendant's motion to continue his probation revocation proceedings, requested by defendant...

4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules company could waive attorney-client privilege.(America Online Inc. accused of accounting fraud)
July 25, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins When a company is under investigation for securities fraud, it may start out on the same page as its employees. But the interests of the corporate entity may soon diverge from the interests of the individual...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: July 25, 2005.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Legal Malpractice - Limitations - Void Divorce Decree A husband who claimed his attorney was negligent in failing to obtain a divorce decree based upon proper service of notice to...

Verdicts & Settlements (July 25, 2005): Back-pain claim after wreck settles for $1.2M.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The defendant failed to yield and struck the plaintiff's vehicle with great force. The accident occurred in Fauquier County. As a result of the accident, the plaintiff suffered a ligament tear in her...

Verdicts & Settlements (July 25, 2005): Woman who struck stationary tractor-trailer settles case.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff On May 13, 2004, the plaintiff, while driving her automobile at night on an interstate highway, ran into the rear of a tractor-trailer which was stationary in the roadway. As a result of the crash,...

Verdicts & Settlements (July 25, 2005): Prisoner death prompts med-mal verdict.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The decedent was a 23-year-old man serving a five-day sentence for a traffic violation in the Portsmouth City Jail. Since childhood, he had severe asthma requiring multiple emergency hospitalizations...

Verdicts & Settlements (July 25, 2005): Passenger wins $2.9M against driver.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Mr. Waddell was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Mr. Vass. Mr. Vass failed to slow down or stop at a T intersection, resulting in the vehicle's speeding through the intersection, going over an...