Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from June 2009

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from June 2009

Commentary: building a community, one tweet at a time.(Virginia)
June 8, 2009... Byline: Sarah Rodriguez Are you on Twitter? If not, you might want to take a look. For those who haven't been tuned in to all the recent buzz, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that poses the simple question, What are you doing?...

Commentary: court clarifies preservation and endorsement of orders.(Virginia)
June 8, 2009... Byline: George Somerville Most trial and appellate lawyers recognize that the first step in appellate practice occurs at the trial court level, and that is ensuring that reversible errors are preserved for appeal by contemporaneous...

Shelving outfit prevails in patent dispute in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.
June 8, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The design for shelving that holds boxes of documents in warehouses hardly seems like an issue that would set off a big legal battle. But the wrangling involved a patent law dispute in state court in Virginia Beach,...

Supreme Court of Virginia sets rules on expungement.
June 8, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper A criminal defendant can have charges removed from police and court records even if it appears the trial judge believed he had committed the crime, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in two cases last week. The...

Bond claim in Va. survives CRESPA.(Virginia Consumer Real Estate Settlement Protection Act)
June 8, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Virginia's statutory scheme for regulating real estate settlement agents - the CRESPA statute adopted in 1997 - does not prevent a suit to recover under the surety bond that settlement agents have to carry. In...

U.S. Senators back Va. Supreme Court Justice Barbara M. Keenan for seat on 4th Circuit.
June 8, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner have recommended Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara M. Keenan for a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If President Obama nominates her and the Senate confirms...

Supreme Court of Virginia rules plaintiff can 'stack' UM/UIM coverage.(uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage)
June 8, 2009... Byline: Paul Fletcher The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled last Thursday that a girl badly injured in a car wreck can stack the uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage in her father's auto policy, increasing the potential amount of money...

Trailer law: mobile and modular homes are common source of legal disputes in Va.
June 8, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth While mobile homes and the people who live in them often struggle for acceptability, manufactured housing remains a fertile source of work for lawyers in Virginia. The old image of the run-down trailer persists,...

Virginia State Bar vote on diversity proposal set for Thursday.
June 15, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Debate at the Virginia State Bar meeting Thursday on a proposed diversity initiative could be lively if written comments sent to the VSB are any indication. More than 60 letters were submitted, with opponents...

The low-ball claim: seeking to benefit from removal rules.(Virginia)
June 15, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth In a practice that seems counterintuitive, some plaintiffs' lawyers are staying out of federal court by demanding far less money than they think their cases actually are worth. The technique has been used when a...

CGL carrier must defend Virginia workplace shooting suit.(commercial general liability)
June 15, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins A business insurance carrier must defend an employer after a workplace shooting leads to a negligence action by the employee's estate. The Employer Liability exclusion - which usually protects a business carrier...

A higher hurdle: U.S. high court says complaint must state 'plausible' set of facts.
June 15, 2009... Byline: David Frank and Alan Cooper The U.S. Supreme Court has set a higher hurdle for a plaintiff filing a civil complaint in federal court. In 2007 the court issued an antitrust case that heightened the standard of proof required to...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Berry v. Locke.
June 16, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Attorneys - Pauper Status - Patent Examiner A former patent examiner who claimed pauper status to avoid legal filing fees has her discrimination complaint dismissed under 28 U.S.C. s. 1915 by an Alexandria U.S....

Commentary: how to manage your e-mail and fight inbox overload.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Sarah Rodriguez Do you receive more e-mails per day than you have time to deal with? Does constantly checking your inbox interrupt your work flow? Are important messages getting buried under months' worth of junk mail buildup? ...

ALPS to buy Southern Title.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper ALPS, the legal malpractice insurance carrier endorsed by the Virginia State Bar, is buying Southern Title Insurance Corp. Both firms are privately held and details of the stock purchase agreement were not disclosed....

Most of $21.2M award won in Clarksville bridge suit set aside.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia Court of Appeals has set aside much of the $21.2 million verdict a trial judge awarded the company that built the Clarksville bypass segment of U.S. 58. AMEC Civil LLC of Lawrenceville, N.J., contended...

Medical bills prompt bankruptcy in 62% of cases.(Virginia)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth A new study shows a steady increase in the number of personal bankruptcies prompted by overwhelming medical bills. The report, published this month in The American Journal of Medicine, shows more than 62 percent of all...

Critics: Virginia State Bar legal ethics opinion doesn't get the nature of Web ads.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper A proposed Virginia State Bar Legal Ethics Opinion says that attorneys act unethically when they participate in some third-party Web sites. LEO 1851 concludes that it is unethical for an attorney to participate in...

Getting away: a lawyer can, and should, take a vacation ... just do a little planning.(Virginia)
June 22, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth Summertime and the living is easy, says the Gershwin song. For busy small firm and solo lawyers, however, taking time off for easy living is not always so easy. There are crowded court schedules, needy clients, and...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: Size of infant not considered in brachial plexus case.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff A baby who was large for her gestational age (birth weight of 9 pounds, 10 ounces) suffered a stretch injury to her brachial plexus, the nerves that lead to the shoulder girdle, arm, wrist, hand and...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: Patient reports incontinence after laser surgery on prostate.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In June and July 2006, plaintiff sought treatment by defendant urologist for surgical resection of his enlarged prostate, a condition called benign prostatic hypertrophy. Specifically, plaintiff sought...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: Child with terminal cancer killed in crash at stop light.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly The decedent was a 6-year-old boy who died as a result of head trauma sustained when the defendant ran a red light. The unique aspect of this case was that the decedent had terminal brain cancer at the time...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: Plaintiff found liable for crash.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff, a 25-year-old female, worked as a dental hygienist and was traveling on Interstate 295 northbound in Hanover County. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant swerved into her lane (second lane...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: Modular home dealer says buyer defaulted.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff At the conclusion of all of the evidence by both parties, the plaintiff, a modular home dealer, renewed its Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to its cause of action for breach of the contract for...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: CNA sexually assaults assisted living resident.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Plaintiff, age 56, is mentally retarded and was a resident in Cote De Neige, an assisted care facility in Newport News. Brown is child-like and has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old. Defendant Potter...

Verdicts & Settlements June 22, 2009: Punitive damages sought from UIM carrier in DUI case.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In this motor vehicle crash, the plaintiff was struck head on by the defendant drunken driver, resulting in significant property damage. The defendant's vehicle came to rest upside down. After the...

4th Circuit: West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Inc. v. Kempthorne.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Administrative - Surface Mining Regulation - Remand Order - Partial Success - Attorney's Fees A West Virginia conservation group that won a remand order from the federal Interior Board of Land Appeals directing...

4th Circuit: U.S. v. Whorley.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Criminal - Child Porn - Obscene Anime Cartoons - E-Mail Fantasies The 4th Circuit upholds a defendant's child pornography conviction for knowing receipt on a computer of obscene Japanese anime cartoons depicting...

4th Circuit: U.S. v. Whorley.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Criminal - Child Porn - Obscene Anime Cartoons - E-Mail Fantasies The 4th Circuit denies rehearing and rehearing en banc of a defendant's child pornography convictions for knowing receipt on a computer of obscene...

Norfolk U.S. District Court: Key v. Robertson.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Civil Rights - First Amendment - Law Student - Listserv Image Regent University wins summary judgment in Norfolk U.S. District Court against a law student who was suspended for one year for carrying an electric...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Berry v. Locke.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Employment Discrimination - Pauper Status - Patent Examiner An Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses a former patent examiner's employment discrimination suit because of untrue allegations of poverty in her in...

Richmond U.S. District Court: U.S. v. Merentes-Vargas.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Criminal - Illegal Re-Entry - Limitations A Richmond U.S. District Court refuses to dismiss an indictment charging defendant, a Mexican citizen, with illegal re-entry into the U.S. on the ground that it violates...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: U.S. v. Microsemi Corp.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Civil Procedure - Venue - Personal Jurisdiction - Antitrust Suit In this antitrust enforcement action brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Alexandria U.S. District Court denies defendant's motion to...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: BB&T Co. v. Lochner.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Civil Procedure - Improper Removal - Attorney's Fees An Alexandria U.S. District Court orders remand of a bank's collection action against defendant, who improperly removed the case from Prince William County...

Richmond U.S. District Court: Mays v. Al-Amin Brothers Transportation LLC.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Negligence - Work-Related Back Injury - Comp Claim A man who injured his back when he slipped and fell while unloading a tractor-trailer truck, who asserts his employer does not have workers' compensation...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Signature Flight Support Corp. v. Landow Aviation LP.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Contract - Airport Services - Intentional Interference In this lawsuit in which plaintiff company, a Fixed Base Operator of airport concessions and services for noncommercial aviation industries, sues defendant...

Richmond U.S. District Court: American Int'l Specialty Lines Ins. Co. v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Insurance - Arbitration - Business Liability - Coal Sales Contract In this dispute between Massey Coal Company and four insurance carriers it says should help cover a $243 million damage award in the underlying...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Roach v. Option One Mtge. Corp.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Consumer Protection - TILA -Adjustable Rate Mortgage - Injunction: An Alexandria U.S. District Court says a mortgage lender wins summary judgment in a pro se plaintiff's suit alleging the lender violated the...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Pequignot v. Solo Cup Co.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Intellectual Property - False Patent Markings - Qui Tam Action An Alexandria U.S. District Court refuses to dismiss plaintiff lawyer's pro se action alleging defendant Solo Cup Company falsely marked several of...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Kelley v. U.S.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Tort - FTCA - Air Traffic Controllers - Plane Crash An Alexandria U.S. District Court grants summary judgment to the government in this Federal Tort Clams Act suit alleging the negligence of federal air traffic...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Harrison a/k/a God Kundalini Isa Allah v. Watts.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Civil Rights - Bivens Claim - Religious Freedom Act - Inmate Request An Alexandria U.S. District Court denies reconsideration and would dismiss a Virginia inmate's amended complaint involving his request under...

Norfolk U.S. District Court: Moore v. Potter.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Employment Discrimination - Disability - Postal Worker A sorter machine operator at the post office who, after 28 years of service, sought limited-duty assignment due to his multiple conditions of hernia,...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Murnan, Trustee v. Steward Title Guaranty Co.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Insurance - Title Insurance - Trustee Suit - Tax Liens In this diversity action for breach of a title insurance policy, an Alexandria U.S. District Court vacates in part its partial summary judgment to plaintiff,...

Va. Court of Appeals: Commonwealth of Va., VDOT v. AMEC Civil LLC.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Administrative - VDOT Contract Overrun - Written Notice Of Claim In this suit by a contractor for cost overruns on a VDOT contract for construction of the Route 58 Clarksville Bypass in Mecklenburg County, the...

Va. Court of Appeals: Stroud v. Stroud.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Domestic Relations - Attorney's Fees - Cohabitation Although a couple's property settlement agreement provided for attorney's fees for one spouse when the other spouse failed to abide by the agreement, that...

Va. Court of Appeals: Coleman v. Hogan.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Domestic Relations - Appeal Notice - JDR Decision The Court of Appeals summarily affirms a circuit court decision dismissing a father's appeal of a support matter from the JDR court, and refusing to allow the...

Va. Court of Appeals: DeLuca v. Katchmeric.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Domestic Relations - Sanctions - Real Estate Sale Proceeds After a husband had to pursue multiple proceedings to enforce a final divorce decree, including an order requiring distribution of real estate sale...

Va. Court of Appeals: Clarke v. Commonwealth.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Criminal - Juror Strikes - Vision Impairment - Batson Claim At defendant's trial for robbery and carjacking, the trial court did not err in declining to excuse for cause a juror who was legally blind, or in...

Va. Court of Appeals: Muwwakyl v. Commonwealth.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Criminal - Cocaine Possession - Bedroom Discovery There was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of possession of the cocaine found in her bedroom when police executed a search warrant, and the Court of...

Va. Court of Appeals: Gibson v. Roanoke County Dep't of Social Servs.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Domestic Relations - Termination Of Parental Rights - Proof Of Conditions Where a mother challenges proof of conditions necessary for termination of her parental rights to her son under Va. Code s....

Va. Court of Appeals: Garland v. Commonwealth.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Search & Seizure - Unreasonable Search Of Pants - Suspicion Of Contraband The Court of Appeals reverses a defendant's conviction of marijuana possession because police did not have a reasonable suspicion to...

Greensville County Circuit Court: Powell v. Rawlings.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Civil Procedure - Appeal Bond - Jurisdiction - Bond Release A plaintiff who won a GDC judgment for $2,150 can collect that judgment from the $2,500 appeal bond posted by defendant but released to plaintiff to...

Chesterfield County Circuit Court: PCR Tech Holdings LC v. Bell Ventures LLC.
June 22, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Civil Procedure - Personal Jurisdiction - Va. Long-Arm Statute - Transacting Business In this dispute between a Virginia tech holdings company and defendant Massachusetts companies over negotiations to form a new...

Irv Blank becomes Va. State Bar president-elect.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Irving M. Blank, a Richmond attorney and a member of the executive committee of the Virginia State Bar, became president-elect of the VSB June 19. Blank, 65, is a partner in the three-attorney firm of ParisBlank...

Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations district judge Marilynn Goss gets 2009 'excellence' award.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Volunteering to see legal aid clients in the evening while trying to start a law practice seemed like a good idea when Marilynn C. Goss finished law school and passed the bar exam in 1982. Money soon became...

Manage online presence for maximum benefit.(Virginia)
June 29, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins A lawyer logs in to an e-mail list for a bar group of which she is a member. Another member posts a hypothetical case that sounds awfully familiar. Over several days, the lawyer watches opposing counsel in one of...

Cuccinelli, Shannon face off in AG debate in Virginia.(Ken Cuccinelli and Steve Shannon)
June 29, 2009... Byline: Paul Fletcher Ken Cuccinelli and Steve Shannon share many similarities. Both represent Northern Virginia in the General Assembly. In fact, Cuccinelli's Senate district overlaps Shannon's House district in three precincts....

U.S. Magistrate Court rules contingency clause can't transfer UIM obligation.(underinsured motorist insurance)
June 29, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth The insurance carrier for a truck-leasing company cannot use contingency language in its policy to escape its obligation to provide underinsured motorist coverage on its own truck, a Richmond federal magistrate judge...

New president of VBA: publicize 'good works' of lawyers on YouTube.(Virginia Bar Ass'n)
June 29, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Jon D. Huddleston, the new president of the Virginia State Bar, chafes at lawyer jokes. My experience has been that it's the lawyers who are involved in the community, the ones who deliver fruit baskets at...

Diversity Conference is approved by the Virginia State Bar Council.
June 29, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia State Bar Council has approved the creation of a Diversity Conference but stopped short of giving it the full status enjoyed by the bar's other three conferences. Creation of the Diversity Conference,...