Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from May 2009

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from May 2009

The Chinese drywall stink: sulphurous sheetrock prompts lawsuits in Virginia.
May 4, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth Plywood back in the 1990s. Artificial stucco earlier this decade. And now smelly Chinese drywall is the latest faulty building material to prompt angry and worried homeowners to sue builders, contractors...anyone they...

Size of Virginia State Bar clients' protection fund on the rise, as are claims.
May 4, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia State Bar Clients' Protection Fund began modestly in 1976 with a $70,000 appropriation by the VSB Council to establish an account to reimburse clients who had lost money because of the dishonest conduct of...

Lawyers who use Fastcase say Virginia State Bar should keep service.
May 4, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper More than 90 percent of respondents to a Virginia State Bar survey about the Fastcase online research service say the VSB should continue to provide access to the service as a member benefit. Almost three-fourths of...

Commonwealth of Virginia replaces Intoxilyzer machines.
May 4, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth The Intoxilyzer finally is retired. The last state-owned Intoxilyzer 5000 machines, used by police to perform breath tests on suspected drunken drivers, have been taken out of service, according to a spokesman for...

Swine flu scare raises legal issues.
May 4, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth When the swine flu scare hit last week, two large law firms were ready with information and a catalog of legal issues that might arise during a pandemic. Troutman Sanders LLP issued a news release and launched Web...

Richmond Circuit Court: Commonwealth ex parte Science Museum of Virginia v. Mahone.
May 7, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Public Employment - Employee E-Mail Not a 'Threat' A museum finance director wins reinstatement and attorney's fees after he was fired for sending an e-mail to museum management and trustees complaining that...

Hanging on to the house in Virginia: lenders now more willing to make a deal, lawyers say.
May 11, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Richmond attorney Eric D. White saw the housing bust coming earlier than most. In the summer of 2006, fewer potential buyers were showing up on the courthouse steps to bid on foreclosed properties. White, whose...

Edmonds, Creager to serve on Virginia State Bar Council.
May 11, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Former Virginia State Bar Executive Director Thomas A. Edmonds will return to the agency as a representative of the Henrico County Judicial Circuit to the VSB Council. Edmonds served for 19 years as executive...

'09 'Food Frenzy' in Virginia tops prior effort by 23%.
May 11, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The third annual Legal Food Frenzy raised 23 percent more food than the previous effort, and the total of 1.6 million pounds exceeded the drive's goal by 100,000 pounds. The Richmond law firm of Schettine & Nguyen...

Richmond Circuit Court rules state worker's e-mail is 'protected'.(Virginia)
May 11, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins An employee e-mail that called for desperate measures for desperate times was not a threat that justified firing the state employee. In an April 17 decision from Richmond Circuit Court, Judge Melvin R. Hughes...

Stop for just one license plate doesn't hold up in Virginia court.
May 11, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper A Greensville County detective might have suspected there was more amiss than the absence of a front license plate on the rental car from Pennsylvania, but he said that was the reason he pulled the Toyota Matrix with...

People search: how to locate someone.
May 11, 2009... Byline: Sarah Rodriguez You need to find someone. You don't have much more than a name and an address that is probably outdated. Hiring an expensive private investigator isn't an option. Lawyers face this scenario with some...

Experts: law firms need to have pandemic plan.(Virginia)
May 11, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth While state health officials offered reassurance that the handful of H1N1 (swine flu) cases reported in Virginia are mild and the patients expected to recover, experts say businesses such as law firms need to be...

Virginia bar groups weathering economy.
May 11, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth The nation's economic woes have been more of a blip than a bust to Virginia's bar organizations, according to their leaders. Memberships and conference participation are off slightly, the groups report, but the downturn...

Hanging on to the house: lenders now more willing to work a deal, lawyers say.(Virginia)
May 11, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Richmond attorney Eric D. White saw the housing bust coming earlier than most. In the summer of 2006, fewer potential buyers were showing up on the courthouse steps to bid on foreclosed properties. White, whose firm...

Supreme Court Justice Barbara Keenan honored as Virginia's 'influential women' are celebrated.
May 15, 2009... Byline: Paul Fletcher Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan has been named Virginia's Influential Woman of the Year. Keenan received the recognition May 14 at a luncheon celebrating the 2009 class of Influential Women of...

Virginia Judicial Conference seeks input on four proposed rule changes.
May 18, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Rules is seeking comment on four proposed changes in the Rules of Court, including rules on discovery, withdrawal or amendment of admissions, and juror...

Virginia circuit judges explore what lawyers should do, but don't.
May 18, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper Widespread indifference to the Rule of Court that sets out page limits and deadlines for pre-trial motions practice. Complaints about the dwindling number of jury trials. Closing arguments that go on too long....

Virginia State Bar panel: 'egregious' UPL should be a felony.(unauthorized practice of law)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia State Bar's Standing Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law wants to make an egregious UPL violation a felony. The committee is recommending that the VSB Council take up the issue at its June...

Ethics hypo: taking on a new client, reserving right to walk.(Virginia)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins A lawyer who was trying to nail down his $25,000 retainer from out-of-state clients ran out of time and saw a default judgment entered against the clients, in a new decision from Loudoun County Circuit Court. ...

Supreme Court of Virginia Chief Justice Hassell: bring back judicial evaluations.(Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr.)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth Virginia's judge evaluation system may live again. Supreme Court of Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. said last week he hopes to reinstate the state's judicial performance evaluation program that was...

Rough waters: class of 2009 faces uncertain future.(Virginia)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Peter Vieth Many of Virginia's law school graduates grabbing their diplomas this month are facing uncertain futures. That's the word from law placement specialists who say it's been a tough year trying to find legal positions...

Alexandria U.S. District Court: Baserva v. Remes.
May 21, 2009... Byline: Deborah Elkins Attorneys - Immigration Malpractice Case Needs Expert A Venezuelan who claims his lawyer was negligent in not moving to reopen immigration proceedings, resulting in the client's detention by immigration authorities,...