Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from November 2005

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from November 2005

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 7, 2005.(Saudi v. Northrop Grumman Corp. and Keppel Group Corp.)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Seaman Injury - Foreign Corporation - Jurisdiction A seaman who was injured when a portside hose crane affixed to a vessel collapsed as it was transferring him in a basket to another...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: November 7, 2005.(Wadley v. Ford Motor Credit Co.)(Dauster v. Household Credit Services)(Wadley v. Equifax Information Services )
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Consumer Protection Fair Credit Reporting Act - Car Loan A plaintiff who returned to a car dealer an allegedly defective car cannot sue the credit company under the Fair Credit Reporting Act...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: November 7, 2005.(Acevedo v. Gilmore)(U.S. v. Whittington)(Lucker v. Cole Vision Corp.)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Prison Conditions - Medical Treatment - Deliberate Indifference Defendant prison officials are not entitled to summary judgment on an inmate's 42 U.S.C. Sect. 1983 claim that...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 7, 2005.(Doades v. Doades)(King v. King)(Hayes v. Petersburg Dep't of Social Servs.)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Domestic Relations Equitable Distribution - Marital Home Valuation - Repair Cost Where the parties disagreed about the impact on valuation of the marital home of the costs to alleviate a mold...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: November 7, 2005.(Birgin v. Tzaferis)(Wynn v. Allstate Life Ins. Co.)(Farsedakis v. Exus Global Inc.)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Res Judicata - Real Estate Contract A couple who successfully sued a man for breach of contract after they learned they would have difficulty building on the lot he sold them...

Group of prosecutors and defense attorneys forms VA Criminal Justice Conference.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper A group of prosecutors and defense attorneys have formed the Virginia Criminal Justice Conference in an effort to develop the criminal law much as the Boyd-Graves Conference has promoted reforms in the civil law. ...

Verdicts & Settlements November 7, 2005: Driver killed when trailer wheels dislodged.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff's decedent was proceeding north on Route 95. The defendant was operating his tractor and trailer south on Route 95 when the front left outside tandem wheels on the trailer dislodged, rolled,...

Claude M. Hilton, a U.S. District judge in Alexandria, to take senior status at end of year.(Claude M. Hilton)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Claude M. Hilton, a U.S. District judge in Alexandria for 20 years, will take senior status on Dec. 31. Hilton was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in May 1985 for a new judgeship and confirmed...

VA's Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission reports on 4 judges seeking reelection.(B. Bryan Milbourne, A. Elisabeth Oxenham, John C. Quigley Jr. and Vincent A. Lilley )
November 7, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Four judges up for reappointment next year may have some explaining to do before the General Assembly's Courts of Justice committees. The Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission has forwarded to the committees...

VA State Corp. Comm. study finds no acceleration in med-mal claims and payments.(Virginia)(medical malpractice)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper An analysis by the State Corporation Commission does not suggest an acceleration of medical malpractice claims or rates, but an attorney who frequently represents physicians told a joint legislative subcommittee last...

Virginia Court of Appeals rules in professional hockey workers' comp case.(Norfolk Admirals v. Jones )
November 7, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins We've long suspected as much: Professional hockey players are actually coached to come out swinging. And we don't just mean their sticks. That suspicion has been confirmed in, of all places, a workers' comp case...

VA Lawyers in the News: November 11, 2005.(Virginia)(Cheri A. Lewis joins Keeler Obenshain PC)(Joshua C. Johnson joins Johnson, Ayers & Matthews PLC )(Brian T. Chase joins Spotts Fain)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Cheri A. Lewis, former president of The Closing Company, has joined the Charlottesville office of Keeler Obenshain PC. The business-focused law firm also has offices in Richmond and Harrisonburg. ...

Jimmie V. Reyna to lead Hispanic National Bar Association.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin Jimmie V. Reyna was already well-traveledbut now he has even more places to visit in his schedule. Reyna, who practices in Washington, D.C., and is chair of the international trade and customs practice group at...

General district court docket good way to serve clients, say Richmond-area lawyers.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins Lawyers who appear regularly in Richmond-area general district courts are ready to share a secret. Practicing in general district court sounds a lot like the way old-timers describe practice in all the courts of...

Virginia Bar Association Foundation delivers Katrina funds.(Hurricane Katrina 2005)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin Bar leaders from the regions damaged by Hurricane Katrina said that they were "extremely thankful" for the recent financial aid from the Virginia Bar Association Foundation. The VBA Foundation collected...

Verdicts & Settlements November 7, 2005: Rear-ender complicated by diplomatic immunity issues.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was stopped in a line of traffic on I-95 when his vehicle was struck from behind by an employee of the Chinese Embassy. The employee claimed diplomatic immunity. The vehicle driven by the...

U.S. Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: November 14, 2005.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Sentencing - Base Offense Level Increase - Booker A defendant convicted of conspiring to distribute oxycodone and methadone, possession of ammunition and retaliating against an...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: November 14, 2005.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Environmental - Small Tract Act - Sand & Gravel In this suit under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Sect. 701 et seq., the district court grants summary judgment to the...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: November 14, 2005.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Corporate Asset Purchase Agreement - Successor Liability In this litigation in which both the buyer and seller allege breach of an agreement to purchase plaintiff's corporate assets, the...

VA Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: November 14, 2005.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Felony Child Neglect - Exposure To Drug Dealing Where a woman sold heroin from her apartment where she and other family members lived, and during execution of a search warrant, police...

Richmond lawyer mentors local high school senior.(Michael Althoff, Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies )
November 14, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin Michael Althoff isn't your average high school senior. He's a high-powered corporate lawyer-in-trainingwell, sort of. Althoff is a senior at the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and...

VA Supreme Court Case Summaries: November 14, 2005.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Submarine Repair - Asbestos Exposure - Maritime Law In this suit by a man who alleges exposure to asbestos in products manufactured by defendant sealing technology company, and who...

VA Supreme Court rules even though he didn't order tests, doctor has no immunity.(Auer v. Miller)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper A sharply divided Supreme Court of Virginia has reversed itself on an issue it decided less than five months earlier and held that a physician did not have immunity from a medical malpractice claim based on a laboratory...

Roanoke's Loftis becomes president of the VA Assn. of Defense Attorneys.(Mark D. Loftis joined Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys )
November 14, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin Roanoke lawyer Mark D. Loftis became the new president of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys at the group's annual meeting in Northern Virginia on Oct. 28. Loftis is a principal at Woods Rogers PLC and...

Henrico Circuit Court rules botched face lift to result in $1.4M jury verdict.(medical malpractice)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper At age 49, Sherry Vines began to get concerned about the crow's feet around her eyes. So she went to Henrico County plastic surgeon Lewis T. Ladocsi, who suggested a brow-lift and mid-face lift, a $6,000 procedure...

Supreme Court of VA rules right words in prenuptial agreement can waive elective share.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Precise language in a prenuptial agreement can waive the right of a spouse to an elective share of the other spouse's augmented estate, the Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled. Many trusts and estates specialists...

Richmond-based Hirschler Fleischer to move next year.(location)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Richmond's Hirschler Fleischer will be the anchor tenant in the renovation of the Edgeworth Building between 21st and 22nd streets on East Cary Street in the city's Shockoe Bottom. The firm has...

Supreme Court of VA rules mere hand-rolled cigarette won't support probable cause.(Virginia)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Cigarette wrapping papers next to a paper bag. A 35 mm film canister. And now a hand-rolled cigarette. All items that the training and experience of a police officer would lead him to expect the presence of drugs....

Commentary: The latest online vermin: RATs.(Remote Access Trojans)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Larry Fiorino (This artile originally appeared in the Daily Record, Baltimore, MD., another Dolan Media publication). RATs are taking over as the nastiest Web creatures since phish and viruses. Cyber crooks are deploying...

Verdicts & Settlements (November 14, 2005) Heart patient suffered stroke after treatment, defense prevails.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff's decedent was a 69-year-old woman who presented to the emergency room at Mary Washington Hospital suffering from what all parties agreed was a massive heart attack. She had a history of...

Verdicts & Settlements (November 14, 2005) $1.4M awarded in face lift case.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Type of Action: Medical Negligence Surgery Involved: Cosmetic Mid-Face Lift Injuries Alleged: Three (3) severed facial nerves requiring nerve graft reconstruction Name of Case: Vines v....

VA Lawyers in the News: November 21, 2005.(Virginia)(Roma Petkauskas joins BrownGreer PLC )(Andrea R. Chase, Matthew P. Rash, Sky K. Massey joins McGuireWoods LLP )(Rebecca C. Bowen joins Freed & Shepherd PC)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Roma Petkauskas has joined Richmond-based BrownGreer PLC as an associate supporting its National Class Action Settlement area. BrownGreer advises clients on mass claim issues, administers mass claim...

Washington & Lee University law professor Roger D. Groot dies at 63.(Obituary)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper More than 20 years after Washington & Lee University law professor Roger D. Groot terrorized him as a first-year law student, Baltimore lawyer Peter Rosenwald keeps a bobble-head doll of Groot on his desk. The doll...

Verdicts & Settlements November 21, 2005: Defense prevails in nursing home death case.(Brief Article)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff sued for the wrongful death of his 89-year-old mother, who died two and a half years after admission to the Heritage Hall Nursing Home in Nassawadox. Plaintiff claimed that the nursing...

Verdicts & Settlements November 21, 2005: Jury returns $3 million for brain injury.(Wood v. S.C. Jones Inc. and Young)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff Jean M. Wood and defendant George Young were involved in a motor vehicle collision on July 20, 1999, when defendant negligently made a left turn in front of plaintiff. Plaintiff, then 41, was...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 21, 2005.(U.S. v. Forrest)(American General Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Wood)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Child Sexual Exploitation - Pornography - Intrastate Activity A former police chief who took nude photographs of a minor whom he befriended through a departmental junior police...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: November 21, 2005.(Virginia)(DeFelice v. Fiduciary Counselors Inc)(Rodas v. Chertoff)(U.S. v. Morton)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment ERISA - Fiduciary Duty Breach - Company Stock An independent fiduciary appointed in June 2002 to make investment decisions for US Airways Company Stock Fund for employee pensions did...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: November 21, 2005.
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Bankruptcy Abuse Act - Credit Counseling - Exigent Circumstances A debtor cannot obtain a waiver of the new bankruptcy law's requirement that he obtain credit counseling prior to...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 21, 2005.(Dimaio v. Commonwealth)(Dritselis v. Dritselis)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Computer Fraud - Trespass - Embezzlement A company's former human resources director, who resigned and transferred to an outside computer over 829 human resources and personnel files,...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: November 21, 2005.
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Virginia Tobacco Escrow Fund - Payment Recovery - Jurisdiction In a suit by the Virginia Attorney General under the Virginia Tobacco Escrow Statute to recover escrow payments for...

Commentary: Should your next computer be a portable?(desktop computers for the law office)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Bruce L. Dorner (This article originally ran in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA., another Dolan Media publication.) For years we have been purchasing desktop computers for the law office. Portable computers were just too...

Verdicts & Settlements November 21, 2005: Apartment stairway injury settled for $250K.(Hawkes v. Miller and Miller)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff When exiting her apartment, Mary Hawkes was walking down the steps out of her second story apartment. About the seventh step from the bottom, the step gave away from under her and Hawkes had fallen...

Commentary: The eyes have it: Seeing the signs of fraud.(safeguard company)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Tracy L. Coenen (This article was originally published in the Wisconsin Law Journal, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication.) Would you recognize the clues that your client has been ripped off by one of its employees?...

U.S. District judge rules folklore about discovery responses is no substitute for federal rules.(House v. Giant of Maryland LLC)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Folklore about responses to discovery is no substitute for adherence to Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, according to U.S. District Judge Walter D. Kelley Jr. of Norfolk. Kelley ordered the payment...

Last-minute bankruptcy filing will be more difficult after ruling by judge in Norfolk.(Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Stephen C. St. John)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper The last-minute filing of a bankruptcy petition to avoid a foreclosure or eviction will be much more difficult after a ruling by a bankruptcy judge in Norfolk. Judge Stephen C. St. John ruled earlier this month that...

Mild brain injury nets $3M verdict in Hampton Circuit Court.(Jean Wood)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin One day in 1999, a 41-year-old woman was driving in Hampton when a dump truck made a sudden left turn in front of her. She hit the truck at 40 miles per hour. The woman, Jean Wood, had known difficulty in her...

Chief Justice Hassell says family court is not on the 2006 agenda for Virginia.(Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr.)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Not this year, Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. has told the committee that he appointed to advise him on creating a family court for Virginia. In a letter earlier this month to committee members, he said he...

Commentary: Righting a resume? Don't write a wrong.(making a good impression)
November 21, 2005... Byline: Mike Boyd (This article originally ran in Colorado Springs Business Journal, another Dolan Media publication.) If you're one of the increasing number of people who has developed a fondness for the latest buzzwords or power...

Using unlicensed software? - It can end up costing you.
November 28, 2005... Byline: Rick Edvalson (This article was originally published in the Idaho Business Review, Boise, Ida., another Dolan Media publication.) The city of Nampa, Idaho, has just completed a self-audit requested by the Business Software...

Tappahannock woman awarded $1.6M for medical malpractice.(Sylvia Jones sue her doctor Alan Margolis)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin An Essex County jury last month returned what is believed to be the largest verdict in county history - an award of $1,632,000 to a Tappahannock woman suing her doctor for medical malpractice. Sylvia Jones began...

Roanoke family wins $281K for inverse condemnation.(Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper A map that Walter S. Claytor had kept for almost 30 years proved to be key evidence in winning his family's inverse condemnation claim against the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Earlier this month,...

Special committee of court to weigh access and privacy.(protection of private information)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Virginia Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. wants to at least start finding a balance between public access to court records and the protection of private information in those records. The openness of court records...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: November 28, 2005.(Woods Rogers LLC)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff D. Cabell Vest has joined the Roanoke office of Woods Rogers LLC as an associate. He will work with the corporate & business law, taxation and real estate and land use practice groups. Vest earned...

Molly McClellan returns to Virginia Assn. of Defense Attorneys as meetings director.(Martha "Molly" McClellan joins Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Martha "Molly" McClellan, former executive director of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, has resumed a familiar role with the bar group as director of meetings. McClellan has taken...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 28, 2005.
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Excessive Force - Arrest - Qualified Immunity Where police accompanied a woman to her home after he stepdaughter told the woman her husband "was drunk and tearing up the house,"...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: November 28, 2005.(Virginia Eastern District)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Voluntary Dismissal - Costs - Prevailing Party Where plaintiffs and defendant Hampton Roads Transit have agreed to a voluntary dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(ii) of...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 28, 2005.
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Rape - Penetration A man's conviction of the rape of the 12-year-old daughter of his half-sister is reversed because of insufficient evidence of penetration, an essential element of...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: November 28, 2005.
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Current Employee - Corporate Counsel On plaintiff's motion, a circuit court judge rules that a current employee of defendant Medical Facilities of America Inc. is not...

Verdicts & Settlements November 28, 2005: Defense prevails in amputation case.(Winston v. Advanced Family Practice)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, an elderly nursing home resident, had a toe corn removed by a podiatrist. The surgical wound became infected, and was treated by the podiatrist and the nurses at the nursing home....

Verdicts & Settlements November 28, 2005: Couple mediate auto-accident claims for $1.03M.(Maurice Holland v. Richard Harry, Kathy Carmean v. Richard Harry)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Holland was operating a SUV on a two-lane highway with Carmean as his right front seat passenger when decedent's vehicle crossed the center line and hit them head on. Decedent was killed on impact....

Verdicts & Settlements November 28, 2005: Plaintiff's ADEA and ADA claims unsuccessful.(Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Quattlebaum v. Earl Industries LLC)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff, a tool room attendant for a ship repair company, was out of work for six months because of a brain aneurysm and hypertension. He then returned to his job. The employer decided to rotate tool...

Verdicts & Settlements November 28, 2005: Dental malpractice case ends in defense verdict.(Punter v. Wolfe)(Brief Article)
November 28, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The dentist was accused of failing to appropriately assess plaintiff's complaints of pain in her left jaw on Thursday and failing to act on a telephone call on Friday in which plaintiff claimed that...