Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from November 2007

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from November 2007

Virginia Lawyers in the News: November 5, 2007.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Eileen Morgan Johnson, an attorney with the law firm of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, has been named to the legal section council of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) & The Center of...

Terrence Graves takes helm of Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper When Terrence L. Graves was in high school in Southampton County, he would tell classmates that he wanted to be Virginia's first black senator. But the more he learned about politics while earning a degree in...

Norfolk Circuit judge awards $1.5 million for lead paint injury from '80s.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper The two retired master chief petty officers must have felt as if they had been struck by the legal equivalent of lightning. They had joined forces to buy a duplex in the Park Place section of Norfolk in the...

Santoro named bankruptcy judge for Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk.(Frank J. Santoro)(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Byline: Deborah Elkins Frank J. Santoro has been named a bankruptcy judge for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk, to replace David H. Adams who will retire Jan. 2, 2008, upon the completion of his term of appointment. Santoro...

William & Mary's law school in Virginia opens new library.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Sarah Rodriguez The oldest law school in the country may be operating one of the world's newest libraries, as the College of William & Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law recently opened the doors to the Wolf Law Library. The...

Boyd-Graves Conference in Northern Virginia debates issues about appeals.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper The effect of withdrawing an appeal from general district court to circuit court should be clearly stated in state law. Appellants from juvenile and domestic relations district court should be able to appeal issues...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 5, 2007.(United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit)
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Banks & Banking Loan Fraud - Mortgage Securitization The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as receiver for the First National Bank of Keystone, has its $161 million judgment affirmed...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: November 5, 2007.(United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia)
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Law Of Salvage - Titanic Wreck Site A Norfolk federal district court orders the salvor-in-possession of the RMS Titanic to file a motion for a salvage award for the designated time...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: November 5, 2007.(United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia)
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Limitations - Town Policy A woman who alleges a police officer for defendant Town of Coeburn sexually assaulted her after suggesting an exchange of favors in order to make her...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 5, 2007.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Involuntary Manslaughter - Pit Bull Attack The owner of pit bull dogs who attacked and killed an 82-year-old woman and her pet dog has her conviction of involuntary manslaughter in...

Verdicts & Settlements November 5, 2007: Crash causes brain injury to retired minister.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff On March 17, 2003, Glen Fletcher, a 68-year-old retired Methodist minister, was driving southbound on Sudley Road in his hometown of Manassas. In the opposite northbound lanes of Sudley Road, a...

Verdicts & Settlements November 5, 2007: 'Swarmer' termites found after inspection by company.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiffs were homeowner landlords who had entered into a "contract for pest control" with defendant when they bought the subject house. After about 10 years into the contract, their renters...

Verdicts & Settlements November 5, 2007: Woman breaks hip in fall on ice outside store.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk in front of the Disputanta C-Store in Prince George County. The weather was clear at the time, and the most recent precipitation was a snow and ice...

Virginia Lawyers Weekly presents the 2007 'Leaders in the Law'.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Sarah Rodriguez Virginia Lawyers Weekly is pleased to announce the recipients of our "Leaders in the Law" awards for 2007. Fifteen members of the legal community were selected based upon their significant contributions to the...

Supreme Court of Virginia removes judge from the bench.(Brief article)
November 12, 2007... Byline: Paul Fletcher The Supreme Court of Virginia removed J&DR Judge James Michael Shull of the 30th District from office Nov. 2. He is only the second judge to lose his job this way since the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission...

Supreme Court of Virginia rules firms can't draw from retainer after writ is served on assets.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Two law firms improperly paid themselves fees from a retainer after a writ of fieri facias on the client's assets was served on the sheriff, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled earlier this month. The issue arose...

Placement news not always great for the bottom 90% of law school graduates.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Most law school applicants and students know that they are unlikely to get the $160,000 that the largest New York and Washington law firms are paying first-year associates. That kind of money typically goes to only...

Lawyer doesn't contest Supreme Court of Virginia's malpractice finding.(lawyer Everette G. "Buddy" Allen Jr.)
November 12, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper A Richmond lawyer did not contest a trial judge's finding that he committed legal malpractice and breached his fiduciary duties, but he contended on appeal that his liability was not a basis for the $3.2 million in...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 12, 2007.(United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit)
November 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Medicare Payments - Motorized Wheelchairs - Medical Documentation A district court did not err in granting summary judgment to defendant Secretary of Health and Human Services in...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 12, 2007.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Unemployment Comp Term Employment - Voluntary Departure In a case of first impression, the Virginia Court of Appeals holds that an employee who left work at a tax preparation service at the...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: November 12, 2007.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Appeal - Conforming Petition An Accomack Circuit Court denies a motion by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to dismiss a petition for appeal filed by Birchwood Motel Inc....

Verdicts & Settlements November 12, 2007: Woman suffers stroke five weeks after emergency room exam.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was a 51-year-old female who was working the night shift as a nurse at a psychiatric treatment facility when she began to experience slurred speech and shortness of breath while eating a...

Verdicts & Settlements November 12, 2007: Additional surgery required of operation on tibia, fibula.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff fractured her tibia and fibula in a car accident in September 2000. Defendant orthopedic surgeon performed a closed intramedullary rodding with screws the day after the wreck. ...

Verdicts & Settlements November 19, 2007: Collision causes miscarriage, permanent damage to uterus.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In March 2005, plaintiff, a 19-year-old female, was hit head-on when the defendant driver crossed the center line on Route 55 in Linden. One of the plaintiff's allegations was negligent entrustment as...

Verdicts & Settlements November 19, 2007: Loan officer makes unsolicited offer of credit.(Brief article)
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff received a letter from defendant stating that his credit application had been denied. Plaintiff had made no such credit application, so the next day he telephoned defendant's office. He...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: November 19, 2007.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Singleton B. McAllister and Weldon J. Rougeau have joined the Washington, D.C., office of LeClairRyan as shareholders. McAllister and Rougeau will develop and lead the firm's federal government...

Virginia State Crime Commission tackles immigration.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Virginia State Crime Commission focused on the art of the possible last week in adopting most of the recommendations of a 22-member illegal immigration task force. The task force's...

Violation of regs was negligence per se, rules Norfolk federal judge.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Norfolk federal judge has found that CSX Transportation Inc. was negligent per se in a head-on collision of two freight trains because a dispatcher violated federal safety regulations. The collision occurred at 3:15...

Supreme Court of Virginia rules scientific info, when used at sentencing, must be 'reliable'.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Deborah Elkins Traditionally, Virginia judges who are sentencing a criminal defendant have been able to hear evidence that could not come in during the guilt phase of a trial. A new decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia...

Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission becoming a regular litigant before Virginia Supreme Court.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper Six years elapsed between the creation of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission in 1971 and the removal of a judge for violating judicial ethics. It took another 30 years for the court to remove a second judge....

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: November 19, 2007.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Plan Confirmation - Exemptions - Ch. 7 A Chapter 7 debtor who operated a solo law practice employing a paralegal and title examiner on a contract basis can exempt from the...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 19, 2007.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Municipal Waste Collection Fee - Equal Protection Claim A municipal waste company loses its equal protection challenge to a decision by appellee Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, a governmental...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 19, 2007.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Felon In Possession - Eyewitness Testimony Although defendant contends there was insufficient evidence to prove his possession of a weapon, eyewitness testimony demonstrated defendant...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: November 19, 2007.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Search & Seizure Hit & Run Report - Dispatch Alert A police officer who received a dispatch report about a brown pickup truck involved in a hit-and-run in a Lowe's parking lot and who checked...

Verdicts & Settlements November 19, 2007: Bunion surgery limits woman's ability to walk.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was a 29-year-old female who went to the podiatrist defendant in June 2004 with complaints of bunion pain in her right foot. The podiatrist's examination and X-rays confirmed the...

Rockbridge County Circuit judge rules service on house-sitter ineffective.(Michael S. Irvine)
November 26, 2007... Byline: Paul Fletcher A Rockbridge County Circuit judge has dismissed a woman's lawsuit against her dentist because the suit papers were served on a house-sitter the day before the service period ran. Even though the house-sitter gave...

Supreme Court of Virginia rules ER doc can testify on seizure, but not woman's cause of death.(emergency room Doctor David L. Shank)
November 26, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper An emergency room doctor's experience qualified him to testify that a patient might have suffered an alcohol withdrawal syndrome seizure but not to testify that such a seizure caused her death. The Supreme Court of...

President Bush taps Davis, Novak for federal judgeships.(George W. Bush; David J. Novak; Mark S. Davis)
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff President Bush has nominated Virginians for federal district judgeships in Richmond and Alexandria. David J. Novak of Montpelier, an assistant U.S. attorney who was a key prosecutor in the trial of...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 26,2007.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Drug Conspiracy - Murder - Aiding & Abetting In these consolidated appeals by three defendants of their convictions for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and related offenses in...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: November 26, 2007.(Virginia)
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Capital Case - Rule 29 Motion - Judgment Of Acquittal A defendant is not entitled to a judgment of acquittal on his conviction for the brutal murder of a woman while engaged in a...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 26, 2007.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Robbery - Firearm Use - Other Crimes The trial court did not err in calling at defendant's robbery trial four witnesses, each of whom was a victim of a robbery perpetrated in a manner...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: November 26, 2006.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Service Of Process - House-Sitter - Due Diligence A med-mal plaintiff who made only one attempt at service of process the day before expiration of the one-year period under Va....

Verdicts & Settlements November 26, 2007: Woman slipped, fell on wet floor at convenience store.(Brief article)
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff is a 55-year-old female who slipped and fell on a wet floor in the defendant's convenience store. The floor had been mopped approximately 10 minutes prior to the plaintiff's entrance into...

Verdicts & Settlements November 26, 2007: Woman suffered disc, wrist injuries in Spotsylvania wreck.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff, a 38-year-old woman, was driving east in the left travel lane of Route 208, a four lane divided highway in Spotsylvania County, when the defendant, traveling westbound in the opposite...

Verdicts & Settlements November 26, 2007: Redskins-Colts game ends with nose-biting fracas.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff and defendant Pettway were involved in an altercation outside defendant TGIFriday's Restau-rant in Short Pump during a Washington Redskins v. Indianapolis Colts football game. Pettway...

Mich. Commission on Mental Health Reform panel's agenda for '08 is short.(Michigan; 2008)
November 26, 2007... Byline: Alan Cooper A new standard for the involuntary commitment of a person who is mentally ill and a proposal for mandatory outpatient commitment will be among a relatively small number of issues the Commission on Mental Health Reform...