Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from October 2005

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from October 2005

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 3, 2005.(U.S. v. Roland)(Schmitt v. True, Warden)(SecureInfo Corp. v. Telos Corp.)
October 3, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Revocation Of Release - Court Initiation A federal district court has the power, independently from the government prosecutor, to initiate a proceeding for revocation of release and...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 3, 2005.(Turner v. Commonwealth)(Gerl v. Gerl)(Garretson v. Miller )
October 3, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Cocaine - Attempted Distribution - Street Slang Although defendant testified that when the undercover officer asked for "a twenty" and gave him a $20 bill, he intended to sell her...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: October 3, 2005.(Benitez v. Ford Motor Co. and Koons Ford)(Janvier v. Arminio)(Commonwealth v. Mubarak )
October 3, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Sanctions - Products Liability - Unsubstantiated Defenses Based on the court's finding that defendant automobile dealership filed unsubstantiated and unsupported affirmative defenses...

Panel appointed to recommend changes to VA's rules of appellate procedure gets to work.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Most members of a committee appointed to recommend changes in Virginia's rules of appellate procedure agreed last week that they need a lot of work. Several members said the rules contain far too many traps for the...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 3, 2005.(U.S. v. Scott )
October 3, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Felon In Possession - Intent To Possess - Jury Instructions A felon's constructive possession of a firearm must be intentional to be a violation of 18 U.S.C. Sect. 922(g)(1), and a...

VA judge voids lawsuit because second nonsuit by a plaintiff required notice to the defendant.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Paul Fletcher A medical-malpractice plaintiff who obtained two nonsuits in her claim against a foot doctor cannot file her lawsuit a third time, even though the suit was never served. The reason: The plaintiff gets one nonsuit...

Security assessments offered for Virginia judges' homes.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin The Supreme Court of Virginia wants judges to feel safe at work and at home. For this reason, judges in Virginia will soon be offered a new comprehensive security assessment program that will extend to their...

Washington County judge rules chelation therapy suit is med-mal, not products liability.(Veneri v. Castro )
October 3, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins Plaintiff's lawyers who try to break new ground in Virginia sometimes have to tinker with their pleadings. They may test the waters with one theory of recovery, only to have an unreceptive judge toss the case and...

VA Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission recommends censure or removal of Judge Elliott.(Archie Elliott)
October 3, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission has recommended that the Supreme Court of Virginia censure or remove Portsmouth General District Judge Archie Elliott. The commission, which investigates whether a...

Zoning case settled before it reaches VA Supreme Court.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper A Norfolk case that had piqued the interest of the zoning bar disappeared from the Supreme Court of Virginia's September argument docket when it was settled two weeks before the hearing. At issue was whether the...

Veteran public defender joins Virginia's Indigent Defense Commission.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Six months after passing the bar exam, David J. Johnson represented a murder defendant. "I was so inexperienced that I didn't realize that shouldn't happen," Johnson recalled. Part of his new job as deputy...

Virginia's jury procedures examined, lauded by panel.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper When it comes to peremptory challenges and jury sentencing, a Colorado trial judge told Virginia circuit judges last week, "You're doing it almost completely right." That comment by Judge Morris B. Hoffman of Denver...

Three lawyers honored by Supreme Court of Virginia for pro bono work.
October 3, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Three lawyers across the commonwealth have been named the first recipients of a new award that recognizes extraordinary contributions to the courts. The Supreme Court of Virginia established a...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 10, 2005.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Mortgage Insurance - Arbitration - FCRA - Equitable Estoppel A mortgage insurance company that is a nonsignatory to the arbitration agreement between the home buyers and the mortgage...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 10, 2005.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Legal Services - Ghostwriter Identity A district court denies plaintiff attorney's request to require a pro se defendant to identify any "ghostwriter" who assisted him in drafting an...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 10, 2005.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Comp Birth Injury Fund - Housing Benefits Although a boy entitled to benefits under the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program received an award of "all the...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: October 10, 2005.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Premises Liability - Personal Representative Where plaintiff parents did not timely qualify as personal representatives to bring a negligence action against a property...

Back to the future for new family court structure.(blyeprint for family court in Virginia)
October 10, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper An advisory committee for the creation of a family court in Virginia has finished its deliberations with a recommendation for a structure similar to that first proposed 12 years ago. That recommendation will go...

Judicial Conference OKs new Rules of Procedure.(Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, unpublished opinions)
October 10, 2005... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson Dolan Media Newswires Proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure moved one step closer to passage last month when the Judicial Conference approved controversial new Rule 32.1, which would allow...

Judge remedies contempt.(contempt of the court order)
October 10, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper For nearly three years, Matthew P. Epperly did nothing to clean up the automobile graveyard on his and his neighbors' property in Montgomery County, despite several court orders that he do so. So Circuit Judge Ray...

Research reveals that law firm clients are demanding change.
October 10, 2005... Byline: LaVern A. Pritchard Dolan Media Newswires Research suggests that, at the national level, some key upper bracket corporate legal services purchasers are saying they are not receiving the sort of innovation they would really like to...

Local Va. Assn. of Legal Secretaries chapters mark Legal Professionals Day.(Virginia)
October 10, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin In recognition of the valuable work of legal professionals in Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner declared the week of Oct. 10 through Oct. 14 as Court Observance Week with a special Legal Professionals Day on Oct. 12. ...

Commentary: Writing for less sophisticated readers.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Judge Mark P. Painter (This article was originally published in Lawyers Weekly USA, another Dolan Media publication). Lawyers often write for other lawyers and judges, who are presumed to be sophisticated readers. That is, they...

Commentary: Most often, spyware's a symptom of idle surfing.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Rick Edvalson (This article was originally published in the Idaho Business Review, Boise, ID, another Dolan Media publication). The latest round of viruses and worms that took down the Web sites of CNN and others back in the...

Commission on Virginia Courts in the 21st century commission convenes, sets timetable.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan recalled that the first commission on the future of Virginia's judicial system recommended in May 1989 that the court system embrace the concept of alternative...

Commentary: It's not what you earn but what you save that counts.
October 10, 2005... Byline: David Clogg (This article was originally published in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication). Recently I was invited to speak to a group of highly paid individuals employed by a company in Columbia,...

Fairfax General District Court judges seek lawyer feedback.
October 10, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins Fairfax is known for its high volume of traffic - on its roads and in its courts. That high volume means a lot of daily interaction between judges and lawyers. "I'm going to face 200 people this morning,...

Sandra Day O'Connor named Chancellor of College of William & Mary.(Biography)
October 10, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has been named as the Chancellor of the College of William & Mary by the school's Board of Visitors. O'Connor, who earlier this year announced her intention...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 17, 2005.(ePlus Inc. v. SAP America Inc.)(Loveless v. John's Ford Inc.)(Puckett v. City of Portsmouth )
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Patent Infringement - 'Quarantine' On Representation A district court grants a protective order to plaintiff ePlus Inc. to cover confidential materials in this...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: October 17, 2005.(Terry v. Walker)(Scott v. Parr )
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Personal Jurisdiction - Transacting Business - Appointment Of Receiver Where the court-appointed receiver for the operator of a Ponzi scheme who defrauded investors of millions...

Wilson is new chair of Virginia State Bar's Senior Lawyers.
October 17, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin William T. Wilson, a longtime Covington personal injury attorney, has become chair of the Senior Lawyers Conference of the Virginia State Bar. When a lawyers turns 55, he or she automatically becomes a member of...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 17, 2005.(Collins v. Commonwealth)(Sellarole v. Commonwealth)(Harris v. Commonwealth )
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Armed Statutory Burglary - Firearm Use There was sufficient evidence that defendant intended to commit a robbery when he entered the victim's residence, and his convictions of armed...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: October 17, 2005.(Gates v. Slemaker)(Kelln v. Kelln)(Ekizian v. Microstrategy Inc.)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Accord & Satisfaction - Lawsuit Settlement - Unilateral Mistake Although a law firm's claims manager made a unilateral mistake by not including one of plaintiff's medical bills in the...

Commentary: Why privately owned businesses fail to sell.
October 17, 2005... Byline: Stephen F. Stone A shocking number of privately owned businesses fail to sell. According to the 2005 Business Reference Guide by Tom West, 20 percent of businesses are for sale, but only one out of four actually sells. Naturally,...

Shelton named first federal public defender in Western District of Virginia.(Larry W. Shelton)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Larry W. Shelton, supervisor of the Norfolk federal public defender's office since it opened in 2001, will be the first federal public defender in the Western District of Virginia. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of...

Bankruptcy lawyers ponder getting paid under new law.
October 17, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Among the many challenges the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 presents for lawyers is perhaps the most basic one: how to get paid. Not only does the law, which takes effect today,...

Fulton to head Virginia's judicial evaluation program.(Suzanne K. Fulton)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Suzanne K. Fulton, a general district judge in Southwest Virginia since 1987, is the first coordinator of Virginia's judicial performance evaluation program. Fulton, 53, also had been a member of...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 17, 2005.(Willis v. Town of Marshall)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Town Hall Entertainment - Ban On Dancer A North Carolina town did not violate the First Amendment rights of a woman it banned from attending Friday-night free shows at the town's...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: October 17, 2005.(Martin and Raynor PC)(Sands Anderson Marks and Miller)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The Norfolk office of Kaufman & Canoles has added two new associates: Carolyn Stephens Johnson and J. Bradley Reaves. Stephens will focus her practice on municipal finance. A former...

Virginia Court of Appeals agrees appellant must post bond, despite note.(Sharma v. Sharma)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper A deputy clerk's notation that an appeal bond was "0" did not relieve an appellant of his obligation to post bond within 30 days of an adverse support ruling in juvenile and domestic relations district court. As a...

Former U.S. Attorney Tucker dead at 66.(Obituary)
October 17, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff For a man whose job sometimes called for him to be disagreeable, E. Montgomery "Monty" Tucker was considered one of the nicest guys around. Mr. Tucker, 66, of Glen Allen, passed away on Oct. 2. He...

New Associates' Salary Survey: Base pay steady while hiring increases.
October 24, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin Starting salaries remained steady at a number of Virginia's largest law firms while law school deans have noticed increased hiring activity among small and medium-sized firms, according to Virginia Lawyers Weekly's...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: October 24, 2005.(Roger D. Groot joins Virginia's Department of Forensic Science )(Lisa M. Sommermyer joins Stackhouse, Nexsen & Turrietta PLLC)(Kendra J. Jarrell joins Williams Mullen )
October 24, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Washington & Lee Law Professor Roger D. Groot has been appointed by Gov. Mark Warner to the newly formed Forensic Science Board. Created by legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed by...

Richmond firm specializes in representing churches and the clergy.(Macaulay and Burtch)(Brief Article)
October 24, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper The First Amendment is always in the background when church-related employment issues arise. Moreover, "a careful balance between the human perspective and the legal perspective is very important," says Carrie D....

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 24, 2005.
October 24, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Tort Defamation - Emotional Distress - Anthrax Accusation The 4th Circuit denies a petition for rehearing and/or rehearing en banc in this case, in which the panel held on July 28, 2005 that a...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 24, 2005.(Miller v. Brown)(Republican Party of Virginia Inc. v. Union Fire Ins. Co.)
October 24, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Voting - Virginia Open Primary In this challenge to Virginia's "open primary" under Va. Code Sect. 24.2-530, which allows Republicans, Democrats and Independents to vote in...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: October 24, 2005.(Presley v. City of Charlottesville and Rivanna Trails Foundation)
October 24, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Trespass To Land - Trail Map - Limitations - Continuing Violation A woman who alleges that defendant Rivanna Trails Foundation has repeatedly published a map showing a public trail...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 24, 2005.(Jones v. Jones, Comm'r)(Huber v. Commonwealth)(Lassiter v. Commonwealth )
October 24, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative DMAS Decisions - Unauthorized Practice The Department of Social Services, Department of Medical Assistance Service, did not err in dismissing cases challenging DMAS decisions...

Lawyer leads race to get NASCAR Hall of Fame in Virginia.(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)
October 24, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper To fans who say Virginia needs a major league sport, Josh Lief has a quick answer: "We've got one." It's NASCAR. And Lief would be among the first to say that a major league sport needs a hall of fame. In fact, Lief...

Commentary: Details important in practice, but limit them in marketing.
October 24, 2005... Byline: Stephen E. Seckler (This article originally ran in Missouri Lawyers Weekly, St. Louis, MO, another Dolan Media publication.) Success as a lawyer requires attention to detail. If you file a discovery request and fail to...

Lawyer gets $1.8M in med-mal case retrial.
October 24, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper A retrial of the case that produced one of the largest medical malpractice verdicts in state history has resulted in a much smaller number but the same practical effect. In April 2003, a Fredericksburg Circuit Court...

Judge Bumgardner to retire after eight years on VA Court of Appeals.(Rudolph Bumgardner III)
October 24, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III will retire Dec. 31. Bumgardner noted that his term expires next year and said, "It seems appropriate to step down at this point." He is the second court...

Commentary: A salute to the new crop.(Brief Article)
October 24, 2005... Byline: Paul Fletcher The waiting, as Tom Petty famously once said, is the hardest part. Well, the waiting is over for the 1,367 candidates who took the July 2005 Virginia Bar Examination. And 963 people were pleased, relieved,...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 31, 2005.(Virginia)(Quattlebaum v. Earl Industries LLC )(case for employment and disability discrimination)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Discrimination Disability - Age - Tool Room Attendant A 61-year-old former tool room attendant who had some medical limitations after he suffered from a seizure resulting from a...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: October 31, 2005.(Hill v. Holland, Trustee )(Thomas v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada )(Freeman v. Potter )
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Expert Testimony - Damages - Timely Disclosure Although defendants in this contract action contend that plaintiffs did not timely disclose the proposed testimony of their expert...

Virginia Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: October 31, 2005.(Walker v. Commonwealth)(Hale v. Commonwealth)(Claypoole v. Petersburg Dep't of Social Servs)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Riparian Rights - Private Pier - Appendages The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has authority to order removal of a portion of a private pier located on the Pamunkey River....

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: October 31, 2005.(Bernhard v. Washington)(Bushkar v. Bushkar)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Pleading - Signature Requirement Although a Virginia lawyer did not physically affix his signature to a motion for judgment in this p.i. case filed by plaintiff's Maryland...

Computer imagery animates medical graphics in trials.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher Dolan Media Newswires Influenced by cutting-edge visual effects used on television crime dramas, medical graphics firms are using futuristic 3-D animations to recreate injuries and accidents in high-stakes civil...

Making the best use of trial presentation technology.(using software and devices in courtroom proceedings)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff (This article originally appeared in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, another Dolan Media publication). It may take a genius to write computer software, but it shouldn't take one to use it in the...

U.S. Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: October 31, 2005.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Sentencing - Downward Departure - Substantial Assistance Although the district judge who sentenced defendant, who had offered substantial assistance in the government's drug conspiracy...

Animation in the courtroom still limited in Virginia.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Brent Baldwin Use of computer animation in Virginia's courtrooms has been slow to catch on, but it is growing. "I think it's largely a matter of what the courts are accustomed to," said W. Coleman Allen Jr. of Richmond. "I...

Dental surgeon gets full fee for anesthesia services.(James H.S. Whitney, DDS, PC v. Anthem Services Inc.)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Paul Fletcher Disputes between insurance companies and the people they insure are common. Plaintiffs often will complain and even file a breach-of-contract suit to force a carrier to cover this or that medical procedure. From...

Retrial of wrongful death case ups verdict to $3.5M.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Sorrow, mental anguish and solace count much more in a wrongful death case than financial support. That's one lesson from the case of Tamara Mabini. Another is that reversal and remand aren't always favorable to the...

Fairfax atty. discusses police interrogation methods at Va Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers meeting.(Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Deborah Elkins When he first began representing criminal defendants, Fairfax lawyer James G. Connell III always wondered, "Why do all my clients confess?" Sometimes, they're not even guilty. Despite decades of TV-show...

Howard W. Martin to be next Virginia State Bar president-elect.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Howard W. Martin Jr., the senior partner at an 11-lawyer firm in Norfolk, will be the 69th president of the Virginia State Bar. He will become president-elect when Karen A. Gould moves up from that position to head...

Regent Law School professor's life similar to that of Supreme Court nominee.(John G. Roberts Jr. became the chief justice)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Regent Law School Professor James J. Duane got a funny feeling recently as he overheard a TV reporter announcing a new nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. As he told the Boyd-Graves Conference in...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: October 31, 2005.(Timothy J. Lockhart and Kevin W. Grierson joins International Trademark Association)(Appalachian School of Law promotes Dean W. Jeremy Davis )(Georgia S. Hamilton joins McGuireWoods LLP )
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Richmond lawyer W. Joseph Owen III has been elected national treasurer of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, He also was elected to a fourth term to the FCA National Board of Trustees. The...

Veteran trial lawyer helps children deal with loss.(Wyatt B. Durrette Jr., Comfort Zone Camp)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff All it took was one visit to "the healing circle" and veteran trial lawyer Wyatt B. Durrette Jr. was sold. The circle activity is an integral part of Comfort Zone Camp, a Richmond-area camp that...

Virginia State Bar wrestles with issue of online member directory.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Just how comprehensive should an online Virginia State Bar directory be? Or should there even be one? Members of VSB council had varying responses to those questions at its meeting earlier this month at the Boar's...

Va. Chief Justice Hassell: Questions about family court still remain.(Virginia, Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr.)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Alan Cooper Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. has told the Judicial Council that he is wrestling in his own mind about the proposal to create a family court for Virginia. He said he supports the concept of a...

Harry E. Cohn, Richmond atty., passes away.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Harry E. Cohn Harry E. Cohn, who practiced in Richmond for a number of years and had recently opened a law office in Virginia Beach, was killed in an automobile accident Oct. 13. He was 46. ...

Verdicts & Settlements October 31, 2005: Doctor prevails in suit after knee replacement.(Lawson v. McGarry, M.D)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was unhappy with the outcome of a left knee arthroplasty performed by the defendant orthopedic surgeon on Aug. 21, 2000. Prior to surgery, x-rays showed the plaintiff suffered from...

Verdicts & Settlements October 31, 2005: Plaintiff can't recover for injury to property.(Kerdasha v. Kondaurov)(Brief Article)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The firm represented the defendants in an automobile accident personal injury case, in which the plaintiff alleged that she suffered extreme emotional distress as a result of the accident, primarily...

Verdicts & Settlements October 31, 2005: Death case against dermatologist settled for $1.25M.
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was otherwise healthy 47-year-old man who relocated and began regular treatment for actinic keratoses and skin cancers with a local dermatologist. He was seen every three months and evaluated...

Verdicts & Settlements October 31, 2005: Defendant wins in rear-ender case.(Kurtz v. J.B. Hunt Transportation, Inc)(Brief Article)
October 31, 2005... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Kurtz, driving a dry cement bulk carrier, alleged he was rear-ended and injured by Conway, driving for J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., in the early morning hours of Aug. 4, 2003, while he was in the right...