Virginia Lawyers Weekly articles from October 2006

Virginia Lawyers Weekly archives from October 2006

Rise in military divorces keeps family lawyers busy.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Dolan Media Newswires Military marriages are another casualty of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many divorce attorneys are getting a crash course on how to handle these complex cases. The increased number...

How to ... Get a commercial loan for your firm.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Dolan Media Newswires Looking for a commercial loan? There are several types, which may or may not work, depending on how you plan to use the funds. Term loans are a very common, general-purpose loan. A...

Commentary: A sign of the times.(Starbucks Corp. moves near College of William and Mary)
October 2, 2006... Byline: Paul Fletcher A sad e-mail message was making the rounds last month among alums of Their Majesties' Royall Colledge of William & Mary in Virginia. The message was an item from the William & Mary newspaper, The Flat Hat, and it...

Virginia General Assembly fills four judicial vacancies.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The General Assembly has filled four judicial vacancies--two in Fairfax County and one each in Portsmouth and Richmond. The candidates had the unanimous support of their local delegations and faced only perfunctory...

Buchanan County judge disqualifies two law firms from $3.25 billion lawsuit.(Altizer, Walk & White PLLC and McGuire Woods L.L.P. punished)
October 2, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper A Buchanan County judge has disqualified two law firms from a $3.25 billion lawsuit because he concluded that the attorneys "engaged in misrepresentation and deceitful conduct." The attorneys have denied any...

U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris cuts fee request for NY firm.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Paul Fletcher The client of a New York City law firm seeking nearly $900,000 in attorney's fees for successfully pursuing a complex commercial case has seen the request slashed by almost two-thirds. U.S. District Judge James C....

No immunity for sponge count claim, rules Richmond Circuit judge.(Roseann Marsh v. Medical College of Virginia)
October 2, 2006... Byline: Deborah Elkins A teaching hospital's surgical nurses and technicians can be sued for leaving a sponge in a patient's abdomen. Although a teaching hospital has an educational mission that may protect the hospital and some...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 2, 2006.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Trespass To Land - Trail Map - Prosecution Of Owner A property owner who alleged that defendant Rivanna Trails Foundation published a map showing a public trail across her property...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 2, 2006.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Personal Jurisdiction - German Company - Coors Brewery A German corporation that contracted to produce fermentation tanks for a new Coors Brewery in Elkton, Va., and that...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 2, 2006.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Domestic Relations Custody - Grandparent Petition A trial court did not err in refusing to place three children with their grandparents where the trial court did not believe the grandparents...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: October 2, 2006.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Ethics - Ex Parte Contact - Disqualification In this litigation over a coal mine's alleged release of toxic waters into another party's coal mine on adjacent property, defense...

Verdicts & Settlements October 2, 2006: Med-mal defense verdict returned in 30 minutes.
October 2, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was a 54-year-old male with a long history of multiple medical problems. These problems included a history of four heart attacks, organic heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and...

Verdicts & Settlements October 2, 2006: Auto accident settled for $115K.(Chandler v. Clifton)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was treated for two and one-half years for pain, but demonstrated no objective findings. Even though her special damages were high, the defendant's expert opined that no more than three...

Carrier may pay guardian ad litem fee in infant settlement case.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Deborah Elkins An insurance carrier trying to broker a p.i. settlement with an infant plaintiff can pay the lawyer appointed to serve as guardian ad litem, according to a new Legal Ethics Opinion released last month. If the...

U.S. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 9, 2006.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Unpaid Workers' Comp Premiums - Priority Claim - Ch. 11 In our opinion of March 24, 2005 [VLW 005-2-053], we held that Zurich American's claim for unpaid workers' compensation...

U.S. District Court VA Eastern Case Summaries: October 9, 2006.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Maintenance & Cure - Eye Injury A seaman who injured his eye while working aboard a vessel owned by declaratory plaintiff Norfolk Dredging Co., who alleges he now suffers from...

U.S. District Court VA Western Case Summaries: October 9, 2006.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Tobacco Allotment - Contracts - Standing The district court dismisses a suit filed by tobacco farmers under the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004, a law that repealed...

Virginia Court of Appeals Case Summaries: October 9, 2006.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Real Estate Board - Due Process Although petitioner contends she was not afforded due process in the proceedings that led to the revocation of her real estate appraiser's...

Virginia Circuit Court Case Summaries: October 9, 2006.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative FOIA - Hospital - Motion In Limine Although plaintiff obtained the requested quality assurance information material on the underlying incident in this case under the Freedom of...

Verdicts & Settlements October 9, 2006: Doctor prevails in med-mal lawsuit.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff On Feb. 17, 2003, the plaintiff's decedent first saw the defendant, Dr. William Augustus Brown, a vascular surgery specialist practicing in Virginia Beach, because of recurrent transient ischemic...

Verdicts & Settlements October 9, 2006: Suit after ovary removal ends in defense verdict.(Johnsen v. Rubye Washington-Moore, M.D.)
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The patient was a 59-year-old female with cystic ovaries. On April 16, 2001, defendant Ob/Gyn removed plaintiff's ovaries at Chippenham Hospital using an EndoGia cutter/stapler. The procedure was...

Virginia Lawyers in the News: October 9, 2006.(Creigh Deeds joins Hirschler Fleischer today.)(Charron H. Montgomery joins McCallum and Kudravetz PC)(Christopher P. Benjamin joins Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver)
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Virginia Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, joins Richmond's Hirschler Fleischer today. Jim Weinberg, president of the firm, said, "We are honored and delighted to have Creigh on board. Creigh's...

Letter to the Editor.(Letter to the editor)
October 9, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Dear Editor: The Virginia Supreme Court recently issued an opinion in the case of Janvier v. Arminio in which a serious anomaly in the statutory law of Virginia was highlighted and brought to the...

Non-compete struck for government contractor.(case filed against Arturo Canales by Lanmark Technology Inc. )
October 9, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper An employee of Lanmark Technology Inc. saw Arturo Canales at the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, apparently working for a contractor of the agency. That sighting led to a lawsuit alleging that Canales had...

Standards published for court-appointed lawyers in Virginia.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The draft of "Standards of Practice for Indigent Defense Counsel" might well have a different title: "How to Represent Indigent Defendants in Virginia." It also might make criminal defense attorneys wonder, "How can...

Subpoenas, discovery topics at criminal law conference.(Virginia Criminal Justice Conference by Virginia Trial Lawyers Associations)
October 9, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The Virginia Criminal Justice Conference has recommended authorization for criminal defense attorneys to issue subpoenas, much as state law permits civil attorneys and prosecutors to do. The recommendation, which...

Virginia court reinstates $1.8M brain injury verdict.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The Supreme Court of Virginia has reinstated a $1.8 million verdict for a woman who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in a Fairfax County wreck. A circuit court jury returned a verdict for that amount in August...

Virginia futures commission backs the elimination of court clerks.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The replacement of elected circuit court clerks with appointed court administrators appears to be the most controversial provision in the final draft of the report by the Commission on Virginia Courts in the 21st...

The number of bankruptcy filings are rising again.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson Almost one year after the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act went into effect, the number of consumer bankruptcy filings is rising again. In the months leading up to the Oct. 17 date of...

Virginia state officials show their appreciation for paralegals.(Local Government Paralegal Association)
October 16, 2006... Byline: Deborah Elkins Paralegals in Virginia don't need a press agent to make the case for their value to the legal community. Not when they have high-profile public servants like the Attorney General of Virginia, not to mention a...

Virginia courts face issue of judges' testimony in contempt cases.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The competence of judges to testify in contempt proceedings continues to vex Virginia courts. Last week, the Virginia Court of Appeals split 5-5 and was unable to issue an opinion in the case of Tina M. Gilman. The...

U.S. Court of Appeals case summaries: October 16, 2006.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Maritime Lien - Fuel Delivery - English Law A South Carolina district court did not err in holding that a dispute between a vessel and an oil supplier over delivery of "bunkers" is...

U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia case summaries: October 16, 2006.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Venue - Lemon Law - Car Purchase A Virginia plaintiff who is suing a Subaru dealership over a vehicle allegedly purchased in Virginia but inadequately serviced in Kensington,...

U.S. District Court of Western Virginia: October 16, 2006.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Jurisdictional Amount - Remand - Life Insurance Proceeds Although the facts and circumstances may be similar in these three consolidated suits seeking the proceeds of three...

Virginia Court of Appeals case summaries: October 16, 2006.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Summary Contempt Conviction - Certificate - Crawford Claim On rehearing en banc, an evenly divided court affirms the judgment of the circuit court, which upheld a contempt conviction...

Verdicts & settlements October 16, 2006: Virginia family recovers $1.75M for death following wreck.(Michael Lee Grooms, Personal Representative of the Estate of Jeremy Chad Grooms v. Stevens)
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff There was a history of conflict between the defendant, Derrick Stevens, and the decedent's brother. Chad Grooms, the decedent, was driving a Jeep Cherokee and his brother was a passenger when defendant...

Verdicts & settlements October 16, 2006: Virginia doctor wins failure-to-diagnose case.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In April 1999, the infant plaintiff Katherine Genevieve Feldmann, then age 13, was diagnosed with scoliosis. She was evaluated by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the University of Virginia who...

Verdicts & settlements October 16, 2006: Virginia defendant prevails in discrimination lawsuit.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was one of several maintenance technicians at an apartment building in Crystal City. The maintenance technicians were responsible for all upkeep at the building, and the evidence...

Virginia's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee releases opinion on letters of recommendation.(Column)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Deborah Elkins It's college application season and lawyers everywhere may be hearing from high-school seniors jostling for a place at the table. Lots of schools know how the game is played - what kind of loser can't get...

U.S. Court of Appeals case summaries: October 23, 2006.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Appeals - Abatement - Insurance Claim In this lawsuit by a workers' compensation self-insurance program for governmental entities against the City of Gastonia, N.C. over unpaid...

Virginia Court of Appeals case summaries: October 23, 2006.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Child Neglect - Willful Act - Licensed Day Care Provider Testimony of an 11-year-old girl and her eight-year-old brother about their responsibilities in providing care for the younger...

Virginia Circuit Court case summaries: October 23, 2006.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Statement Of Facts - Timely Filing Because plaintiff failed to timely file a written statement of facts, the circuit court declines to consider either the untimely statement of...

Verdicts & settlements October 23, 2006: Virginia doctor prevails in suit over appendectomy.(Vandenbosch v. Dr. John Doe and his group)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff This lawsuit stemmed from the admission of Ms. Vandenbosch, age 7 at the time, through the Emergency Department of Danville Regional Medical Center on 9/19/99 for complaints of abdominal pain and one...

Verdicts & settlements October 23, 2006: Virginia jury awards $400K to patient in med-mal suit.(Emanuele v. William Martin, Virginia Beach OB/GYN andVirginia Beach Ambulatory Surgical Center)(Brief article)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff In hotly contested trial, the patient won. This was a medical malpractice case based on the defendant's failure, later admitted, to remove a surgical sponge left inside the plaintiff during a June 2003...

Verdicts & settlements October 23, 2006: Virginia jury awards teacher over $78K for auto accident.(Beitzel v. Urbina)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, a school teacher in Loudoun County, was the victim of a front/side collision when the defendant's vehicle ran a stop sign. On impact, both of the plaintiff's feet impacted the...

Using spell check instead of proofreading a brief may cost an attorney the case.(Robert J. Humphreys suggests)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Spell-checker - a force for good or a risky mop-up for lazy lawyers? It wasn't hard to see where Virginia Court of Appeals Robert J. Humphreys came down on that point when he told a "lawyer's...

Virginia law firms announce personnel changes.(Mike Cooper joins Spotts Fain)(LeClair Ryan opens new office)(Reed Smith merges with Sachnoff and Weaver)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Alan S. Goldberg has opened the law office of Alan S. Goldberg, Attorney & Counsellor at Law in Tysons Corner. Goldberg is a member of the Virginia, New York, D.C., Florida and Massachusetts bars,...

Virginia judge sanctions podiatrist for not providing medical records to an attorney.(Laurence Rubin v. Joshua D. Silverman )
October 23, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper A Hanover County judge has ordered a podiatrist to pay $2,410 in attorneys' fees and costs because he did not provide medical records to an attorney as required by Virginia Code Sect. 8.01-413. The law requires...

Virginia state senator questions high court's mental health law initiative.(Kenneth W. Stolle)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Alan Cooper The Supreme Court of Virginia "a very activist court"? In its judicial decisions, the court has a reputation for being second to none in its deference to legislative action. But Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle,...

Virginia Woman Attorneys Association invites three female judges to speak at anniversary celebration.(Rosemarie P. Annunziata, Diane McQ. Strickland, and Elizabeth B. Lacy invited)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Deborah Elkins Anniversaries often prompt a look back. Instead of poring over old photos, the Virginia Women Attorneys Association invited three female judges to share their perspective on "Women Moving Forward in the Law" as...

72 percent of candidates pass Virginia's July bar exam.(Brief article)
October 23, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The results for the July 2006 Virginia bar examination are in, and there soon will be 1,019 new lawyers in the commonwealth. Officials at the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners report that 1,418...

Virginia ethics panel backs Winchester prosecutor on letters to jurors.(Alexander R. Iden)
October 30, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff A three-judge panel has concluded that Winchester Commonwealth's Attorney Alexander R. Iden did not violate legal ethics when he sent a letter to jurors in a capital murder case advising them that they...

Auto buyer must arbitrate her claim.(Brenel Aston)
October 30, 2006... Byline: Deborah Elkins An unhappy car buyer cannot bail on arbitration with a dealer by seeking sanctuary in a major federal consumer protection statute. In Aston v. Nissan N.A. Inc. (VLW 006-8-211), a Chesapeake circuit judge refused...

U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia: October 30, 2006.(United States)
October 30, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Jurisdiction - Tort Claims - Pro Se Plaintiff A pro se plaintiff who is suing the board of managers and trustees of a condominium association has her suit dismissed for lack of...

Virginia Court of Appeals case summaries: October 30, 2006.
October 30, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal False Pretenses - Reliance - Drug Sales After rehearing en banc, the Court of Appeals affirms the trial court for the reasons stated in the dissent in the panel decision in this case,...

Verdicts & settlements October 30, 2006: Virginia soldier rearended by bus wins $5.6M.
October 30, 2006... Byline: Virginia Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, a 28-year-old staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, was stationary in her pick-up truck on Interstate 64 due to backed up traffic conditions when a Trailways bus crashed into the rear of her...