Domestic Relations – Spousal Support – Imputed Income – Mortgage Payments 
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A divorce court did not err in refusing to impute income to a wife, who worked 15 years ago as a respiratory therapist, based on a vocational expert’s testimony about what she should be able to earn, without consideration of state licensure requirements or child care for the three minor children, the Court of Appeals [...]
Civil Rights – Traffic Stop – Rear-View Mirror – Excessive Force
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A police officer could stop defendant’s vehicle for having an object hanging from the rear-view mirror, in violation of Va. Code § 46.2-1054’s restriction on having an object that impedes the driver’s view of the road through the windshield, and a Danville U.S. District Court says the officer has no liability for the traffic stop.
The [...]
Search & Seizure – Warrant Affidavit – Good Faith Exception – CI Corroboration
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A Roanoke U.S. District Court applies the good-faith exception to uphold a search based on a warrant, supported in part by a confidential informant’s assertion that on a particular date, “Jason” would travel from Greenville, S.C. and stay at a Hampton Inn in Dublin, Va., to sell drugs.
Defendant argues that although the affidavit states the [...]
Search & Seizure – Traffic Stop – Marijuana In Car – Miranda Warnings
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A Harrisonburg U.S. District Court need not suppress defendant’s admission that he had smoked marijuana and the drugs found in his vehicle belonged to him; the court finds the state trooper who stopped defendant for erratic driving, speeding and a defective brake light did not restrain defendant to the degree associated with a formal [...]
Employment – Life Insurance – ERISA – AD&D
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
An ERISA claims fiduciary did not abuse its discretion in denying the survivors of an employee who died in a motorcycle crash group accidental death and dismemberment benefits, in light of evidence of the employee’s .123 percent blood alcohol content after the crash, an Abingdon U.S. District Court holds.
I find the carrier’s decision to deny [...]
Insurance – Policy Coverage – Jewelry Store Embezzlement
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
An insurance carrier for a jewelry store wins the Richmond U.S. District Court’s dismissal of the store’s claim that the carrier breached its insurance contract by adjusting a claim based on an employee’s theft over a period of time of $593,000 in jewels as occurring over a two-year period, so as to pay only claim [...]
Immigration – Naturalization Application – FBI Background Check
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A legal permanent resident who has passed his English proficiency and U.S. history examinations and is frustrated by a nearly four-year delay in adjudication of his application to become a U.S. citizen, cannot get the Richmond U.S. District Court to order the FBI to complete the necessary background check on the applicant or the defendant [...]
Criminal – Indictment Delay – Plea Negotiations
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A Richmond U.S. District Court rejects a drug defendant’s claim that his case should have been dismissed under 18 U.S.C. § 1362 because the government could not qualify for an exception to the requirement under 18 U.S.C. § 1361 by attributing a 34-day period to plea negotiations that he says he did not authorize his [...]
Administrative – Agency Records – State Hospital – Federal Statute
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
A Richmond U.S. District Court will not dismiss a suit filed by the Virginia Office for Protection & Advocacy seeking records related to three incidents of deaths and injuries of residents of Central State Hospital, from defendant state agencies: the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Department of Mental Retardation & Substance Abuse Services, Central Virginia [...]
Civil Rights – First Amendment – Defamation – Talk Show Host
By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 11, 2008
The 4th Circuit upholds a federal district court’s dismissal of a government contractor’s defamation case against Randi Rhodes, a talk-show radio host on the Air America liberal talk radio network, who accused the contractor of involvement in the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
This defamation case centers on the notorious U.S.-run Abu Ghraib [...]
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