Employment – Contract – Restrictive Covenant – Duty Of Loyalty 
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
An employee who renegotiated his employment to at-will status with plaintiff employer who accused the employee of violating restrictive covenants, and who refused to enter into a subsequent agreement with new restrictive covenants, cannot be sued for breach of contract but can be sued by employer for breach of the duty of loyalty, a Norfolk [...]
Tort – Defamation – Bar Complaint
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
A divorce lawyer’s defamation case can proceed against a client’s father-in-law who allegedly cited “the Duke [lacrosse team] case” and threatened the lawyer with a bar complaint unless the lawyer’s and husband’s “actions” toward wife and granddaughter “progress[ed] in the right direction,” a Chesapeake Circuit Court says.
The allegedly defamatory statements occurred in correspondence sent by [...]
Domestic Relations – Equitable Distribution – Classification – Dual-Formula Division
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
A lawyer wife had greater earnings during the parties’ marriage but husband owned a house in town prior to the marriage and used an inheritance to help pay for acquisition and improvements to riverfront property the couple purchased, and the Court of Appeals affirms a property split that applied the Brandenburg formula to the city [...]
Criminal – Felon In Possession – ‘Other Crimes’ Evidence – Drug & Alcohol Use
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
A defendant’s conviction for possession of a weapon as a convicted felon is affirmed despite his claim that the trial court allowance of defendant’s cross-examination about his drug and alcohol consumption at this time of his arrest constituted impermissible “other crimes” evidence, the Court of Appeals holds.
Police made an investigatory stop when they saw a [...]
Criminal – Competency Exam – Malicious Wounding – Attorney Assault
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
The Court of Appeals rejects a defendant’s claim that the court that tried him for malicious wounding for his assault on a prosecutor should have sua sponte ordered a competency exam after the trial judge expressed doubts about defendant’s fitness for trial and by denying his motion for a competency exam, even though defendant never [...]
Criminal – Miranda Warning – Right To Counsel – Larceny Conspiracy
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
A police officer’s statement to defendant that if he could not afford an attorney, “the Court will consider appointing an attorney for you” was sufficient to apprise defendant of his right to an attorney, and the trial court did not err in admitting defendant’s statement to police about his participation in a codefendant’s theft of [...]
Tractor-trailer crosses median, kills passenger on Interstate 81 – $1,483,694.97 Settlement
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: December 22, 2008
The 48-year-old decedent was a passenger in a 2007 Chevrolet van that was struck head on by a 2001 Peterbilt tractor-trailer on Feb. 26, 2008. The operator of the tractor-trailer crossed the median of Interstate 81 in Harrisonburg. The operator of the van, Isaac Santos, died at the scene. His case was [...]
Domestic Relations – Spousal Support – Parties’ Lifestyle
By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 22, 2008
Admission into evidence of wife’s trial notebook that outlined each of the factors for the trial court’s consideration for spousal support under Va. Code § 20-107.1(E) and wife’s evidence on these factors supports the trial court’s award of $500 in monthly support to mother, despite husband’s claim that the trial court failed to make the [...]
Passenger suffers broken leg as a result of rear-end crash – $555,000 Settlement
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: December 22, 2008
Plaintiff was a passenger in her car, which was being driven by her boyfriend. Defendant ran into the rear of her car. Plaintiff was treated at VCU Medical center with multiple surgeries. Plaintiff’s carrier paid a limit of $30,000 for a covenant not to sue and defendant paid $525,000 after suit was filed. [...]
Lower back pain develops two years after rear-ender – $275,000 Settlement
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: December 22, 2008
During the evening of June 23, 1999, the plaintiff was stopped in traffic on Franklin Road S.W. in the city of Roanoke, where she was rear-ended by the defendant. Defendant stated to the police that he was unsure how the accident occurred but that he must have not seen her. Police charged the [...]
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