Virginia Fair Trial Project to close
By Alan Cooper
Published: February 23, 2009
The Virginia Fair Trial Project, the criminal defense coalition formed to level the criminal justice playing field, will close its doors at the end of the month.
Jack Harris, executive director of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, said in September that the grants that had funded the project for six years had run out, and it [...]
VSB to resume posting all discipline 
By Alan Cooper
Published: February 23, 2009
The Virginia State Bar will resume posting all attorney disciplinary actions on its Web site.
The postings will include those which may be appealed by the respondent lawyer.
Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. told VSB President Manuel A. Capsalis in a letter last week that the VSB could resume the practice.
The letter followed a meeting by [...]
Purse was not a ‘tool’
By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 23, 2009
A woman’s handbag may be part of an “outfit” in the fashion pages, but not in a court of law.
The en banc Virginia Court of Appeals, in a three-way opinion in Edwards v. Commonwealth (VLW 009-7-070), rejected characterization of a woman’s empty purse as an “outfit” intended to commit theft.
Shoplifter Shakil Edwards was convicted in [...]
Insurer off the hook in patent dispute
By Alan Cooper
Published: February 23, 2009
This story starts out with a correction tape dispenser – one of those devices that releases a small piece of opaque tape that whites out errors on a document.
This device was developed by a Japanese company that hired a Washington law firm to file its patent application.
The story became a case that moved through the [...]
Three GOP candidates for AG spar in Roanoke
By Peter Vieth
Published: February 23, 2009
ROANOKE—Each of the three lawyers vying for the GOP nomination for attorney general hopes to persuade fellow Republicans he can be the most electable while remaining the most conservative.
The terms of the contest emerged as Ken Cuccinelli, John Brownlee and Dave Foster took the stage for a formal debate before several hundred party faithful in [...]
Bus driver settles claim for $5 million
By Alan Cooper
Published: February 23, 2009
A bus driver who lost a leg in a collision in Northern Virginia has settled his lawsuit for $5 million.
Terry Shoemaker, 56, was driving 48 high school seniors from Berkley, W.Va., in a motor coach to Disney World when the left front of his bus clipped the right rear of a tractor-trailer in April 2006 [...]
Ledbetter law could spell trouble for employers
By Declan C. Leonard
Published: February 23, 2009
When the United States Supreme Court in 2007 denied Lilly Ledbetter’s pay discrimination claim against her employer Goodyear Tire as being untimely, it touched off a rallying cry among women and employee rights groups across the nation. These efforts culminated in the first official piece of legislation signed by President Obama, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair [...]
Web Sites: Silver Screen Edition
By Paul Fletcher
Published: February 23, 2009
The Academy Awards were handed out last night, long after this issue went to bed. But here’s a look at Web sites that are dedicated to movies about lawyers. And there is a tie to the Oscars: “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s bestseller, is generally considered to be the best [...]
Sites for Circuit Courts vary by jurisdiction
By Sarah Rodriguez
Published: February 23, 2009
You probably know by now that the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia Appeals Court Web sites offer a host of valuable resources for trial lawyers.
But as the Feb. 9 Web Hits column mentioned, there is no centralized database for the Circuit Courts in Virginia.
The Virginia Judicial Systems page provides only a list of [...]
Kaine, British ambassador pen environment accord
By News in Brief
Published: February 23, 2009
Virginia and the United Kingdom entered a partnership to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop environmentally friendly technology jobs.
Gov. Tim Kaine and the British ambassador to the United States, Nigel Sheinwald, signed the deal Feb. 12 in the Capitol.
The accord itself will do little to reverse global warming.
Both men said that with Virginia and [...]
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