2010 | Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Domestic Relations – Pet Visitation – Family Farmland Value

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A couple in their 50s who have devoted a “lot of time and affection to their dog, Gracie” make an even split of their marital property, and have agreed to custody of the dog with wife and visitation for husband, with an option for each to bid to buy the whole dog, in this divorce [...]

Intellectual Property – Venue – Coffee Shop Franchise – Trademark Infringement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Charlottesville U.S. District Court transfers to the Alexandria U.S. District Court this suit by plaintiff Delaware corporation alleging that defendants, who live and have their business in Northern Virginia, have infringed plaintiff’s trademark for Greenberry coffee shops with defendants’ business in Leesburg. At the center of this controversy is the Leesburg Franchise, a coffee [...]

Contract – Cigarette Manufacture – Tobacco Master Settlement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: Contract, Judge Jackson L. Kiser, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Danville U.S. District Court awards $5.25 million to a Virginia cigarette company against a North Carolina company on the Virginia company’s contract to distribute “Kingston” brand cigarettes manufactured by the Virginia company. The manufacturing stipulated in the contract implicates the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The parties do not contest the per carton amount [...]

Products Liability – Failure To Test- Failure To Warn – Prempro

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: Judge T.S. Ellis III, Products Liability, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A woman suing Wyeth on allegations that its hormone replacement therapy drug, Prempro, caused or aggravated her breast cancer, cannot proceed on a claim that Wyeth had a duty to conduct additional tests or studies of the drug, says an Alexandria U.S. District Court. Among the myriad motions filed prior to trial was Wyeth’s motion [...]

Municipal – Land Use – Cell Phone Towers

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, Municipal, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A county’s denial of plaintiff T-Mobile’s two land use applications for permission to install three antenna panels on a 10-foot extension of an existing 100-foot cell phone transmission pole does not violate the Telecommunications Act of 1996, says an Alexandria U.S. District Court. The court concludes the board of supervisors’ denial of T-Mobile’s applications does [...]

Civil Rights – Excessive Force – School Truancy – Illegal Entry

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: Civil Rights, Judge James C. Cacheris, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Prince William County police officer who allegedly entered plaintiffs’ home to serve a school truancy summons on a woman who listed that home as her home address must defend plaintiffs’ unreasonable search claim, but defendants win summary judgment on plaintiffs’ remaining claims for violations of their civil rights and Virginia tort law. According to [...]

Kelsey leads in high court endorsements

By Alan Cooper
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: General Assembly, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Judge Joseph W. Milam Jr., Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Virginia’s statewide bar associations are completing their endorsements for a pending seat on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The endorsements leader at this point is Virginia Court of Appeals Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, who received the highest rating from five statewide bar groups; a sixth organization found him to be qualified for the seat. Two [...]

Governor’s plan doesn’t include any new judges

By Peter Vieth
Published: December 30, 2010
Tags: General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Judgeships, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar

Gov. Bob McDonnell may not plan on funding any new judges next year, despite his request last month that the Virginia State Bar hand over $5 million for general state spending. Although his remarks to state lawmakers state he wanted to use $1.7 million “to fill longstanding priority judicial vacancies,” McDonnell’s budget presentation indicates that [...]

Domestic Relations – Termination Of Parental Rights – Violence In Home

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 29, 2010
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

In light of the clear and convincing evidence that a mother, without good cause, failed to substantially remedy the conditions – including violence in the home – which led to or required continuantion of the children’s foster care placement within a reasonable period of time, the Court of Appeals upholds termination of the mother’s parental [...]

Criminal – Informant Identity – Continuance – Attorney Conflict

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 29, 2010
Tags: Criminal, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals says a defendant cannot overturn his cocaine conviction with a claim the trial court erred in denying his motion for a continuance and his lawyer’s motion to withdraw after learning the identity of a confidential informant and ascertaining that he previously represented the informant. Defendant argues the trial court erred by [...]

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