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Remembering Chief Justice Carrico

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 31, 2013
Tags: Justice Harry L. Carrico

For many in Virginia, he was the face of the Supreme Court of Virginia. For years, a generation of lawyers had known no other chief justice. Former Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry L. Carrico died Jan. 27 in Richmond. He was 96. Justice Carrico was the longest serving justice and chief justice in the [...]

IOLTA bill killed for 2013 session

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 31, 2013
Tags: General Assembly, IOLTA, Legal Aid

A compromise bill to remove barriers to automatic use of attorney trust accounts to generate funding for legal aid cleared a House of Delegates Courts Committee only to be killed by its sponsor on the floor of the House. House Bill 1544 would have removed a ban on requiring the use of interest on lawyers’ [...]

Virginia Beach poultry prosecution questioned

By The Associated Press
Published: January 30, 2013

VIRGINIA BEACH (AP) — Civil liberties attorneys are defending a Virginia Beach woman who was told by city officials she could not raise chickens on her property. The Rutherford Institute says it is challenging in state Supreme Court a city inspector’s conclusion that Tracy Gugal-Okroy violated a zoning ordinance by having chickens on her suburban [...]

Judge rejects use of comparisons

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 30, 2013
Tags: Judge Charles N. Dorsey, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Personal Injury, Roanoke Circuit Court, Supreme Court of Virginia News

A disabled Henry County woman keeps a $1.85 million award – reduced from a jury verdict of $6.5 million – as a Roanoke City circuit judge rejected defense claims that the sum awarded did not line up with past awards for similar injuries. The judge was quick to cite a brand new decision of the [...]

Denial of Gender Surgery States Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge Albert Diaz

A Virginia inmate who has the condition of Gender Identity Disorder has stated an Eighth Amendment claim for defendant Department of Corrections’ denial of her request for gender reassignment surgery, and the complaint survives screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915, the 4th Circuit says. The sole issue before us is whether plaintiff’s complaint states a [...]

FINRA Arbitration Upheld for Municipal Bond ‘Customer’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Contract, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A Virginia healthcare company is a “customer” of the financial services companies it hired to structure its municipal bond offering, and it entitled to FINRA arbitration of its claims that it was fraudulently induced to issue over $234 million in auction-rate municipal bonds; the 4th Circuit upholds the order allowing arbitration to go forward. Carilion [...]

No Intervention in AG’s Defense of Abortion Statute

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

In this suit challenging the constitutionality of the North Carolina “Woman’s Right to Know Act,” which requires certain informed consent procedures prior to performance of an abortion, the federal district court did not err in denying a motion to intervene filed by a coalition of pro-life medical professionals, women who have previously undergone abortions and [...]

Glock Buy for Uncle Was ‘Straw Man’ Purchase

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Robert B. King

A former police officer who thought he could get a good deal in buying a Glock 19 handgun that his uncle wanted, can be convicted as a “straw purchaser” for making a false affirmation that he was the owner, in violation of federal firearms laws; the 4th Circuit joins the 6th and 11th Circuits and [...]

Indictment Change OK in Investment Fraud Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge William B. Traxler Jr.

An amendment of an indictment to narrow conspiracy charges arising from defendant’s fraudulent scheme of taking investors’ money, promising to pay insurance premiums from the escrowed funds and lying to investors about multiple aspects of the business, did not violate defendant coconspirator’s rights, and the 4th Circuit affirms his conspiracy and fraud convictions and his [...]