Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Owner Says Utility Has No Easement 

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, Real Estate, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A public utility company says a property owner’s fence, pool and shed interfere with the utility’s easement, but the property owner has stated a counterclaim for inverse condemnation in the utility company’s declaratory judgment action, the Norfolk U.S. District Court says. The owner contends Columbia Gas Transmission’s claim of a right to prohibit and/or exclude [...]

No Duty of Impartiality for Trustee 

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: Judge M. Hannah Lauck, Real Estate, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Plaintiffs who lost their homes to foreclosure have not stated claims for a trustee’s breach of an alleged duty of impartiality, but the Richmond U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge will allow plaintiffs to amend their claims for breach of fiduciary duty and violation of RICO laws. The complaints fail to state a claim for the [...]

Ex-U.Va. lacrosse player seeks new trial

By The Associated Press
Published: January 28, 2013

(AP) — Attorneys for a former University of Virginia lacrosse player convicted of beating his ex-girlfriend to death are asking the state appeals court for a new trial, arguing the evidence in the case didn’t support a second-degree murder conviction and citing a series of what they say are constitutional and procedural errors. Lawyers for [...]

FedEx didn’t violate employee’s FMLA rights, says 4th Circuit 

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: January 28, 2013
Tags: Employment, Federal Courts

FedEx didn’t violate the Family and Medical Leave Act when it suspended and terminated a courier upon her return from medical leave, the 4th Circuit has ruled in affirming a summary judgment. The plaintiff worked for FedEx as a mail courier. After injuring her knee making a delivery, the plaintiff informed FedEx that she would [...]

New modernized bankruptcy forms are proposed 

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: January 28, 2013

The Judicial Conference is proposing the first set of revised bankruptcy forms for individual filers in more than two decades. The conference is seeking public comments on the newly revised forms, including the fee waiver and installment fee forms, income and expense forms and means test forms, which will replace the existing documents used by [...]

Suit alleges D.C. firm failed to protect inventor’s secrets 

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: January 28, 2013

A recently filed malpractice suit seeks to hold the D.C. law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery liable for the alleged theft of a California inventor’s confidential information. Elizabeth Holmes and her medical technology company, Theranos, Inc., sued McDermott last month in D.C. Superior Court. The Palo Alto, Calif., inventor retained McDermott in 2003 to [...]

US court rejects appeal from Somali pirates

By The Associated Press
Published: January 28, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from Somali men who were the first people convicted on federal piracy charges in nearly 200 years. The justices did not comment last Tuesday in refusing to go into the convictions in Virginia and sentences of life in prison. Defense lawyers had argued the [...]

Terry stop in high-crime area constitutional, says 4th Circuit 

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: January 28, 2013

Police didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment by conducting a Terry stop of individuals loitering outside a convenience store in a high-crime area, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in affirming a firearm conviction. An officer on routine patrol in an area known for “countless” drug arrests and “multiple” shootings observed the defendant [...]

AP reporter: Condemned killer opened up to me

By The Associated Press
Published: January 28, 2013
Tags: Criminal

JARRATT (AP) He gave a nod and a wink before he sat down in the electric chair, then he uttered two statements as contradictory as the man himself: a Gaelic expletive and “God bless.” Robert Gleason Jr. was playful and vicious, a protector and a predator. He was likeable and reprehensible. He sent Christmas cards [...]

The VLW Digital Edition – Jan. 28, 2013