Criminal - Voluntariness Of Statements - Police Interview 
Published: September 29, 2008
A Roanoke U.S. District Court denies suppression of defendant’s statements to police during an interview after his initial indictment, when defendant scoffed at the small quantity of crack cocaine alleged in the indictment and told police he had engaged in drug trafficking from North Carolina to Virginia on a much larger scale.
Defendant moves to suppress [...]
Tort - Business Tort – Legal Malpractice – Conflict Of Interest
Published: September 29, 2008
A Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses an oil company’s $25 million legal malpractice and tortious interference suit against the West Virginia law firm that represented the oil company in an effort to buy oil and gas wells in Kentucky, and two of whose partners formed “Elk River Energy LLC” to bid on the same wells; [...]
Civil Rights - Excessive Force - Domestic Violence Call - Bathroom Entry
Published: September 29, 2008
A man who refused to come out of his bathroom when police responded to a domestic violence call from the man’s wife cannot sue Henrico County police for excessive force for entering the bathroom, a Richmond U.S. District Court says; however, plaintiff has stated a claim for his alleged illegal restraint based on police [...]
Real Estate - Title Insurance - Refinance - Closing Protection Letter
Published: September 29, 2008
In plaintiff borrower’s suit against defendant title company, plaintiff has no coverage from the title company as a “third party beneficiary” under a Closing Protection Letter the title company issued to her lender, a Richmond U.S. District Court magistrate judge says.
Plaintiff asserts she was a third party beneficiary to the Closing Protection Letter (CPL) issued [...]
Failure to disclose fuse box not grounds for denying claim - $310,000 Verdict
Published: September 29, 2008
Rockingham filed declaratory judgment action to avoid coverage on the basis of alleged material misrepresentations in the application for insurance. The alleged misrepresentations centered on a denial in the application that the home was equipped with fuses as opposed to circuit breakers. A fire had started in the fuse-box panel. Homeowners had [...]
Contract - Mailing List - Confidentiality - Limitations
Published: September 29, 2008
A mortgage lender whose contracts with a mailing list broker included confidentiality clauses, and who suspected a former employee of the lender of setting up a competing company and using the same mailing list customer criteria developed by plaintiff lender, loses its suit in Alexandria U.S. District Court alleging breach of the confidentiality agreement by [...]
Employment Discrimination - Title VII - Race - Equitable Tolling
Published: September 29, 2008
An African-American female district manager for the Division of Child Support Enforcement, who was fired at the end of her 12-month probationary period, has the time limit for filing her suit “equitably tolled,” but an Alexandria U.S. District Court says she failed to establish a prima facie case of race discrimination.
First, the court concludes the [...]
Criminal - Sentencing - Firearm Enhancement - Drug Crime
Published: September 29, 2008
In sentencing defendant for cocaine conspiracy, a Richmond U.S. District Court can impose a two-level firearm enhancement based on statements in a presentence investigative report by confidential sources who said they saw defendant in possession of crack cocaine and a firearm together, and knew he often traded crack for firearms.
In determining that an enhancement was [...]
Intersection wreck causes brain, neck, back injuries - $125,000 Settlement
Published: September 29, 2008
On May 28, 2004, at approximately 11:30 p.m., the plaintiff stopped at the intersection of King Street and Market Street in Leesburg for a red light. When the light turned green, she proceeded through the intersection and was struck by the defendant on the driver’s side of her car.
The plaintiff’s vehicle spun around and [...]
Vehicle crushed by logs in tractor-trailer wreck - $300,000 Settlement
Published: September 29, 2008
On June 6, 2005, the plaintiff was stopped at a traffic light in the far left lane at the intersection of Route 28 and Frying Pan Road in Fairfax County. She was traveling southbound. The defendant was traveling northbound on Route 28 in his tractor-trailer, which carried a load of large tree logs.
The defendant swerved [...]
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