Tort - Malicious Prosecution - Baseball Card Online Sale 
Published: December 22, 2008
A woman who sold defendant vintage baseball cards for $7,800 and who allegedly filed an insurance claim after defendant buyer said he did not receive the cards can sue the buyer for malicious prosecution for swearing out a complaint that caused her arrest and detention in jail for two weeks, an Alexandria U.S. District Court [...]
Domestic Relations - Equitable Distribution - Classification - Dual-Formula Division
Published: December 22, 2008
A lawyer wife had greater earnings during the parties’ marriage but husband owned a house in town prior to the marriage and used an inheritance to help pay for acquisition and improvements to riverfront property the couple purchased, and the Court of Appeals affirms a property split that applied the Brandenburg formula to the city [...]
Tort - Fiduciary Breach - Tobacco Farmer Father - Elder Abuse
Published: December 22, 2008
Defendant daughter and her husband committed fraud and breach of fiduciary duty to her father, an illiterate and hearing-impaired 84-year-old tobacco farmer who amassed assets exceeding $1 million, by isolating him from his other three children, selling off his farm and siphoning off his money, and a Pittsylvania County Circuit Court says the father is [...]
Domestic Relations - Immigration - Foster Care Petition
Published: December 22, 2008
A youth who came from Mexico and initially lived with his sister and brother-in-law, but who now faces deportation, has reached 18 years of age and cannot be declared a “dependent” of the court in response to a custody petition filed by his brother-in-law in an effort to forestall deportation, a Newport News Circuit Court [...]
Negligence - Workers’ Comp Bar - Eye Injury - Treatment Delay
Published: December 22, 2008
A 19-year-old laborer whose eye was injured when he was working with a pick and a piece of concrete flew up and struck his eye, and who ultimately lost sight in the eye after the laborer’s supervisor and his uncle both refused his requests for medical treatment, cannot sue the employer for negligence for failure [...]
Employment - Contract - Restrictive Covenant - Duty Of Loyalty
Published: December 22, 2008
An employee who renegotiated his employment to at-will status with plaintiff employer who accused the employee of violating restrictive covenants, and who refused to enter into a subsequent agreement with new restrictive covenants, cannot be sued for breach of contract but can be sued by employer for breach of the duty of loyalty, a Norfolk [...]
Tort - Defamation - Bar Complaint
Published: December 22, 2008
A divorce lawyer’s defamation case can proceed against a client’s father-in-law who allegedly cited “the Duke [lacrosse team] case” and threatened the lawyer with a bar complaint unless the lawyer’s and husband’s “actions” toward wife and granddaughter “progress[ed] in the right direction,” a Chesapeake Circuit Court says.
The allegedly defamatory statements occurred in correspondence sent by [...]
Domestic Relations - Equitable Distribution - Classification - Dual-Formula Division
Published: December 22, 2008
A lawyer wife had greater earnings during the parties’ marriage but husband owned a house in town prior to the marriage and used an inheritance to help pay for acquisition and improvements to riverfront property the couple purchased, and the Court of Appeals affirms a property split that applied the Brandenburg formula to the city [...]
Criminal - Felon In Possession - ‘Other Crimes’ Evidence - Drug & Alcohol Use
Published: December 22, 2008
A defendant’s conviction for possession of a weapon as a convicted felon is affirmed despite his claim that the trial court allowance of defendant’s cross-examination about his drug and alcohol consumption at this time of his arrest constituted impermissible “other crimes” evidence, the Court of Appeals holds.
Police made an investigatory stop when they saw a [...]
Criminal - Competency Exam - Malicious Wounding - Attorney Assault
Published: December 22, 2008
The Court of Appeals rejects a defendant’s claim that the court that tried him for malicious wounding for his assault on a prosecutor should have sua sponte ordered a competency exam after the trial judge expressed doubts about defendant’s fitness for trial and by denying his motion for a competency exam, even though defendant never [...]
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