When staff complains, law firms should listen

Infant’s hotel balcony fall nets $10.9M settlement

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: May 24, 2013
Tags: Million-Dollar Settlements, Norfolk Circuit Court, Personal Injury, Premises Liability

An almost $11 million settlement for a toddler who suffered a severe head injury after falling from a hotel balcony presented a conundrum on the timing of the lawsuit. The boy was two years old when he ventured onto a hotel balcony where a missing railing left a hole big enough for him to slip [...]

Editorial: Protect reporters, and protect everyone

By Paul Fletcher
Published: May 24, 2013
Tags: Federal shield law, First Amendment

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has come out strong for passing a federal shield law. And maybe that’s the one good thing – the only good thing – to come out of the recent controversy over the Justice Department’s seizure of phone records at The Associated Press and the surveillance of Fox News reporter James [...]

Judicial selection meets number crunching

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: General Assembly, Judgeships, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Supreme Court of Virginia News

When the General Assembly convenes in 2014, the political horse-trading over who gets what judges will have a new data-backed dimension. The process will be informed by the weighted caseload study currently being conducted by the National Center for State Courts, whose report is due to legislators on Nov. 15. Members of the Judicial Council, [...]

Insurer wants out of civil suit against Huguely

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: May 22, 2013
Tags: Charlottesville Circuit Court, Federal Courts, Insurance

George W. Huguely V, the former University of Virginia lacrosse player who was convicted in February 2012 of killing his former girlfriend, is being sued in Maryland federal court by his mother’s insurance company. Chartis Property Casualty Co., a New York-based member company of American International Group Inc., filed suit in U.S. District Court in [...]

Former bar leader Lewis is disbarred

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 22, 2013
Tags: Attorneys Fees, Lawyer Discipline, Virginia Bar Association, Virginia State Bar

Once a leading Northern Virginia divorce lawyer and former president of the Virginia Bar Association, Vienna attorney Glenn C. Lewis has been stripped of his law license by a panel of the Virginia State Bar disciplinary board. The action Friday came after a hearing on charges that Lewis spent the fees paid by two clients [...]

Blinded employee agrees to $16.5M settlement

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 21, 2013
Tags: Million-Dollar Settlements, Personal Injury

A Virginia machine shop employee blinded in a 2009 accident involving an automated machine tool has settled claims totaling $16.5 million. The manufacturer and seller of a so-called CNC machine and the manufacturer and seller of a specialized tool used in that machine all agreed to the deal, according to lawyers for the employee. The [...]

NLRB case on investigations proves puzzling to lawyers

By Kimberly Atkins
Published: May 20, 2013
Tags: Employment

Employee handbook restrictions on confidentiality are not the only kind of confidentiality that law firms and other employees have to worry about. When an employer conducts an internal investigation, it usually wants everybody to keep it quiet. Last year, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that a company policy requiring employees to keep interviews related [...]

Investment truths produce long-term success

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: May 20, 2013
Tags: Wealth Management

The last five years have sent stocks on a wild ride. First, the October 2007 to March 2009 Great Recession and bear market drove stocks down 50 percent, then the bull market boosted stocks up over 100 percent in under four years. But stocks have averaged less than 1 percent annually since October 2007. Over [...]

Rolling 401(k) into an IRA makes sense

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: May 20, 2013
Tags: Wealth Management

I recently met a married couple of university professors who were interested in improving their investment portfolios and getting a sound financial plan in place. The couple, both in their early 60s, thought their ability to work with a brokerage firm was limited. After all, most of their wealth resided in university-sponsored 401(k) plans. So [...]