Incarcerated Mom’s Rights Terminated

Changes Did Not Create ‘New’ Policy

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Insurance, Judge Everett A. Martin Jr., Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A business auto liability policy at issue was a “renewal” and not a “new” policy, and the Norfolk Circuit Court rejects plaintiff’s claim that he had additional UIM coverage. Plaintiff has filed this declaratory judgment action seeking a determination that the amount of underinsured motorist coverage available to him under a business auto policy Ace [...]

Driver’s License Revoked for Federal DUI

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court says the federal DUI statute to which defendant pled guilty substantially parallels Virginia’s DUI statute, Va. Code § 18.2-266, and the court rejects the driver’s petition asserting it was error for Virginia to revoke his Virginia driver’s license for the federal conviction. The court finds the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles did [...]

Defendant Expected Three to Five, Got 19 Years

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A defendant’s claim that his lawyer told him he would get three to five years for pleading guilty to robbery, but who was sentenced to 19 years, was corroborated by his brother, mother, another defendant who overheard defendant’s bullpen conversation with his lawyer on the day defendant pled and a recorded phone conversation with his [...]

Employer Rebuts Failure-to-Promote Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Employment Discrimination, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

An African-American male employed in a technician assembly position who alleges he has been passed over for promotion multiple times because of race cannot make out a prima facie case under Title VII, the Lynchburg U.S. District Court says; although plaintiff says employer altered job descriptions produced in discovery to make certain qualifications “required” instead [...]

Inmate’s Mental Health Claim Advances

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Civil Rights, Judge Jackson L. Kiser, U.S. District Court - Western District

As plaintiff inmate has adequately disputed defendant correctional officials’ assertion that he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies on his claim that his confinement to a strip cell and special housing was causing suicidal tendencies and he needed group therapy, the Roanoke U.S. District Court denies defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on the failure [...]

Still No Injunction in ‘JoeyBra’ Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Charlottesville U.S. District Court declines to reconsider its denial of a preliminary injunction in this patent infringement lawsuit involving designs for pocketed bras. Plaintiff filed this patent infringement case in May 2012, which stems from a design patent, the ‘541 patent, that plaintiff received in 2001 for a bra design with pockets. Plaintiff became [...]

Lab Director’s Summary Judgment Motion ‘Premature’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Employment Discrimination, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

An African-American male and former director of quality control for a Lynchburg manufacturer of fragrance and personal care products who alleges his racially-motivated termination ran counter to the company’s progressive disciplinary policy, was disparate treatment when compared to Caucasian employees’ disciplinary history and violated Title VII, has proved that his suit was timely filed because [...]

Party Realignment Ordered in Coverage Suit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Insurance, Judge Robert S. Ballou, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this suit seeking to determine coverage availability to Stephanie Brenner and Brenner Properties for injuries received by Tiffany Eve in a horse-riding accident on Feb. 27, 2010, the magistrate judge for the Roanoke U.S. District Court orders realignment of nominal defendants Stephanie Brenner and Tiffany Eve as plaintiffs and counter-defendants. Properties sought a declaratory [...]

Stay Ordered in Contaminated Steroid Cases

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Judge James C. Turk, Products Liability, U.S. District Court - Western District

In these nearly identical suits alleging injury from contaminated steroids manufactured by defendant New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc., the Roanoke U.S. District Court will stay plaintiffs’ motions to remand these matters to state court until the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decides whether to transfer these actions. Soon after these suits were filed, defendant NECC [...]