Bank Employee’s Age-Bias Claim Advances

CSX Did Not Spell Out Carmack Limitation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 10, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Rail carrier CSX Transportation Inc. is liable for the full $550,000 in damage to a $1.3 million electrical transformer shipped from St. Louis to Pittsburgh, and the district court erred in holding that the parties had limited CSX’s potential liability in the bill of lading to $25,000; the 4th Circuit says the parties did not [...]

Lanham Act Preemption May Work in Ethanol Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 10, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge G. Steven Agee

Plaintiff trade groups that represent the natural gas and oil industry who want to enjoin enforcement of North Carolina’s Ethanol Blending Statute get another chance to prove Lanham Act preemption; the 4th Circuit agrees with the district court’s grant of summary judgment for defendants, the state and a marketing association, on plaintiffs’ preemption challenges under [...]

Mother Using Drugs Loses Three Children

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms terminating mother’s rights to her three children: mother chose not to appear at the termination hearing after receiving notice and continued using drugs while the children are thriving in a foster home with parents who want to adopt them. In addition to a daughter age 13, mother has three children [...]

Wife’s Appeal on Contempt Fails

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms wife’s conviction for contempt for failing to notify the court and husband of her remarriage as required by the final divorce decree awarding her $4,000 monthly spousal support; wife’s arguments about contempt are procedurally defaulted and she shows no abuse of discretion in denying her a continuance. Husband and wife [...]

More Fees for Husband’s Appeal After Remand

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

After reversing an equitable distribution order based on the parties’ prenuptial agreement, the Court of Appeals says husband’s second appeal of the trial court order on remand seeks to relitigate issues previously decided and awards wife appellate attorney fees for both appeals. Husband and wife divorced after 17 years of marriage; the final decree ordered [...]

Forced Peremptory Strikes Were Error

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Stephen R. McCullough, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals reverses and remands defendant’s jury trial conviction for sexual battery: trial court erred in denying defense requests to strike two teachers for cause, requiring use of peremptory strikes; both women expressed concerns but the trial court cut off questioning that might have eliminated doubt as to their impartiality. Defendant was charged [...]

Appeal Defaulted on Intent to Distribute

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Teresa M. Chafin, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s conviction for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute but reverses and remands his five-year suspended sentence for possessing marijuana as excessive; defendant’s sufficiency objection on intent to distribute cocaine is waived by his failing present it below. Defendant was staying at his mother’s house with another woman when police [...]

Signing Admissible on Sex Crimes

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant is not entitled to reversal of his bench trial convictions for sex crimes by attacking the competency of his nine-year-old deaf-mute victim, the Court of Appeals says; the trial court took care to establish victim’s competency and the record evidence supports his convictions; no adverse inference is due when defendant’s objection caused exclusion of [...]

Court Trims Restitution in Conspiracy Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

In sentencing defendant on his guilty plea to conspiring to utter false financial instruments in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 514(a)(2) and 371, an Abingdon U.S. District Court orders defendant to pay $921.65, or the face value of the four checks he cashed at a local Wal-Mart as part of a 70-plus-member check-cashing conspiracy in [...]