Opinion Digests « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Lying and Furtive Movements Allow Seizure

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant’s lie about his pockets and furtive movements during a consensual search gave the police reasonable suspicion for the seizure that resulted in his conviction for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, the Court of Appeals says.
Defendant and two other individuals were in an area police were assigned to patrol because of past and current [...]

No Comp for Job Outside Virginia

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

A laborer hired in Virginia to perform a job in Delaware cannot collect workers’ comp in Virginia for a job-related injury, and the Court of Appeals upholds the commission’s denial of benefits.
While doing drywall work in Delaware, claimant fell off a ladder and was injured. The employer, claimant and other workers all were present in [...]

Potential Caregivers Not ‘Relatives’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Virginia Court of Appeals

A woman whose child was removed from her custody cannot proffer as “relatives” a couple whose daughter was the girlfriend of the woman’s brother; the Court of Appeals says such a tenuous connection does not make the couple “relatives” of the child.
On appeal, the mother argues the trial court erred by terminating her parental rights [...]

Parties Agree to Pay Own ESI Costs

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this protracted False Claims Act suit against a government contractor that concluded with a jury verdict for the contractor, an Alexandria U.S. District Court grants the contractor’s request for costs under FRCP 54(d) and awards $119,193, including $8,889 in transcript costs, $11,957 in witness fees and expenses, $59,384 in copying costs and $38,962 in [...]

Default Sanction for Patent Infringement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Anthony J. Trenga, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendation to award default judgment against defendants Ali Hammoud and Al-Amir Inc. for infringing plaintiff’s line of hookah products and marks, and orders defendants to pay $288,419 in damages, $3,563 in costs and $248,863 in attorney’s fees,
The court concludes defendant Ali Hammoud’s objections to the magistrate’s [...]

Medical Researcher Has FCA Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Charlottesville U.S. District Court says a post-doctoral fellow conducting research at UVa’s Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences can sue the departmental chair and his supervisor under the False Claims Act on individual-capacity and official-capacity claims for prospective relief, but not in their official capacities for damages.
In count I, plaintiff Dr. Huang asserts claims [...]

Employee Reinstated Despite ‘Zero Tolerance’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Judge James P. Jones, Labor, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court upholds an arbitrator’s decision that an employee who had worked in the coal industry for 32 years with no history of drug use could be reinstated to his job performing electrical and mechanical repair after a random drug screen showed marijuana, which the employee admitted he had “toked” [...]

No Contract from Hospital Bylaws

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

A physician who lost his hospital staff privileges at Lewis Gale Medical Center after an incident in an operating room while he was supervising another doctor cannot sue defendant physician, Chairman of the Medical Staff, on claims of breach of contract, tortious interference with contract and discrimination; the Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses plaintiff physician’s [...]

Defamation Claim Survives, Despite Warning

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Employment, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

Although a bank warned its employees not to talk about plaintiff bank manager’s termination, the manager can sue the bank for breach of contract and defamation after remaining bank employees suggested to community members the manager had been fired “because of money”; but the Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses the manager’s claim for wrongful termination [...]

Self-Funded Plan Wins Reimbursement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Employment, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

A grocery store manager who was seriously injured in an auto accident and settled his personal injury suit against the driver for $850,000 is ordered to reimburse his employer’s self-funded ERISA-qualified health care plan for $191,949 for his medical expenses, as the Abingdon U.S. District Court grants summary judgment for the plan.
Defendant manager opposes summary [...]

Virginia Lawyers Weekly