Parties Should Discuss Discovery Issues

Remittitur Ordered for FCA Damages

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Charlottesville U.S. District Court says a post-doctoral fellow at U.Va.’s Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences who sued under the False Claims Act and won a jury award of $159,915 in lost wages and $500,000 in compensatory damages, must accept a remittitur of the damage award to $100,000, or agree to a new trial. [...]

No FCA Claim for Quality Control Complaint

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Contract, Judge Roger L. Gregory

An engineer for a government contractor that produces explosive devices does not qualify for protection under the False Claims Act’s anti-retaliation provision for his termination after he reported alleged fraudulent conduct to the government, as his allegations about quality control did not affect the government customer’s acceptance of the product; the 4th Circuit upholds summary [...]

Carrier Wins Fees for Email Spoliation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 20, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Robert E. Payne, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this multi-million dollar contract case over insurance coverage for mortgage loan losses, a Richmond U.S. District Court awarding attorney’s fees as a sanction for spoliation of evidence says out-of-town lawyers will not get an hourly fee higher than that claimed by Richmond-based lawyers working on the matter, the claimed hours will be reduced by [...]

No FCA Claim for False Inspection Records

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 20, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although an electrician who worked for a civilian contractor providing military support services in Iraq alleges the contractor falsely certified the performance of ground resistance testing, he has failed to allege any payment of false claims and the Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses his suit under the False Claims Act. At the core of this [...]

Federal Pleading Standard Controls Pleadings

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Glen E. Conrad, U.S. District Court - Western District

A contractor has adequately alleged compliance with conditions precedent in its pleadings suing defendant public authority for breach of two contracts for sewer system upgrades, and the Charlottesville U.S. District Court denies the authority’s motion to dismiss. In 2009, defendant Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority Inc. solicited bids from contractors for the Meadow Creek Sanitary [...]

Fraud, Securities Claims All Stayed for Arbitration

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

Although not all claims may be arbitrable in a retired physician’s suit arising from alleged fraudulent investment advice, the Roanoke U.S. District Court nevertheless will stay the entire lawsuit pending the outcome of FINRA arbitration with a co-defendant securities firm. Plaintiffs are a retired physician and an irrevocable trust by its trustee, the physician. This [...]

Investors Not ‘Customers’ for FINRA Arbitration

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Contract, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Investors who purchased allegedly fraudulent securities directly from a business on the recommendation of a lawyer who was working with a broker for a financial services company were not “customers” of the company entitled to FINRA arbitration; the 4th Circuit says that to compel arbitration in this case, in which the investors did not buy [...]

Court Reverses Land Sale Order

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2013
Tags: Contract, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Supreme Court of Virginia

In this litigation to enforce multiple mechanic’s liens filed by the general contractor and subs on a $17 million church construction project, the Supreme Court of Virginia upholds the trial court’s decision on the enforceability of the liens, but reverses the order to sell the church’s entire 22-acre parcel to satisfy the liens, as the [...]

Lot Description Has ‘Scrivener’s Error’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 25, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although the scrivener’s error exception is to be narrowly construed in allowing any changes to language in a contract or other document, on this record, the Roanoke County Circuit Court will apply the exception to a deed of trust to correct the Lot Number of a parcel from “Lot 1” to “Lot 15.” A scrivener’s [...]