Judge will determine Renoir painting’s owner

Tractor-trailers collided on foggy Interstate – $615,000 Settlement

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: May 13, 2013
Tags: Federal Courts, Personal Injury

This case arose out of a collision between two tractor-trailers on I-77 southbound in Carroll County. There was moderate fog in the area, which had caused traffic to become congested. The plaintiff brought his tractor-trailer to a complete stop in the right lane. The defendant was travelling in the left lane, and as he approached [...]

Rule changes would deal with discovery

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: May 10, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Discovery, Federal Courts

Lawyers are concerned that discovery is getting out of hand. The masses of data that are part of everyday operations in modern organizations are generating ever-more complicated discovery demands, even in simple cases. Responding to concern from litigators nationwide, the U.S. Courts’ Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure recently approved proposed changes to several [...]

Federal judge laments criminal docket overload

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 9, 2013
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge James P. Jones

SALEM – The decline of the civil jury trial in federal court is one of the things U.S. District Judge James P. Jones worries about. The scourge of illegal drugs and misdirected mandatory minimum sentences are also on his mind, he told lawyers and fellow judges last month. Jones unveiled his worry list to members [...]

Ownership of ‘escort’ website fails over documentation

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 9, 2013
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Michael F. Urbanski

A federal judge has unceremoniously dismissed a lawsuit over the rights to a lucrative but risky website set up to connect customers with “escort services” and similar shady undertakings. One of the business founders claimed he was ripped off by the Virginia man hired to run the website, bigdoggie.net, but the lawsuit in Harrisonburg federal [...]

Judge needn’t recuse over stock ownership

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Robert E. Payne

A federal judge who ruled on a telecom dispute before realizing he owned stock in one of the telecommunications companies before the court was not required to quit the case, an appeals court panel says. The parties were headed into the home stretch of a complicated contract case under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, tried [...]

Sleepless lawyer loses disability bias case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 6, 2013
Tags: Employment, Federal Courts

A lawyer who asked for an eight-hour work day as an accommodation for her insomnia has lost her disability bias case in federal court. Sleeping is recognized as a “major life activity,” the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, but the lawyer did not show that getting only two to four hours of nightly [...]

A trap for p.i. lawyers

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: May 6, 2013
Tags: Employment, Federal Courts, U.S. Supreme Court

Personal injury lawyers whose clients have employee health benefit plans may want to pay attention to a new U.S. Supreme Court ERISA case, in order to protect their clients and themselves. The case creates a “window and a trap,” according to one plaintiff’s p.i. lawyer: Lawyers need to check current cases to protect their attorney’s [...]

4th Circuit limits winner’s e-discovery cost recovery

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2013
Tags: Discovery, Federal Courts, Judge Andre M. Davis

Tech wizards may tell lawyers that e-discovery advances will cut litigation costs, but lawyers know that the more data is out there, the more their opponents want. There may have been some hope for recovery of the costs for production of electronically stored information, or ESI, under the federal taxation-of-costs statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1920(4). [...]

Virginia lawyers find trouble in Maryland

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 1, 2013
Tags: Bankruptcy, Federal Courts, Lawyer Discipline, Real Estate, Virginia State Bar

A trio of Virginia-licensed lawyers recently found themselves facing criminal or disciplinary action in this state after first running afoul of authorities in Maryland. A lawyer who pleaded guilty in Maryland to taking part in a small business loan fraud scheme said to involve more than $100 million in losses now has admitted to misappropriating [...]