Controlling your case can mean curbing judge’s queries

Fibromyalgia Claimant Wins Remand

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2013
Tags: Administrative, Judge B. Waugh Crigler, U.S. District Court - Western District

The record does not support the administrative law judge’s finding that claimant, who suffers from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety disorder, degenerative disc disease and irritable bowel syndrome, was not credible in her account of her condition and limitations on her daily activities, and the magistrate judge for the Charlottesville U.S. District Court recommends granting [...]

Bank sanctioned $7,500 for wrongful foreclosure

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 1, 2012
Tags: Defamation, Federal Courts, Foreclosure, Judge B. Waugh Crigler

A bank that paid $70,000 to settle a defamation action after mistakenly starting foreclosure proceedings against a Rockingham County woman has been ordered to pay an additional $7,500 for its delay in delivering the settlement checks. U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Waugh Crigler found Bank of America “willfully failed to comply” with both the terms of [...]

Bank facing sanctions for delays in foreclosure case

By Peter Vieth
Published: October 25, 2012
Tags: Federal Courts, Foreclosure, Judge B. Waugh Crigler, Real Estate, Rockingham County Circuit Court

Lawyers for a struggling Rockingham County homeowner are asking a judge to get tough with Bank of America N.A. for dragging its feet on payment after settling a foreclosure lawsuit. A U.S. magistrate judge entered a sanctions show-cause requiring BoA to explain repeated delays in complying with court orders to carry out the settlement. A [...]

ERISA Claimant Gets Attorney’s Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 20, 2012
Tags: Employment, Judge B. Waugh Crigler, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this ERISA action against an electrical workers union pension fund, a Charlottesville U.S. District Court magistrate judge recommends awarding a total award of $271,869 for attorney’s fees and costs; the magistrate judge rejects as “provincial” defendant’s assertions about the going rate for legal services in the Charlottesville federal court and approves hourly fees ranging [...]

Judge grants default for discovery ‘misdeeds’

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 2, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge B. Waugh Crigler, Judge Norman K. Moon, Real Estate, Sanctions

Default judgment. The death penalty for a civil defendant. The ultimate sanction for bad conduct in litigation. Used only when a judge is really fed up with “egregious misconduct” or when a judge is really hot about how litigants – or lawyers – have handled themselves. A Charlottesville federal judge last month found a defendant [...]

Causation of blood clot at issue in teen’s case – $270,000 Settlement

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: January 31, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge B. Waugh Crigler, Personal Injury

The primary issue in this case was disputed causation of plaintiff’s deep vein thrombosis. Plaintiff was an 18-year-old in a vehicle waiting to enter traffic on Route 29 from a business parking lot. Defendant’s tractor-trailer failed to notice traffic slowing ahead on him and struck the back of a Volvo sedan and drove it into [...]