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Banking Practices ‘Bad Faith’ Claim Survives

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Plaintiff company, who is suing defendant bank for refusing to honor a Debt Settlement Agreement settling $9 million in debts for $3 million, may sue for breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing by acting in bad faith and against usual and prudent business and banking practices in determining that plaintiff’s [...]

No Res Ipsa Loquitur Claim for Elevator Drop

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., Tort, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court dismisses a negligence claim filed by a woman who was injured when she stepped into an elevator on the 12th floor of the tower at One Commerce Place in Norfolk, and was injured when the elevator suddenly and violently dropped a number of floors; this court will not extend Virginia [...]

Parents Have no Claim for CPS Inquiry

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., Tort, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The parents of a 14-month-old daughter who did not promptly seek medical attention when the child suffered a second-degree burn to her shin as her father held her and her twin sister while riding an all-terrain vehicle, lose their suit alleging malicious prosecution and due process violations arising from their investigation by child protective services [...]

Faulty Deportation Leads to Indictment Dismissal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Newport News U.S. District Court dismisses an indictment charging defendant, a Honduran native who originally came to the U.S. in 1987 as a lawful permanent resident, with illegal reentry as a previously deported alien; because defendant’s deportation proceeding was wrongfully conducted in absentia, the court excuses his duty to exhaust his administrative remedies, and [...]

Removal before service not allowed

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: March 8, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr.

Defendants seeking to remove a state suit to federal court face some tough case law in the Eastern District of Virginia following a recent decision by U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. In Campbell v. Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc. (VLW013-3-101), a Virginia-based defendant sought to remove a case filed in state court, even though [...]

No Removal Under ‘Forum Defendant Rule’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 27, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court says defendant bank may not invoke the “forum defendant rule” to remove this employment contract claim to federal court prior to being served; on an issue that has split the federal courts, this court finds removal is improper since the unserved defendants are citizens of the state in which this [...]

No Venue Change in Ad-Display Patent Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 27, 2013
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although all three defendants have their principal places of business in New York, plaintiff, who is trying to protect its patents relating to web-advertising display, is entitled to keep the suit in the Norfolk U.S. District Court because plaintiff’s development, production and marketing of its products have been conducted at its Reston headquarters. The U.S. [...]

Employer Access to Prior Records Limited

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this overtime-pay case filed by a long-distance truck driver, defendant trucking company may not subpoena the trucker’s employment records from four prior employers, says a Norfolk U.S. District Court; the court grants the motion to quash the subpoenas duces tecum and enters a protective order limiting defendant’s ability to obtain prior employment records. Each [...]

No Litigation Misconduct for Fee Award

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 3, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr., U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A licensor company that agreed to dismiss as defendants two companies whose use of a patent licensed by the third-party licensee allegedly violated the licensor’s patent does not have to pay attorney’s fees as a sanction under 35 U.S.C. § 285, as the Norfolk U.S. District Court declines to declare this an “Exceptional Case” under [...]