New Defendants ‘Relate Back’

Rehab Company Wins ‘False Marking’ Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 24, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

Plaintiffs who seek to develop custom products for rehabilitation of stroke patients win their claim that defendant Nautilus is liable for false marking in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 292, and the Roanoke U.S. District Court grants in part plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs Ponani Sukumar and Southern California Stroke Rehabilitation Associates Inc. (SCSRA) [...]

HOLA Preempts State Law Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 16, 2012
Tags: Judge James C. Turk, Real Estate, U.S. District Court - Western District

Plaintiff borrowers who lost their home to foreclosure cannot sue a bank and Fannie Mae as the Roanoke U.S. District Court says plaintiffs’ state law claims are preempted by federal law and the complaint fail to state claims under state law. This action arises out of a transaction for a modification for a residential mortgage [...]

No Preemption of False Marking Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 10, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this suit alleging false marking under Section 292 of federal patent law, a Roanoke U.S. District Court rejects defendant’s multi-pronged claim that plaintiff’s claims under California and Washington state law are preempted by the America Invents Act, and defendant’s partial motion to dismiss is denied. Nautilus wisely concedes there is no express preemption in [...]

Deposition witness has second thoughts about testimony

By Peter Vieth
Published: August 31, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge James C. Cacheris, Judge James C. Turk, Judge Stephen C. St. John

We’ve all had the feeling. You wish you could take back something you’ve said. In most situations, the feeling comes too late. But, when you want to take back a statement you made under oath in a federal lawsuit, the rules seem to offer some hope. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, you have [...]

New Trial Ordered in Equal Pay Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 19, 2011
Tags: Employment Discrimination, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court grants a new trial to defendant Virginia Tech in this Title VII sex discrimination and Equal Pay Act suit filed by female employees of the university’s development office. At the conclusion of the jury trial on April 14, 2011, the court found as a matter of law that Virginia Tech [...]

Railroad Wins Supervisor’s Race Bias Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 23, 2011
Tags: Employment Discrimination, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

An African-American former division superintendent for Norfolk Southern railroad loses his suit alleging race discrimination in his demotion after his handling of an employee’s on-the-job injury, and retaliation in the company’s subsequent failure to promote him; a Roanoke U.S. District Court says no reasonable jury could find that Norfolk Southern demoted, did not promote, or [...]

Plant Supervisor’s Defamation Suit Preempted

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 17, 2011
Tags: Judge James C. Turk, Labor, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court refuses to remand to state court this defamation suit filed by a supervisor at the Yokohama Tire plant in Salem who says a plant worker defamed him during a union grievance procedure by alleging the supervisor made “derogatory and discriminatory statements of a sexual nature” to the worker about another [...]

No TILA Claim from Title Insurance Charge

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 7, 2011
Tags: Consumer Protection, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses a borrower’s suit alleging defendant mortgage company violated the Truth in Lending Act when the notice of right to rescind had separate cancellation provisions for the loan and for arbitration; and failed to disclose a $948 charge for title insurance. Plaintiff borrower asserts the three-day window for TILA rescission [...]

No ‘Twombly’ Standard for State Law Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 17, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

A communications company’s contract action against Comcast and nine related corporate entities is remanded from federal to state court, as a Roanoke U.S. District Court says plaintiff’s Virginia state law claim against a Virginia resident defendant was properly pled under Virginia law and not fraudulently joined. Comcast insists that the standard in Hartley v. CSX [...]