Guns Admitted from ‘Storage Shed’ Pickup

Officers Have Immunity from Suit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 14, 2013
Tags: Judge James P. Jones, Negligence, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Defendant police officers have satisfied the four-part test for sovereign immunity and the Norfolk Circuit Court grants their special plea in bar filed in response to plaintiff’s negligence suit. Virginia applies the test from James v. Jane, 221 Va. 43 (1980), in order to determine whether a government actor is entitled to sovereign immunity. This [...]

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 [...]

Wrongful Death Suit Remanded

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court remands to state court plaintiff administrator’s wrongful death suit against a health and rehabilitation center. Because plaintiff is a citizen of Virginia, it is now clear that there is no longer complete diversity between plaintiff and each defendant in this case and thus this court no longer has [...]

Discovery Ordered for Tax Records

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Judge James P. Jones, Tort, U.S. District Court - Western District

In plaintiff mining company’s fraud action against defendant, from whom plaintiff purchased a surface coal mine and quarry in Dickenson County in 2010, the Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court denies defendant’s objections to the magistrate judge’s discovery order requiring defendant to produce copies of tax records and accounting of the expenditure of the $5 [...]

No Interlocutory Appeal for Claim Dismissal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The buyer of a Tazewell business that manufactured mine safety equipment may amend its complaint arising from the sellers’ Distributor Analysis projection of high sales for a key product line, despite allegedly knowing the mines that had not yet installed the technology had contracted with a competitor, but the Abingdon U.S. District Court denies plaintiff’s [...]

Voluntary Dismissal Allowed, With Condition

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2013
Tags: Judge James P. Jones, Medical Malpractice, U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff may voluntarily dismiss his suit alleging negligent removal of his gall bladder by laparoscopic surgery, on the condition that he only refile any suit arising from this same set of operative facts in a Virginia state court; however, the Abingdon U.S. District Court denies defendant physician’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs. Prior [...]

‘Course of Dealing’ Means Jurisdiction Over Georgia Company

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 3, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Georgia manufacturer of hotel carpets that had a history of regular dealing with plaintiff yarn seller, and who sent purchase order to the Virginia plaintiff and accepted a sample plaintiff provided, has sufficient contacts with Virginia to be required to submit to the jurisdiction of the Abingdon U.S. District Court. Defendant buyer’s motion to [...]

Pretrial Rulings Issued in Patent Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2013
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this patent infringement suit, an Abingdon U.S. District Court rules on the parties’ motions in limine, including denying plaintiff’s motion in limine to preclude defendants from offering evidence construing claim terms not already construed by the court. Plaintiff specifically asks the court to prevent defendant from arguing any particular construction of the phrase “controlling [...]

No Immunity for Seized Bulldozer

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2013
Tags: Civil Rights, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this suit by plaintiff political candidate for local office who allegedly made unauthorized use of a bulldozer he was storing and which was seized, prompting reports that plaintiff had been arrested, the Abingdon U.S. District Court rejects the magistrate judge’s recommendation that a police investigator had immunity from plaintiff’s claim made against the investigator [...]