Judge James W. Haley Jr. « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

No Comp for Job Outside Virginia

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

A laborer hired in Virginia to perform a job in Delaware cannot collect workers’ comp in Virginia for a job-related injury, and the Court of Appeals upholds the commission’s denial of benefits.
While doing drywall work in Delaware, claimant fell off a ladder and was injured. The employer, claimant and other workers all were present in [...]

Stock Was Gift to Husband

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

A divorce court erred in failing to recognize that husband’s acquisition of half the stock of a family pesticide business owned by husband, his brother and their mother, was a gift from the corporation, and the Court of Appeals reverses in part and remands the case for further proceedings.
A gift, used here in its ordinary [...]

Counsel’s Threat Defeats Employee’s Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 5, 2012
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

An employee who stopped working after being released to pre-injury work is not entitled to benefits from a change in condition, the Court of Appeals says; employee failed to prove adequate marketing of his residual capacity and the commission properly terminated benefits.
Employee worked as a welder. In July 2007, he sustained a serious work-related [...]

Pre-existing Conditions Negate Presumption

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 3, 2012
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

A delivery truck driver’s pre-existing conditions negate application of a presumption that his heart attack was work-related, the Court of Appeals says; the commission’s denial of dependent benefits is affirmed.
Employee worked as mail delivery truck driver for a county school board. He drove an assigned van on a fixed route with about 40 daily stops. [...]

No Proffer for Guilty Plea Withdrawal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 16, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals News

The Court of Appeals says a trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea to a felony charge of abduction with intent to defile of a woman whom he had followed and offered a ride to work, as defendant offered no reasonable basis for contesting his guilt.
Defendant [...]

Hand Injury Prevented Vocational Rehab

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 19, 2011
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

The Court of Appeals affirms the commission’s termination of employee’s benefits for failure to participate in vocational rehabilitation; employee may not transform employer’s change of condition hearing into an adjudication of compensability under Va. Code § 65.2-704, the Court of Appeals says.
This appeal follows a remand on employer’s earlier appeal of the denial [...]

No ‘Lost Wages’ Claim for Plant Furlough

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 19, 2011
Tags: Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

A claimant who was furloughed from work for a pre-defined and limited duration that applied to all manufacturing employees, whether or not they were work-restricted, is not entitled to lost wages, in the absence of evidence showing a causal relationship between his restricted capacity and the wage loss; the Court of Appeals reverses the commission’s [...]

New Counsel Cannot Argue Different Reason On Brief

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 6, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant is not entitled to reversal of his conviction for second offense driving as a habitual offender for lack of sufficient opportunity to appeal his 1999 designation as a habitual offender; the Court of Appeals says defendant failed to raise this issue in his petition for appeal and his new counsel cannot reframe his argument [...]

Prosecutor Said Juror Strikes Were Not Race-Neutral

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant is not entitled to reversal of his jury trial convictions for first degree murder and use of a firearm; the Court of Appeals says the trial court did not clearly err in finding that defense counsel’s peremptory strikes of two African-American veniremembers for alleged inattentiveness were not race-neutral under Batson.
Defendant was charged with first [...]

Lay Testimony Supports Property Valuation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 18, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals says a trial court did not err in convicting defendant of grand larceny of coins stored in two gallon-size glass jars, based on evidence that included testimony about the size and contents of the jars.
A man broke the front-door glass to gain access to his brother’s house and discovered his [...]

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