With No Interest In Debt, Bank Can’t Foreclose

‘Harsh Result,’ But Refiled Personal Injury Suit Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 7, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this personal injury litigation after a 2005 auto accident, with multiple complaints filed by plaintiff passenger and the intervening death of defendant driver, a Fairfax Circuit Court says plaintiff’s complaint filed in 2010 is time-barred. On Oct. 23, 2005, a traffic accident occurred involving two vehicles. Defendant Robert Bowers was driving one vehicle, and [...]

Husband Proves Cohabitation, Ends Support

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: June 2, 2011
Tags: Domestic Relations, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Virginia Circuit Courts

Testimony about wife’s living arrangements with a man were not credible, a Fairfax Circuit Court says, and husband can stop spousal support because he proved her cohabitation under the parties’ PSA; however, granting husband attorney’s fees would only prejudice the minor child. On March 26, 2008, the parties entered into a property settlement agreement that [...]

No Deferral to ‘Treating Physician’ in VRS Disability

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 2, 2011
Tags: Employment, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Virginia Circuit Courts

A school office assistant loses her appeal of the Virginia Retirement System’s denial of a disability pension for her claims of headaches and cognitive defects from fibromuscular dysplasia; a Fairfax Circuit Court says a VRS disability determination does not require deferral to a treating doctor’s opinion, in contrast to federal social security disability claims. Appellant [...]

No ‘Reckless’ Pleading for ‘Ordinary’ Accidents

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Negligence, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court dismisses claims in two unrelated automobile accident personal injury suits that allege “recklessness” without the necessary foundation. The court recognizes that alleging reckless conduct is sufficient to state a tort claim in Virginia. However, in Virginia, this tort has been recognized most commonly as “willful and wanton conduct.” The term “recklessness” [...]

New Order Can’t Correct ‘Accidental’ Language

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 25, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Virginia Circuit Courts

A homeowners association suing a noncompliant owner can’t get a second default judgment with an injunction, after the first order included, “by accident,” language stating the owner was in compliance; a Fairfax Circuit Court says the earlier order was final and under Rule 1:1’s 21-day rule, it can’t enter another default. In a homeowners association’s [...]

Common pleading tactic under fire

By Peter Vieth
Published: April 20, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Negligence

A plaintiff’s lawyer handling a car-wreck case sometimes will plead reckless conduct by the defendant to fend off a contributory negligence defense or to sow the seeds for a possible punitive damages claim. This common pleading tactic may be in jeopardy following a new ruling from Fairfax Circuit Court. Circuit Judge Jonathan C. Thacher this [...]

No Imputed Income for Stay-Home Mom

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2011
Tags: Domestic Relations, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although wife has an MBA and worked as a financial analyst for large corporations, she has been out of the job market for 10 years, caring for the couple’s four children, and a Fairfax Circuit Court refuses to impute income to her, but will award her 12 years of spousal support payments of $3,000 per [...]

Quiet Title Claim Challenges Foreclosure

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 25, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Real Estate, Virginia Circuit Courts

Plaintiffs who lost their home through foreclosure cannot sue for negligence, as any alleged fiduciary duty arose from their contract, but they have stated a quiet title claim with their allegations that the foreclosure was invalid because defendants were not beneficiaries of their debt and had no authority to foreclose on the deed of trust, [...]

After Benitez, high court still eschews sanctions

By Alan Cooper
Published: March 11, 2011
Tags: Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, Lawyer Discipline, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Lawyers and judges look to the Supreme Court of Virginia for benchmarks in trial courts’ awards of sanctions for “frivolous” pleadings. The high court set one such benchmark four years ago, when it upheld sanctions against an insurance defense lawyer who filed the same list of affirmative defenses when a products liability suit was nonsuited, [...]