Defense hopes dashed by dashboard camera

Court Rejects Claim for Pipe Patent

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Alexandria U.S. District Court upholds the USPTO’s rejection of plaintiff’s claims seeking to patent the a spirally formed pipe. On May 17, 1999, plaintiff filed a ‘922 application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The Examiner rejected claims 1-9 of plaintiff’s application, but the Patent Trial and Appeal Board reversed the Examiner’s rejections. [...]

No Arbitration of FCA Retaliation Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 10, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court says an arbitration clause in Independent Contractor Agreements signed by two firearms instructors does not require arbitration of the instructors’ claims that the government contractor violated the False Claims Act by terminating them for reporting falsified firearm certification results; the agreements were so substantively unconscionable as to be unenforceable. Plaintiffs [...]

Agency’s Document Hunt Took Too Long

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 27, 2013
Tags: Administrative, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Federal Trade Commission has not demonstrated the reasonableness of its response in this FOIA suit filed by a law firm seeking information about the FTC’s interactions with representatives of the alcoholic beverage industry, on behalf of a firm client that oversees the agency’s regulation of alcohol; the Alexandria U.S. District Court denies summary judgment [...]

Fees Awarded After Spoliation Dismissal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 27, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

After dismissing plaintiff’s suing alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family Medical Leave Act, due to defendant’s destruction of his computer records and his computer, an Alexandria U.S. District Court orders plaintiff to pay attorney’s fees and costs of $202,399.66 for his egregious spoliation of evidence. The lead attorney for defendant [...]

Bankruptcy Trustee’s Lower Fee Approved

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 12, 2013
Tags: Bankruptcy, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee loses his appeal arguing that the bankruptcy court failed to treat his request for fees as a commission and erred by reducing the trustee’s fee; the Alexandria U.S. District Court says the bankruptcy court found a factual basis in management of the bankruptcy estate for awarding a lower fee than [...]

No FCA Claim from Time-Billing Complaint

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 12, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A former program manager who had complaints about how various projects were billed, including a complaint that his supervisor was directing him to bill to the government time plaintiff manager spent administering timesheets, does not allege any protected activity that could support his retaliation claim under the False Claims Act, and the Alexandria U.S. District [...]

‘Other Acts’ Admissible in Capital Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 4, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this capital murder prosecution, the Alexandria U.S. District Court denies defendant’s motion to exclude evidence showing he was familiar with chokehold techniques, had stalked and attacked three women in Northern Virginia several months before the crime alleged here and he viewed videos and websites depicting sexual violence and searched the Internet for information about [...]

EPA Can’t Regulate Stormwater Load

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: Environmental, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Clean Water Act does not authorize the EPA to regulate the level a pollutant in Accotink Creek, a 25-mile long tributary of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, by establishing a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the flow of stormwater, a nonpollutant, into the creek, and the Alexandria U.S. District Court grants the [...]

Challenge Must Come When Reg is Final

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 11, 2013
Tags: Administrative, Judge Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court reconsiders its earlier decision denying dismissal of this suit against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in light of the 4th Circuit’s Oct. 18, 2012, decision in Hire Order Ltd. v. Marianos [VLW 012-2-185], and grants the motion to dismiss plaintiff pharmaceutical company’s action. Plaintiffs challenge the PTO’s decision to [...]