Drywall ‘tsunami’ crashes into courts

Board Tried to Bypass Bylaw Amendment

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 5, 2011
Tags: Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Real Estate, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk Circuit Court dismisses as time-barred an owner’s fiduciary duty claim challenging a homeowners association’s actions that resulted in higher insurance premiums, but overrules the plea in bar as to the owner’s claim for breach of the governing documents. On Aug. 13, 2010, plaintiff Susan Godwin filed a complaint against the Bay Point Association [...]

Discovery Allowed in Dissolution Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 5, 2011
Tags: Corporate, Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A plaintiff who initially sought judicial dissolution of defendant corporation and who has sought discovery may issue subpoenas to financial institutions with which the corporation maintained an account or transacted business from Jan. 1, 2008 forward and to accounting firms or professional advisors to the corporation during that same period, says a Norfolk Circuit Court. [...]

Documents turned over in error are protected

By Paul Fletcher
Published: March 21, 2011
Tags: Charlottesville Circuit Court, Civil Procedure, Judge Mary Jane Hall

A woman involved in a lawsuit prepared to meet with her lawyer and scribbled handwritten notes on a document. She and her husband met with the lawyer and and she left the documents behind. When documents were produced to the other side, the law firm inadvertently included the papers with the notes on them in [...]

Attorney-Client Privilege Holds After Inadvertent Disclosure

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 16, 2011
Tags: Charlottesville Circuit Court, Civil Procedure, Judge Mary Jane Hall, Virginia Circuit Courts

Plaintiff’s documents inadvertently disclosed to defense counsel still are protected by the attorney-client privilege, even though the client’s husband was with her when she shared the documents with her attorney; a judge designate for the Charlottesville Circuit Court denies a motion to compel the privileged documents, in this case of first impression. Plaintiff testified she [...]

Carriers Dropped for Misjoinder in Chinese Drywall Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 15, 2011
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this suit alleging products liability and contract claims arising from the use of allegedly defective Chinese drywall in various properties, a Norfolk Circuit Court grants two defendant insurance carriers’ motion to sever a count seeking a declaration that the carriers are liable to provide insurance coverage to the other defendants. The many cases pending [...]

Contract – Temp Employee – Background Check – Embezzlement Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 14, 2010
Tags: Contract, Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A plaintiff company that alleges defendant temp agency assigned to plaintiff a temp without disclosing her prior convictions for financial felonies, and the temp embezzled and stole money and property, cannot sue the temp agency for negligence, but may amend its complaint to state contract claims. Defendant Integrity Staffing Services Inc., a temporary staffing agency, [...]

Trucker suffers shoulder injury in collision with another rig – $185,000 Verdict

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 20, 2010
Tags: Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Personal Injury

Liability was admitted in this accident, which involved two tractor-trailers. The defendant driver was never found. Plaintiff refused EMT transport to stay with his dog. Plaintiff’s medical specials totaled $45,950.63. He claimed lost wages of $8,500. Plaintiff suffered subacromial impingement, a labral tear and AC joint arthimosis. Plaintiff claimed a loss of earning capacity, which [...]

Civil Procedure – Case Consolidation – Chinese Drywall

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 28, 2010
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Mary Jane Hall, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although defendants object to consolidation of these Chinese drywall cases because plaintiffs include personal injury claims with their claims for property damage, a Norfolk Circuit Court says that, based on plaintiffs’ proffers regarding the limited extent of the p.i. claims, those claims need not be severed and tried separately. Defendants’ overriding opposition to trying more [...]

Municipal – City Sidewalk – Slip & Fall – Tree Roots

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 11, 2010
Tags: Judge Mary Jane Hall, Municipal, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A plaintiff who alleges improper maintenance of a city sidewalk and the city’s failure to respond to residents’ complaints about the uneven sidewalk adjacent to tree roots can try her case; a Norfolk Circuit Court says the pleadings do not establish a defect so slight as to relieve defendant of liability as a matter of [...]