Guilty Plea No Good After Telephone Translation

Forum Selection for Arbitration Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 2, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this case alleging defendant Randy Coley, through his business East Coast Cablevision, contracted with DIRECTV to have cable service delivered to 168 units at Massanutten under an account assigned to plaintiff Sky Cable, but cable service actually was provided to 2500 units and Coley billed and collected on the additional units for deposit into [...]

Contractor Complaints Not Defamation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 24, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff who hired two companies to construct and install on his Augusta County property an underground shelter for up to 250 persons, at a total cost of $2.4 million, cannot be sued for defamation for his statements to the president of a company he consulted about finishing the project in which the plaintiff allegedly [...]

Bomb-shelter suit spawns defamation claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 24, 2012
Tags: Defamation, Federal Courts, Judge Michael F. Urbanski

A businessman who witnessed first-hand the devastation of 9/11 from his Manhattan office has sued the companies he hired to build a million-dollar underground shelter in Augusta County to protect his family. The businessman has won the latest round in his multi-million dollar lawsuit, with a Harrisonburg U.S. District Court’s Feb. 16 dismissal of a [...]

Post-Default Equity Only One Option

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 16, 2012
Tags: Creditor’s Rights, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

Under the controlling Ohio law, a Note that gives the lender an “option” to take an equity interest in the borrower does not make the equity interest an exclusive remedy for the lender, and the Roanoke U.S. District Court refuses to dismisses the lender’s suit against the defaulting borrower for damages. Defendant borrower argues plaintiff’s [...]

TRO Issued in Confidential Info Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 16, 2012
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Harrisonburg U.S. District Court grants plaintiff’s request for a TRO to keep defendants from using any confidential information misappropriated from plaintiff company, based on testimony from a computer consultant about a defendant’s removal of technical information from a company laptop prior to starting work for a competitor, and from plaintiff company’s CEO that defendants’ [...]

Plaintiff’s Forum Choice Tips Balance

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 10, 2012
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this breach of contract action by plaintiff Rockingham Precast alleging defendant American Infrastructure-Maryland Inc. failed to pay for the materials that Rockingham supplied – materials that were fabricated in Virginia – a Harrisonburg U.S. District Court says defendant AI has not met its burden to prove venue should be transferred to Maryland; plaintiff’s choice [...]

ALJ Dismissed Treating Doc, Court Says

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 3, 2011
Tags: Judge Michael F. Urbanski, Social Security, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court says an administrative law judge did not give proper consideration to the opinions of claimant’s treating physicians, and the denial of an award is reversed and the case remanded for calculation of benefits for a 36-year-old certified nursing assistant who suffers from degenerative disc disease and chronic low back pain. [...]

Sentence Enhanced for Prior Drug Trafficking

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 3, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Harrisonburg U.S. District Court denies defendant’s motion to quash the government’s notice of its intention to rely on defendant’s 2007 conviction for conspiring to obtain a machine gun in exchange for distribution of cocaine, in order to enhance his sentence on his current conviction of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Defendant argues his 2007 conviction [...]

Veterans treatment program started in federal courts

By Peter Vieth
Published: September 27, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Michael F. Urbanski

ROANOKE — Struggling with an injured leg, depression and alcoholism, and facing a federal judge after a violent outburst at a veterans’ hospital, a former serviceman from Salem might have faced a bleak outlook. But the proceedings last month in Roanoke federal court were far from dismal. The atmosphere was upbeat and full of hope [...]