Condo Association Can’t Assess ‘Paperwork’ Fines

Driver’s License Revoked for Federal DUI

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 23, 2013
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court says the federal DUI statute to which defendant pled guilty substantially parallels Virginia’s DUI statute, Va. Code § 18.2-266, and the court rejects the driver’s petition asserting it was error for Virginia to revoke his Virginia driver’s license for the federal conviction. The court finds the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles did [...]

Rules of Evidence a ‘sea change’ for trial practice

By Peter Vieth
Published: July 11, 2012
Tags: Bar Associations, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Rules of Evidence

Judging from the recent buzz, it looks like Virginia lawyers are just beginning to grapple with the difference the new Virginia Rules of Evidence, effective July 1, will make at trial. The new Rules represent a “sea change” in trial practice, according to one expert. Having a black-and-white rule in an evidence code will put [...]

Plaintiff claimed unauthorized practice of medicine to avoid the cap – Defense Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: April 30, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Medical Malpractice, Million-Dollar Defense Verdicts, Wrongful Death

James Planicka, DDS, suffered a severe heart attack in 2005 at age 65, after which he received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). In May 2010, at age 70, he presented to Inova Fairfax Hospital for replacement of the ICD generator. The attending anesthesiologist and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) met with the patient before the [...]

‘Failure to Screen’ Claim Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 22, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Negligence, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court rejects a negligence claim against a company that screens job applicants for allegedly missing the “extensive” criminal record of a leasing agent hired by a Falls Church apartment complex, who later was sentenced to the death penalty for the murder of a tenant at the complex. The issue is whether an [...]

Episcopal church wins control of state churches

By The Associated Press
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Real Estate

FAIRFAX (AP) The Episcopal Church should be restored as the owner of several historic churches in Virginia, a Fairfax circuit judge has ruled, years after the denomination was essentially evicted by local congregations dismayed with Episcopal leadership’s liberal theology. In a 113-page ruling issued Tuesday night, Fairfax Circuit Judge Randy Bellows reversed a ruling he [...]

Suit against job-applicant screener dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 10, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Negligence

A Fairfax Circuit Court has rejected a negligence claim against a company that screens job applicants for allegedly missing the “extensive” criminal record of a leasing agent hired by a Falls Church apartment complex. The company, Liberty Screening Services Ltd., allegedly did the background check on Mark Lawlor before he was hired as a leasing [...]

Fitness Club Employee Fired for No ‘Fight Night’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 13, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Unemployment Comp, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court says an employee terminated from his employment at a fitness club is barred by misconduct from collecting unemployment compensation through the Virginia Employment Commission, as he was terminated for his failure to plan and promote a “fight night” charity event at the club. The issue here is whether there is sufficient [...]

Man seeks divorce, is told he never was married

By Peter Vieth
Published: October 14, 2011
Tags: Domestic Relations, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows

A Fairfax County man who asked for a divorce instead got a court ruling that he was never married in the first place, with the judge finding he and his “wife” displayed “a complete lack of good faith” when they took their vows. The judge determined neither “husband” nor “wife” believed they were really entering [...]

Background Screener Faces Negligence Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 6, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Randy I. Bellows, Negligence, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this first-impression case, a Fairfax Circuit Court says the estate of a young woman murdered in her Falls Church apartment by the apartment’s leasing agent may amend her complaint to state a negligence claim against the company that allegedly performed the background check on the leasing agent and missed his criminal background including a [...]