Court Applies ‘Customary’ Sea Limit in Piracy Case

Court Won’t Seal FLSA Settlement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, Judge Tommy E. Miller, Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendations to approve a class action settlement in this Fair Labor Standards Act case filed against a Norfolk call center, and to deny the call center’s motion to seal the settlement. The complaint alleged that customer service representatives in Ryla Teleservices’ call center were not paid [...]

No Continuance for Mental Disability Probe

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court denies a motion filed by defendant, an alleged Somali pirate, for a continuance of six to 12 months in order to develop evidence to support a claim of intellectual disability precluding imposition of the death penalty; defendant has failed to show a change in circumstances since he agreed to the [...]

Homeowner Can’t Enforce National Settlement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 24, 2013
Tags: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, Real Estate, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Norfolk U.S. District Court says a homeowner who is losing her home to foreclosure cannot sue defendant mortgage servicer under the National Mortgage Settlement, a 2012 agreement between state attorneys general and mortgage servicers, as there is no private right to bring a third-party suit to enforce servicing standards in the agreement. Plaintiff’s complaint [...]

No Prejudice from Rejected Plea Deal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A defendant is not entitled to post-conviction relief on a claim that his lawyer failed to properly advise him of a chance to take a plea deal; although the Norfolk U.S. District Court is troubled by the public defender’s apparent failure to provide a letter with the formal plea deal and a deadline to defendant [...]

Officer Sues Over Discipline Record

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 14, 2013
Tags: Civil Rights, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A police officer who says he has been harmed by retention in his personnel records of a charge of “untruthfulness” that allegedly has been cleared may sue the city, but the Newport New U.S. District Court grants summary judgment to defendant chief of police, assistant police chief and two other city officials sued in their [...]

Payment Fight in Titanic Artifact Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 14, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court denies dismissal of a counterclaim in this litigation over contracts for the appraisal and sale of artifacts from the RMS Titanic. This is a declaratory judgment action concerning the enforceability of two purported contracts, which pertain to the appraisal and sale of artifacts from the RMS Titanic. Marmargar Inc., a [...]

Owner Says Utility Has No Easement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, Real Estate, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A public utility company says a property owner’s fence, pool and shed interfere with the utility’s easement, but the property owner has stated a counterclaim for inverse condemnation in the utility company’s declaratory judgment action, the Norfolk U.S. District Court says. The owner contends Columbia Gas Transmission’s claim of a right to prohibit and/or exclude [...]

Depression Didn’t Cause Termination

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 19, 2012
Tags: Employment, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Norfolk U.S. District Court says employer is entitled to summary judgment even if pro se employee had provided the affidavits or sworn statements required by Rule 56(c): employee’s submissions fail to show any material factual dispute regarding the competency issues that caused his termination. After misrepresenting on his application that he had 17 years [...]

Maritime Violence Counts Not ‘Multiplicitous’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 19, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this prosecution of Somali defendants for piracy and related crimes, a Norfolk U.S. District Court refuses to dismiss as multiplicitous four counts charging defendants with Violence Against Maritime Navigation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2280(a)(1)(G). Defendants argue these counts are multiplicitous, because the statute does not identify the individual victim as the “unit [...]