Plea Agreement, Not FSA, Controls Sentence

Contaminated Steroid Cases Go Back to State Court

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court remands to state court multiple suits against defendant physicians, a corporation and a pain-management clinic alleging defendants acted negligently, fraudulently and in violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act by obtaining a contaminated injectable steroid from the New England Compounding Center and administering it to patients who contracted fungal meningitis. [...]

Contaminated Steroid Case Remanded to State Court

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court remands to state court an estate’s suit against defendant physicians, a corporation and a pain-management clinic alleging defendants acted negligently, fraudulently and in violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act by obtaining a contaminated injectable steroid from the New England Compounding Center and administering it to decedent, who died from [...]

Prisoner Protests Forcible Removal to Cell

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 3, 2013
Tags: Civil Rights, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

Plaintiff inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Lee has not stated claims for excessive force and deliberate indifference to his serious needs, based on allegations that defendant correctional officers picked him up to take him to a new cell during cell rotation, after plaintiff slumped on the floor and refused to move, and the Roanoke U.S. District [...]

Property Transfer to Parent Was Fraudulent

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 16, 2013
Tags: Bankruptcy, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A debtor who transferred 90 percent of his interest in a 50-acre parcel to his mother for $10, but delayed notarizing the deed until shortly before the rescheduled foreclosure sale, and then failed to disclose his transfer, may not have the debt discharged, as the Roanoke U.S. District Court affirms the bankruptcy court. Debtor’s closely [...]

Pretrial Detainee Has Excessive Force Claims

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: March 20, 2013
Tags: Civil Rights, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

A pretrial detainee who alleges defendant deputies threw him against the counter at the detention docketing center, threw him against a bare metal bench in his jail cell and then kicked and punched his head back and arms while he was handcuffed, has stated excessive force claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendant deputies [...]

No Claim for Shoe-Shopper’s Slip & Fall

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Samuel G. Wilson, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff who alleges she tripped over something and fell against a display table and injured her hip and knee while shoe-shopping at defendant’s department store loses her suit on summary judgment; the Roanoke U.S. District Court says plaintiff has been unable to present any evidence of the duration of any alleged unsafe condition at [...]

No Suit for Glass in Restaurant Salad

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Samuel G. Wilson, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses a customer’s negligence action against Ruby Tuesday restaurant based on allegedly finding a piece of clear glass in a salad she prepared from the salad bar. Defendant moved for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiff cannot show that an unreasonably dangerous condition existed when the salad left defendant’s [...]

Many Symptoms, But No Short-Term Disability

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 14, 2013
Tags: Employment, Judge Samuel G. Wilson, U.S. District Court - Western District

A customer-service representative for a health care company was not entitled to short-term disability under the employer’s ERISA-qualified plan, as the medical documentation of her extensive range of symptoms did not support her claim that she could not perform her sedentary job; the Roanoke U.S. District Court grants summary judgment to defendant employer. The plan’s [...]

No Reversal for Use of Post-Indictment Recording

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 6, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Samuel G. Wilson

The 4th Circuit says a defendant convicted in 2007 for conspiracy to distribute cocaine is not entitled to reversal of his conviction or a new trial on his claim that admission of an incriminating tape-recording made by a government informant after defendant was indicted violated his constitutional rights. We now have before us on appeal [...]