Judge T.S. Ellis III | Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Automatic Stay Violation Can Be Appealed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 15, 2012
Tags: Bankruptcy, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court will allow an interlocutory appeal of a bankruptcy court order that granted injunctive relief and sanctions in this dispute between a condo unit owners’ association and a debtor company that owns condos; the bankruptcy court order sanctioned the association for violating the automatic stay in bankruptcy by enforcing an assessment [...]

Court Shifts Fee-Shifting Formula

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2012
Tags: Consumer Protection, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court says a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court requires some changes in application of this circuit’s rules on making fee awards, and the district court awards a plaintiff, who had partial success in his Truth-in-Lending Act suit, $25,020 in attorney’s fees, $350 in costs and $4,001 in TILA damages in this “long-running [...]

‘Show Me the Note’ Claim Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 17, 2012
Tags: Judge T.S. Ellis III, Real Estate, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses plaintiffs’ latest complaint in a long-running effort to avoid foreclosure on their property, as Virginia law unequivocally disallows a “show me the note” claim against a note holder, as well as a “show me the note holder’s authority” claim against MERS and the substitute trustee; although plaintiffs’ counsel’s legal [...]

Cigarette ‘Sting’ by ATF Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 3, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Neither the length nor manner of a two-year undercover investigation of the transport of untaxed unstamped cigarettes from Virginia to New York did not violate defendant’s due process rights and the Alexandria U.S. District Court denies defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him.
Each state in the country decides independently whether to tax cigarettes and [...]

Passenger’s Firearm Is Admissible

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 3, 2012
Tags: Judge T.S. Ellis III, Search & Seizure, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A passenger in a vehicle stopped for excessive window tint and defective rear brake light cannot suppress a firearm found in the glove box by asserting the officer unnecessarily prolonged the stop for 19 minutes as he waited for a canine team and questioned the driver; the Alexandria U.S. District Court says the traffic stop [...]

No Trigger from TILA Rescission Notice

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 28, 2012
Tags: Consumer Protection, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court denies reconsideration of its earlier dismissal of plaintiff borrower’s suit under the Truth in Lending Act as time-barred because filed outside the TILA’s three-year statute of repose [VLW 011-3-463]; the court’s earlier decision correctly dismissed the TILA wrongful failure-to-rescind-claim because that claim, based on the erroneous premise that a borrower’s [...]

Claim Moot After Rule 68 Offer Spurned

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 28, 2012
Tags: Consumer Protection, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A debtor suing on an alleged Truth-in-Lending Act disclosure violation lost his right to pursue his claim when he rejected defendant’s Rule 68 offer of judgment; an Alexandria U.S. District Court says because the Rule 68 offer provided for complete relief of statutory damages and “reasonable” attorney’s fees, debtor’s claim has been mooted and the [...]

Fee Provision Covers Future Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 28, 2012
Tags: Attorneys, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A contract’s fee-shifting provision for fees “actually incurred” in a collection action allows plaintiff to recover fees in this case after a default judgment even though plaintiff hasn’t paid any fees yet; but an Alexandria U.S. District Court declines to award the 40-percent contingency fee called for in the fee agreement and awards plaintiff $13,980 [...]

Practice tip: Lender home free after Rule 68 offer

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 23, 2012
Tags: Consumer Protection, Federal Courts, Judge T.S. Ellis III, Real Estate

Lawyers who litigate in federal court know they can use a “Rule 68” offer of judgment to limit a defendant’s exposure. If the plaintiff refuses to accept an offer of settlement and his recovery at trial is lower than the settlement offer, he may wind up paying some of the defendant’s costs and attorney’s fees.
But [...]

FedEx is ‘Carrier’ for Mail Fraud

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 24, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A defendant cannot overturn his conviction for mail fraud with a claim that the government failed to prove that FedEx is a “private or commercial interstate carrier” under 18 U.S.C. § 1341, says an Alexandria U.S. District Court.
At issue on defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal is whether the government adduced substantial evidence at trial [...]

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