Hearsay through the grapevine

Dismissal for Pro Se’s Discovery Abuse

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 10, 2012
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge T.S. Ellis III, Judge Theresa C. Buchanan, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendation to dismiss with prejudice a plaintiff’s suit alleging defendant school system “forced” her to leave and discriminated against her on the basis of age by causing her to resign prior to her full retirement, based on plaintiff’s failure to respond to discovery requests. Plaintiff’s pro [...]

Fair Debt Act won’t back claim

By Peter Vieth
Published: August 9, 2012
Tags: Consumer Protection, Federal Courts, Judge T.S. Ellis III, Loudoun County Circuit Court

A collections lawyer is not liable for false representations that violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act just because she made “immaterial technical errors” when responding to a debtor’s counterclaim. Alexandria Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III rejected the debtor’s effort to drag the collections lawyer into federal court based on her defensive pleadings [...]

Debtor’s FDCPA Claim Against Lawyer Fails

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

A collections’ lawyer’s legal responses to a debtor’s TILA and usury counterclaims do not violate the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, merely because they are “unsuccessful or contain immaterial technical errors,” and an Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses FDCPA claims debtor filed against the collections attorney. Defendant collections attorney filed suit in Virginia state court [...]

No Habeas for Deportation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 2, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Immigrant’s fully expired state court conviction for attempted sexual battery is not a basis for habeas corpus relief to prevent deportation, the Alexandria U.S. District Court says: immigrant is not in custody within the meaning of 28 USC § 2254, required for jurisdiction. In September 2008, immigrant pled guilty and was sentenced to 11 months [...]

Mom’s move from Switzerland to U.S. did not violate dad’s rights – Verdict for respondent

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: July 23, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Federal Courts, Judge T.S. Ellis III

The parties are the estranged parents of a minor child. Respondent-mother had relocated with the child from Geneva, Switzerland, to Alexandria in April 2011, and petitioner-father sought the return of the child to Switzerland under an international treaty (the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction). The father alleged that he and [...]

German Debtor Bypasses District Court

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: Bankruptcy, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An Alexandria U.S. District Court certifies this case for direct appeal to the 4th Circuit so it may determine whether U.S. or German insolvency law should apply to the many patent licensing agreements at issue for debtor Qimonda AG, which is pursuing insolvency proceedings through German courts. This cross-border bankruptcy appeal presents a seldom litigated [...]

TSA Employee Loses Age Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: Employment Discrimination, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Transportation Safety Administration wins summary judgment in Alexandria U.S. District Court in this age discrimination suit filed by a 58-year-old employee who says the government discriminated when it refused to extend a salary-offset waiver that allowed plaintiff to collect his full salary without any offset for the amount of his annuity. Typically, if an [...]

Citizenship Denied for Drug Distribution

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: Immigration, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A woman convicted in 2001 of ecstasy distribution cannot show the required “good moral character,” even though the distribution was not for commercial gain, and the Alexandria U.S. District Court says denial of her application for naturalized U.S. citizenship was proper. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied plaintiff’s application for citizenship on the ground [...]

Court Rejects ‘Drug Trafficking’ Enhancement

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A defendant convicted of illegal reentry into the U.S. after removal for conviction of an aggravated felony will not be subjected to a 16-level enhancement under the federal sentencing guidelines for a “drug trafficking offense”; the Alexandria U.S. District Court says a conviction of possession of a controlled substance qualifies as a “drug trafficking offense” [...]