Hassell: Put payee notice aside for now

Payee notification passes VSB Council unanimously

By Peter Vieth
Published: October 23, 2012
Tags: Clients' Protection Fund, General Assembly, Payee Notification, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

ROANOKE – A plan to require insurance companies to notify clients of insurance claim payments made to their lawyers won unanimous approval from the Virginia State Bar council Oct. 19. The proposal had a tangled and contentious history. Approval came only after the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association accepted the version of payee notification hammered out [...]

Carriers balk at plan for payee notification

By Peter Vieth
Published: April 16, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Payee Notification, Virginia State Bar

Insurance companies have registered their opposition to the payee notification plan under consideration by a Virginia State Bar task force, but the chairman says the issue for the panel is “how” not “whether” a client protection statute will be proposed. The payee notification plan would have insurance companies send letters to personal injury claimants to [...]

Payee notification up for discussion again

By Peter Vieth
Published: September 15, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Payee Notification, Virginia State Bar, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

Virginia Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser has asked the Virginia State Bar once again to look at payee notification. Past proposals, seeking to protect clients from potentially larcenous lawyers, would have required insurance companies to give notice to litigants expecting money after settling a case. The concept has been controversial – trial lawyers felt unduly [...]

VSB Council: Make prosecuting UPL easier

By Alan Cooper
Published: October 18, 2010
Tags: Criminal, General Assembly, Judgeships, Payee Notification, Virginia CLE, Virginia Law Foundation, Virginia State Bar

CHARLOTTESVILLE—The Virginia State Bar Council has voted to ask the General Assembly to make it easier to prosecute criminal violations of the state law barring the unauthorized practice of law. The proposal would increase the statute of limitations for the offenses from 12 months to two years. The proposed law also would allow a victim [...]