Rental Agreement Indemnity Clause ‘Unconscionable’

Drunken drivers struck equipment, killing crewman – $5,000,000 Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: April 29, 2013
Tags: Judge Charles N. Dorsey, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Roanoke County Circuit Court, Wrongful Death

Two intoxicated drivers entered a work zone and struck a blade implement hanging off the rear of a construction tractor. The impact turned the tractor and pinned the decedent, a road crewman, between the blade and a dump truck. Defendants claimed the tractor suddenly backed in front of them into their lane of travel. Sober [...]

Roanoke jury slams two drunken drivers for $5M

By Peter Vieth
Published: March 19, 2013
Tags: DUI, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Roanoke County Circuit Court, Wrongful Death

A fatal accident blamed on two different drunken drivers has brought a $5 million verdict against both drivers. A Roanoke County jury delivered the verdict March 11 after a five-day trial over who was to blame for the death of a highway construction worker impaled by a tractor blade. The two drivers claimed the construction [...]

Sketch Decree Inconsistent with Post-Nup

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 25, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Roanoke County Circuit Court declines to enter a proposed divorce decree that is inconsistent with the parties’ post-nuptial agreement, with regard to child support. The proposed decree says the parties understand that support of the infant child is a right of the child and not of the parties and either party file petition for [...]

Lot Description Has ‘Scrivener’s Error’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 25, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although the scrivener’s error exception is to be narrowly construed in allowing any changes to language in a contract or other document, on this record, the Roanoke County Circuit Court will apply the exception to a deed of trust to correct the Lot Number of a parcel from “Lot 1” to “Lot 15.” A scrivener’s [...]

Custody Change Back to Mom in Virginia

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 22, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although the court has great respect for the opinion of the guardian ad litem, who recommends that two boys, ages seven and five, remain in the custody of the father who moved them to Pennsylvania, the Roanoke County Circuit Court orders physical custody returned to the mother in Roanoke, as the court finds the father [...]

No Maintenance Means Permissive ‘Waste’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 1, 2013
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A wife who made no repairs to a home the parties owned and which she has lived in during their 17-year separation is assessed a $26,000 devaluation in the property as permissive waste by a Roanoke County Circuit Court. Wife’s expert appraiser, after viewing the premises in detail, described it as being very run down. [...]

Court Imputes Income to Unemployed Dad

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 17, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

Although a father presented evidence about his attempts to find a job since he was most recently laid off as a mental health counselor, the Roanoke County Circuit Court will impute income of $41,000 per year to the father in awarding child support for the parties’ 15-year-old daughter, and end the parties’ shared physical custody [...]

Equitable Estoppel May Halt Statute Of Frauds Bar

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 30, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this contract dispute over defendants, a tenant and guarantor, having failed to sign a lease for and departure from plaintiff landlord’s auto recycling business, a Roanoke County Circuit Court says defendants waited too long to file a motion to dismiss, and the landlord may defend against a statute-of-frauds bar by asserting equitable estoppel. Plaintiff [...]

Claim Too Late for Unstable Fill Material

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 9, 2012
Tags: Contract, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A homeowner who sued a lot seller and builder for damages for cracks in the foundation of his home built by builder, allegedly caused by construction on stable fill material and first discovered in 2006, cannot sue defendants a theory of equitable estoppel, says a Roanoke County Circuit Court. The doctrine of equitable estoppel is [...]