Va. court: Insurance doesn’t cover drywall damages

Waiving in: Supreme Court floats new rules on admission of out-of-state lawyers

By Peter Vieth
Published: December 17, 2012
Tags: Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar

Debate continues in Virginia legal circles over how the state should regulate lawyers who “waive in” to Virginia practice without taking the bar exam. Lawyers who take another state’s bar exam can gain admission to the Virginia State Bar “on motion” after satisfying a number of procedural requirements, a system generally referred to as “waiving [...]

Litigation pitfalls and pratfalls

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 10, 2012
Tags: Attorneys Fees, Civil Procedure, Discovery, Employment Discrimination, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Federal Courts, Law Firms, Legal Malpractice, Personal Injury, Real Estate, Richmond Circuit Court, Sanctions, Social Media, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Year in Review

Lawyers can find plenty of ways to stay out of a courtroom. Instead of the hand-to-hand combat of a trial before judge or jury, they can opt for some form of alternative dispute resolution. But the lure of the courtroom stays strong, for a whole class of litigators and for those who just enjoy stories [...]

Board certification claims still allowed

By Peter Vieth
Published: December 7, 2012
Tags: Ethics, Legal Marketing, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar

Lawyers upset about having to remove board certification credentials from websites and other advertising materials may have prompted the Supreme Court of Virginia to abandon its publicly announced revisions to lawyer advertising rules just two days before they were to take effect. In a Nov. 29 order, the court “vacated and set aside” its Sept. [...]

Website must identify ‘John Doe’ posters

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 3, 2012
Tags: Alexandria Circuit Court, Defamation, Judge James C. Clark, Social Media, Supreme Court of Virginia News

An Alexandria Circuit Court says a Virginia carpet cleaning business may subpoena information on persons who posted anonymous complaints about the business on Yelp.com, a California-based social networking site. The court said it would enforce a subpoena served by the Virginia business on Yelp’s registered agent in Virginia, asking for information about three “John Doe” [...]

Supreme Court reconsiders rules on lawyer ads

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 30, 2012
Tags: Ethics, Legal Malpractice, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar

Just two days before new rules on lawyer advertising in Virginia were scheduled to take effect, the Supreme Court of Virginia abruptly dropped the planned revision. In a Nov. 29 order, the court “vacated and set aside” its Sept. 18 approval of modifications to the lawyer advertising rules. Those modifications were scheduled to take effect [...]

Contract case tests birth-injury coverage

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 28, 2012
Tags: Judge Burke McCahill, Judge Thomas D. Horne, Loudoun County Circuit Court, Medical Malpractice, Supreme Court of Virginia News

The Supreme Court of Virginia has agreed to consider whether a medical malpractice insurance policy covers a doctor’s failure to participate in the Virginia birth injury fund as promised to the mother. The coverage dispute arises out of an emotionally wrought case where the distraught mother confronted the doctor and his wife, threatening a violent [...]

Getting to the jury on ‘capacity’ for will

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 14, 2012
Tags: Alexandria Circuit Court, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Wills & Trusts

Call it a finger on the scale of justice. The law sometimes gives an advantage to one side in a lawsuit, allowing a legal “presumption” about some key fact in the case. Presumptions can be overcome, but how much weight it takes, who gets to make the call, and what happens afterward have been open [...]

‘A new standard of liability’ in Virginia?

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 9, 2012
Tags: Employment, Federal Courts, Judge James C. Turk, Justice Cleo E. Powell, Justice Cynthia D. Kinser, Justice Donald W. Lemons, Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia News

The Supreme Court of Virginia has opened the door to claims against individual supervisors who take part in the unlawful firing of an employee. The Nov. 1 decision in VanBuren v. Grubb (VLW 012-6-143), decided 4-3, is a victory for a nurse who claimed she was groped, propositioned and then fired by an orthopedic surgeon [...]

High court grants its first contested innocence writ

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 9, 2012
Tags: Criminal, DUI, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Court of Appeals News

The Supreme Court of Virginia for the first time has granted a writ of actual innocence over the objection of the commonwealth. When the Court of Appeals of Virginia split five-five on a rehearing of a panel decision, that panel decision should have stood as the court’s judgment, the high court decided Nov. 1. The [...]