No Summary Judgment on Severance Claim

Loan Servicer Contacts Violated FDCPA

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 20, 2013
Tags: Consumer Protection, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

A loan servicing company that continued to contact a borrower seeking payment of a loan and refused to contact her lawyer, although she had settled her case, violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Charlottesville U.S. District Court grants summary judgment to the borrower and will hear evidence on her damages. The loan [...]

Federal Pleading Standard Controls Pleadings

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge Glen E. Conrad, U.S. District Court - Western District

A contractor has adequately alleged compliance with conditions precedent in its pleadings suing defendant public authority for breach of two contracts for sewer system upgrades, and the Charlottesville U.S. District Court denies the authority’s motion to dismiss. In 2009, defendant Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority Inc. solicited bids from contractors for the Meadow Creek Sanitary [...]

No Claim for Shoe-Shopper’s Slip & Fall

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Samuel G. Wilson, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A plaintiff who alleges she tripped over something and fell against a display table and injured her hip and knee while shoe-shopping at defendant’s department store loses her suit on summary judgment; the Roanoke U.S. District Court says plaintiff has been unable to present any evidence of the duration of any alleged unsafe condition at [...]

No Suit for Puddle at Store Entrance

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Norman K. Moon, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A mall department store wins summary judgment in this slip-and-fall because plaintiff customer did not show the store had actual or constructive notice of an alleged unsafe condition resulting from a mat being pushed away from the door, allowing water to accumulate at a store entrance; the Lynchburg U.S. District Court says even if a [...]

Expert Must Review Reports to Testify

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Glen E. Conrad, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this case against a stun gun manufacturer for allegedly failing to provide sufficient warnings about the weapon’s risk for people with heart conditions, a Charlottesville U.S. District Court will limit expert testimony; plaintiff’s human factors expert may only testify about the adequacy of warnings in materials he actually has reviewed. To be admissible under [...]

Fraud, Securities Claims All Stayed for Arbitration

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Contract, Judge James C. Turk, U.S. District Court - Western District

Although not all claims may be arbitrable in a retired physician’s suit arising from alleged fraudulent investment advice, the Roanoke U.S. District Court nevertheless will stay the entire lawsuit pending the outcome of FINRA arbitration with a co-defendant securities firm. Plaintiffs are a retired physician and an irrevocable trust by its trustee, the physician. This [...]

No Suit for Glass in Restaurant Salad

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2013
Tags: Judge Samuel G. Wilson, Negligence, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court dismisses a customer’s negligence action against Ruby Tuesday restaurant based on allegedly finding a piece of clear glass in a salad she prepared from the salad bar. Defendant moved for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiff cannot show that an unreasonably dangerous condition existed when the salad left defendant’s [...]

Third Chapter 13 Petition Fails

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 12, 2013
Tags: Bankruptcy, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

The Harrisonburg U.S. District Court dismisses pro se borrowers’ appeal of the dismissal of their third Chapter 13 petition for relief within a year; borrowers’ noncompliance with prior bankruptcy court orders made them ineligible for relief and execution of the writ of possession for their home can proceed. Lender, an individual, holds a promissory note [...]

Prior Suit Bars Borrowers’ Claims

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 12, 2013
Tags: Civil Procedure, Judge Norman K. Moon, U.S. District Court - Western District

In pro se borrowers’ second action challenging foreclosure of their residence, the Charlottesville U.S. District Court holds the bar of res judicata applies even though the second suit names a trust rather than a trustee as defendant and alleges constitutional civil rights violations that could have stated in the first action: both actions arise from [...]