The VLW Blog

A dad in Fairfax asked a judge to give him more visitation time with his sons. The reason? He wanted to maximize his participation in the social, recreational and sports groups of his sons, ages 9 and 11. The boys play football, baseball, basketball and soccer. Mom expressed concern, testifying that the dad put an [...]

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The law firm of Willcox & Savage was one of the first tenants to move into the Bank of America Building when it opened in downtown Norfolk in 1967. But The Virginian-Pilot reports that that the firm’s Norfolk office will be changing addresses in 2010. The firm will move to the Wachovia Center, a $150 [...]

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Judge Robert K. Woltz served on the circuit bench in Winchester for 21 years until his retirement in 1989. He died March 22 at the age of 88. Colleagues and friends told the Winchester Star (registration required) that the judge was a man who was fair and courteous and a man who loved the celebrate [...]

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March Madness is in full swing, and once again many an office worker with a basketball jones will be trying to sneak a peek at his team’s game over the Internet. Unless he works for the federal court system. Once again our friend and source in the Eastern District (identified here only as “Shallow Throat”) [...]

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Employees at a Harrisonburg medical supplies office say they tried to warn their boss about a coworker’s strange and threatening behavior. But because the company, American HomePatient Inc., allegedly turned a deaf ear, it now faces the possibility of punitive damages on a claim for negligent retention. Last spring, a man named Brewer Hoover Jr. [...]

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A Fairfax restaurant hired a rent-a-cop company to provide security services. When the restaurant and the contractor had a dispute over payment for those services, the security company sued. The contractor obtained a default judgment against the restaurant, and instituted garnishment proceedings. A year later, the underlying judgment against the restaurant was vacated. The contractor [...]

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Norfolk Circuit Clerk George Schaefer is overseeing an ambitious project: He wants to make his office paperless. Right now, his staff scans every civil filing that comes in the door. They’ve scanned almost all the land records – which, in an old jurisdiction such as Norfolk, date back to the 1700s. The Virginian-Pilot reports that [...]

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Although no one here in the Old Dominion got the ax, the U.S. Attorney firings story now has a local angle: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday appointed Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, as his interim chief of staff, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Rosenberg, who has past experience in the [...]

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A discovery ruling in a black lung case may have ramifications for protecting work-product and confidential communications in other kinds of litigation. Elm Grove Coal Company was trying to overturn black lung benefits awarded to a retired miner named Ivan Blake. The two physician experts who supported Blake’s claim admitted that Blake’s lawyer might have [...]

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U.S. Attorney John Brownlee and Attorney General Bob McDonnell made a joint announcement this morning that may strike fear in just about any law office…or at least send lawyers scurrying to check their internal procedures. A woman who was a legal secretary in a Louisa County law firm has been indicted in Charlottesville federal court [...]

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