The VLW Blog

Is using your office e-mail with its signature stamp the same as using office letterhead? Should anyone down a chain of distribution that you can’t control assume that your e-mail speaks for your employer? Office e-mail comes pretty close to company letterhead, according to one federal judge who considered the question in an unpublished opinion [...]

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In an ongoing, never-ending effort to figure out how to generate money for transportation, the 2007 General Assembly came up with at least a partial source for funds: bad drivers. In House Bill 3202, the transportation funding bill, the Assembly established a new system of “civil remedial fees,” the purpose of which is “to generate [...]

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Virginia remains only one of two states where the legislature elects judges. Critics complain, sometimes with justification, about our system. Some argue that it has become a way to dispense political patronage (as if that element hadn’t always been part of the scheme). Bar groups, whose members may know candidates best, seemingly have been marginalized [...]

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It looks so easy when they do it on Antiques Roadshow. Experts on the popular public television series who examine stuff brought down from the attic appear to take their cues from certain elements of a painting or an objet d’art, and then fill in the blanks to come up with an estimated value. But [...]

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Kimberly B. O’Donnell, a judge of the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court since November 1994, has announced her resignation, effective Sept. 9. Before taking the bench, O’Donnell worked in Richmond as an assistant public defender and as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney. She was admitted to the bar in 1985 after graduating from Mary [...]

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The following selected stories appeared in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly Daily E-Mail Alert from May 21 to May 25. The originating source of a story is indicated within the item. Please note that not all links may remain active. If you are not presently receiving the Daily Alert, please click here to sign up. May [...]

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In this afternoon’s e-mail: a solicitation from a necktie company called Capital Ties. The headline screamed out: “Every litigator will enjoy this new Sharks necktie!” Uh oh, you say, another lame lawyer-shark professional-courtesy joke. Ha ha ha. Like we haven’t heard this one before. Or before that. The copy burbles, “Sharks is being targeted – [...]

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Undaunted by a unanimous opinion from the Supreme Court of Virginia last month in Isbell v. Commercial Investment Associates Inc. (VLW 007-7-044), Richmond attorney Roger T. Creager has asked the court to rehear the case, and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the request. The Supreme Court held [...]

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A Middleburg man running for the Republican nomination for a state Senate seat has been indicted in Loudoun County on charges of election fraud and perjury. The Washington Post reports that the indictments were made public today, three weeks before voters go to the polls. Mark Tate, a restaurateur and the former vice mayor of [...]

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The Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission recommended on Wednesday that the Supreme Court of Virginia censure or remove Juvenile and Domestic Relations District James Michael Shull. JIRC found that Shull on Dec. 15 twice directed a woman involved in a custody dispute to twice lower her pants in the courtroom, while at least six other [...]

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