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Entries from July 2008

Analysis of legal bills used to criticize school board

July 16th, 2008 · Comments Off · Virginia Legal News Stories

The school board in King George County has been defending itself in court against a claim that it improperly handled a student’s discipline appeal. The case has been followed closely by the local paper, The Journal Press. In this latest article about the controversy, the newspaper reviews the detailed entries on the bills from the [...]

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Richmond firm to relocate in new office tower

July 16th, 2008 · Comments Off · Lawyers and Law Firms

Williams Mullen, Virginia’s third largest law firm, would be the key tenant in a 15-story office building proposed for downtown Richmond. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details of the $60 million project, which would go up south of Canal Street between Ninth and 10th streets and a portion of it would extend over the Expressway [...]

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Former sheriff seeks attorneys fees

July 16th, 2008 · Comments Off · Circuit Courts, Criminal Cases

Former Petersburg Sheriff George Epps says that he was vindicated by a 2007 Supreme Court of Virginia decision that overturned his contempt conviction and he wants the city government to pay his legal fees. As reported by The Progress-Index, Epps made his request to the City Council, but received no answer. Epps was convicted of [...]

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Not as conservative as it used to be

July 16th, 2008 · Comments Off · 4th Circuit, Terrorism

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, long considered the most reliably conservative of the federal appellate courts, is beginning to look more like the U.S. Supreme Court, at least on terrorism issues. Nine judges who participated in the case of Ali al-Marri, the American resident and Qatari citizen who has been designated an enemy [...]

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Finances show tight race for GOP AG nomination

July 15th, 2008 · Comments Off · Elections, Virginia attorney general

John Brownlee, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, says he’s raised nearly $100,000 a little more than a month after announcing he would run for the Republican nomination for Virginia’s Attorney General in 2009. As WSLS reports, Brownlee’s campaign raised the money during the first 40 days of his campaign, according [...]

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Virginia lottery claim not unique

July 15th, 2008 · Comments Off · Civil Cases

As evidenced by this article from the Rocky Mountain News, Virginia is not the only state battling claims that its scratch-off lottery games are unfair because tickets were still being sold after the big prizes had all been won. In addition to a lawsuit pending in Colorado, the paper says that a $20 million lawsuit [...]

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Times wins libel case

July 15th, 2008 · Comments Off · 4th Circuit, Defamation, Terrorism

Self-promotion, especially on a matter of public interest, makes it very tough to win a libel case. That’s the clear, if hardly new, message from the 4th Circuit in Hatfill v. The New York Times Co. The suit was based on a series of five columns in 2002 by Times writer Nicholas Kristof taking the [...]

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Mandatory insurance proposal open for comments

July 15th, 2008 · Comments Off · Insurance, Virginia State Bar

The Virginia State Bar is seeking comments to the proposal that all active VSB members engaged in the private practice of law representing clients (either individuals or entities) drawn from the general public be covered under a professional liability (malpractice) insurance policy.  The linked page includes a link to the text of the proposal. By [...]

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Homeowner associations facing losses in Koger case

July 14th, 2008 · Comments Off · Real estate

The latest chapter in the troubled saga of the Koger Management Group is not good news for its community association clients. As reported by the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, the company’s former head is seeking to change his bankruptcy status from chapter 11 to chapter 7. Waiting for any scraps from the sale of assets are [...]

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Volunteer firefighters sue city over control of finances

July 14th, 2008 · Comments Off · Civil Cases, U.S. District Court

The Lexington Fire Department has taken the City of Lexington to federal court over the disposition of a bequest. As the Roanoke Times reports, the suit brings to light a dispute over who controls the firefighters’ budget. Volunteer firefighters apparently have chafed over funding decisions made by the city. In the suit, the firefighters say [...]

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