The VLW Blog

Virginia Beach appellate specialist Steve Emmert won’t have to drive to Richmond tomorrow to make a 10-minute argument after all. He was notified this morning that the Supreme Court of Virginia has agreed to hear his appeal of sanctions awarded against 40 Gloucester County residents without the need for oral argument before a three-justice writ [...]

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With the help of former federal judge Walter Kelley, a Virginia Beach real estate developer is hoping to get a federal prosecutor disciplined for allegedly lying in court. Kelley, now a lawyer in private practice, has asked Justice officials to punish the prosecutor. The case involves North Carolina duck hunting. Developer James E. Johnson Jr. [...]

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A new case from Hanover County demonstrates once again what happens when companies write noncompete agreements that overreach. They get tossed out the door. In Specialty Marketing Inc. v. Lawrence (VLW 010-8-061), the employee signed a noncompete as part of a stock ownership deal. The company is a wholesaler of consumer home and auto electronics. [...]

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Fairfax Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush reminded those at the Virginia Trial Lawyer Association’s annual convention on Saturday, “The Supreme Court has a lof of faith that, if given the opportunity, the jury will get it right.” The court had re-emphasized the point barely 24 hours in an unpublished order, Thompson v. Home Properties Seminary [...]

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University of Richmond law student Jessica Smith gets a head start with a chance for a $2,500 prize in a Richmond footrace tomorrow. She was chosen at random to compete in the “Dash for the Cash” in tomorrow’s Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch She will start the race about 2.6 miles ahead [...]

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In what may be the first insurance coverage decision arising from the wave of Chinese drywall lawsuits, a Norfolk federal judge held Wednesday that a home builder who voluntarily fixed drywall-related problems in customers’ homes is not entitled to reimbursement from its insurer because the builder was not faced with a “legal obligation” to pay [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell appointed Chesterfield Republican Del. Sam Nixon today as chief information officer of the Virginia Information Technology Agency. Nixon, a delegate since 1994, is a senior consultant for CapTech Ventures, and long has been regarded as among the savviest legislators on technological matters. Rumors that he would be named to head the agency [...]

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Thirteen other states joined together to sue the federal government in a Pensacola, Fla., federal court, hoping to block the health care plan now signed into law by President Obama. By contrast, Virginia’s attorney general does a solo act with his opposition, filing suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Richmond. Ken Cuccinelli argues [...]

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A med-mal plaintiff can tack on court costs to his $1.8 million jury award, a Richmond federal court says. U.S. District Judge Robert Payne rejected a surgeon’s claim that paying his former patient $2,706.88 in costs would bump the award beyond Virginia’s statutory cap. Plaintiff Wendell Waggener sued Dr. Steven J. Oltermann and his employer, [...]

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The Virginia Court of Appeals removed any doubt today that an object that looks like a firearm and is used to threaten a victim is in fact a firearm, even if the firearm is inoperable. The firearm in this case, Startin v. Commonwealth, was a replica of a .45-caliber pistol manufactured by the Franklin Mint [...]

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