The VLW Blog

This may be reassuring news for people who have corresponded with Levay – many of them have received a hoax e-mail message purporting to be a plea for help from the Leesburg lawyer.
Levay is the apparent victim of a scam where someone managed to send phony e-mails pleading for money to all of his e-mail [...]

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A violin performance in open court helped an Albemarle County judge decide to step aside from a case involving alleged death threats.
Circuit Judge Cheryl Higgins was concerned she might have a conflict of interest. She had been assigned the case of Patrick Crider, a high school student accused of making threats of violence on a [...]

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Alexandria U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee is dismissing Rosetta Stone’s infringement lawsuit against Google, Inc.
Lee has entered orders granting Google’s motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment, with his reasoning to come later in a written opinion.
According to Businessweek, Rosetta Stone complained that people using Google to search for its language-learning software would [...]

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A one-time Botetourt County restaurant owner used phony income documents to help score a $450,000 settlement for his alleged swimming pool knee injury, according to authorities. Now, the man may have to pay the money back.
Eric Wooten pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges of fraud and lying to get a bank loan. It was [...]

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Updated at 10 p.m., April 28, with a link to the hearing. Gibney’s segment begins 124 minutes and 50 seconds into the hearing.
Richmond lawyer John A. Gibney spent less than 15 minutes before the Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon in his quest for a federal judgeship in Richmond.
Gibney appeared to benefit from the greater interest [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia will hear a challenge to the constitutionality of Virginia Code § 33.1-435, the law that permits a special improvements tax for specific projects in a limit section of a locality, in FFW Enterprises v. Fairfax County, et al., Record No. 091883, and FFW Enterprises v. Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, [...]

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Richmond lawyer John A. Gibney, nominated by President Obama for a seat on the federal bench, has a date with the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow.
According to the committee’s website, Gibney comes up April 28 at 2:30 p.m. A webcast of the hearing apparently will be available.
- Paul Fletcher

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Two George Mason University law school professors have the audacity to suggest that the U.S. Supreme Court justices have become a bunch of spotlight-chasing celebrities.
This contention, by Professors Craig Lerner and Nelson Lund, is no mere cocktail chatter or stand-up routine. The two academics have penned a forthcoming law review article aimed at reforming the [...]

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Friends of the Portsmouth Juvenile Court, Inc., a court support organization, will recognize some of its valued leaders and supporters on Saturday.
An awards ceremony at the Chesapeake Conference Center will honor former board president Horace Savage and other Friends supporters Yvonne and Emanuel Upton [...]

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Two more bar groups have announced their endorsements for two federal court vacancies.
The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association found U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Hannah Lauck highly qualified for a U.S. District Court seat in Norfolk. The VTLA found Linda S. Laibstain, a partner at Williams Mullen in Norfolk, to be qualified.
For a seat in the Western [...]

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