The VLW Blog

A Norfolk federal judge has dismissed piracy charges against a band of Somalis accused of trying to board and rob a U.S. Navy ship. The defense attack on the piracy counts called for interpretation of a U.S. statute that had not been applied since the days of Blackbeard. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the [...]

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Ellen Marie Rix thought she was helping out the driver of the car when she switched seats after a Virginia Beach policeman pulled over the vehicle. Bad move – and not just because the policeman saw the switch. The other occupant of the car, Veselina Stoilova, subsequently testified that she asked Rix to switch seats [...]

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U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer affirmed yesterday a $19.3 million intellectual property verdict for the manufacturer of a computer keyboard support system. The lawsuit pitted CompX International Inc. and its subsidiary, Waterloo Furniture Components Limited, and Humanscale Corp., the two largest companies in the field of ergonomic office products. The case started as a [...]

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While cheering on Virginia’s lawsuit to block the Obama administration’s healthcare reforms, Gov. Bob McDonnell says he wants to explore ways to make healthcare affordable “in an economically responsible manner.” To that end, McDonnell today announced the 24 members of his Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council, headed by Secretary of Health and Human Services [...]

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Virginia’s State Corporation Commission has taken another incremental step in its efforts to improve Internet accessibility for its database of more than 400,000 registered business entities. Corporations now can file their annual reports and pay annual registration fees online, according to an SCC news release. The service is available through the SCC’s eFile website, which [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell has named two deputy counselors. J. Randall Minchew, a prominent Loudoun County land use lawyer, will be deputy counselor and advisor to the governor. Minchew has been managing partner at the Leesburg office of Walsh, Colucci, Lubely, Emrich & Walsh PC since 1998. He is a 1984 Washington & Lee law grad. [...]

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Kevin Lamont Newby got no points for subtlety in his proposition to the female anchor of a Hampton Roads television station. He mailed 15 photographs of himself in varying states of undress, including full frontal nudity, to the woman at WVEC-TV. The package containing the photos went first to the station’s office in Hampton and [...]

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A company that has recovered and preserved thousands of artifacts from the sunken wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic has won the right to be well compensated for its efforts. But an opinion this week from Norfolk U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith does not resolve the means of compensation – a decision on that issue [...]

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Troutman Sanders LLP expected to do well by doing good for the city of Richmond. The law firm agreed to build its new office building on the James River in exchange for an abatement in the taxes on the increase in the assessed value of the property after the project was completed. The city in [...]

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Salem lawyer Mark Claytor is looking to fill a seabag with donated used eyeglasses when he heads to Honduras in October for a medical mission trip. Claytor isn’t a medical professional – he says his role with the mission is primarily “rolling pills and handing out stuff.” He’ll travel with four physicians, a psychiatrist, and [...]

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