The VLW Blog

Frederick County Circuit Judge John Prosser has announced he will retire in March. The Northern Virginia Daily reports Prosser advised the public Monday, after notifying the Supreme Court on Friday. Prosser, a former Winchester lawyer, was first appointed to the bench in 1997 by then-Gov. George Allen. The vacancy was created when the General Assembly [...]

[Read more →]

While everyone else talks about the Janis-Edwards plan for redrawing Virginia’s judicial districts and circuits, Ken Lammers of Wise got busy with a Sharpie and sketched out his own idea for grouping the courts. Lammers, who authors the CrimLaw blog, determined to have no more than five and no fewer than three political subdivisions per [...]

[Read more →]

A General Assembly bill apparently aimed at lawsuits against Virginia Tech would give the state government a pre-trial appeal of right to the Virginia Supreme Court whenever a trial court denies the defense of sovereign immunity. Senate Bill 1381 is sponsored by Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Rocky Mount. The bill contains language that would apply its [...]

[Read more →]

An Alexandria U.S. District Court judge says the heightened pleading standard under Twombly and Iqbal does not apply to affirmative defenses. Last year, magistrate judges in both the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia said the standard – which requires plaintiffs to plead facts that show an alleged claim is plausible – also should apply [...]

[Read more →]

A Norfolk U.S. District Court has refused to seal an overtime-pay settlement even though the employer argues disclosure of the settlement could prompt other claimants to overvalue their individual cases. The ruling comes in Baker v. Dolgencorp Inc., Virginia’s newest case arising from an earlier collective suit that pitted 2,400 employees against Dollar General Store [...]

[Read more →]

A Richmond federal judge says a couple who alleges damage from mold infestation can sue their landlord for negligence per se, on a theory the landlord violated Virginia’s Uniform Statewide Building Code. The Supreme Court of Virginia has not addressed this kind of negligence per se claim based on the state Maintenance Code, said Richmond [...]

[Read more →]

A federal grand jury has indicted Winchester lawyer and former prosecutor Paul H. Thomson on seven charges, including evidence tampering and cocaine possession. Thomson is accused of attempting to influence the testimony of an accused drug dealer. Meanwhile, Winchester Circuit Judge John Wetsel Jr. has written to a federal judge advising he has postponed Thomson’s [...]

[Read more →]

Defense lawyers hope to undo a monumental verdict claiming a juror had ties to a plaintiffs’ law firm. A Charlottesville jury last month awarded more than $10.5 million to family members of a woman fatally injured when a concrete mixer truck fell on her car in 2007. The award ranks among the largest in Virginia [...]

[Read more →]

The Virginia State Bar website now has a third button to click to check on the status of an attorney – “Attorneys Not in Good Standing.” That button supplements buttons for “Attorneys Without Malpractice Insurance” and “Disciplined Attorneys.” In most instances the new button duplicates the information available by clicking the “Disciplined Attorneys” button, but [...]

[Read more →]

Some women who marry men may prefer not to use a husband’s name. But adopting the same name can be an important badge of unity for gay and lesbian couples. A Washington County Circuit Court has granted a name change petition for a woman who wants to adopt her female partner’s last name. ACLU of [...]

[Read more →]