The VLW Blog

Michael Hash of Culpeper, who spent nearly 12 years in prison before his capital murder conviction was overturned by a federal judge, has filed suit against the people who prosecuted him. Hash’s suit in Charlottesville federal court names five law enforcement officials and a jailhouse snitch. He claims the law enforcement officials, including former Culpeper [...]

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A Williamsburg custom home builder can go back to court to prove his claim that a competing builder infringed his copyrighted design when he built a Georgian-style home for a couple who had visited a model home in the Ford’s Colony subdivision. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a copyright claim filed by [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has refused to block the dissolution of a family-controlled company that runs a profitable kyanite mine in Buckingham County. In a terse order dated Tuesday, the court denied the motion by The Disthene Group Inc. for a stay of the dissolution order pending an appeal of the trial court’s decision. [...]

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A divorce court’s interpretation of a PSA to figure the trigger for the father’s support obligation did not rewrite their agreement, the Court of Appeals of Virginia ruled today. The 2010 property settlement agreement between Brian and Gracie McPhail said he would pay support of $550 per month “upon the sale of the house or [...]

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A seaman claiming injuries stemming from a fateful shore leave in Korea may have to retry his case against a Norfolk shipping company. The decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia ends the seaman’s hope to reinstate a $25-million jury verdict. The seaman claimed his employer, the shipping company, failed to provide sufficient medical help [...]

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A Richmond federal court has rejected a “simply shocking” request for nearly $1 million in attorney’s fees sought by two shareholders who sued to halt the sale of Massey Energy Company to Alpha Natural Resources Inc. U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. could not see what the plaintiffs, Benjamin Mostaed and William Perkins, had [...]

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Three former mental health staffers will share a “finders fee” of $1.37 million for their help in uncovering billing fraud at a residential treatment unit for boys. The three were the first to alert government officials to phony Medicaid claims at the Keystone Marion Youth Center. After an investigation, the owner of the facility agreed [...]

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A dog trainer who claimed he was defamed by online accusations of animal abuse was entitled to tell a jury how many people “liked” the offending Facebook page, a federal judge has ruled. Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge James Cacheris said the jury’s “grossly excessive” $60,000 punitive damages verdict in favor of the dog trainer should [...]

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A soldier from Fort Lee will get a U.S. Supreme Court hearing in his custody dispute with his ex-wife, who moved with their five-year-old daughter to her native Scotland In August, the high court granted a writ and scheduled oral argument for Dec. 5, 2012, in the case of Chafin v. Chafin, No. 11-1347. Sgt. [...]

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A 67-year-old family-owned mining business could be broken up and parceled out under a judge’s “drastic” remedy for the company’s oppression of minority shareholders. Fairfax County Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush concluded the Disthene Group Inc. – which owns a profitable Kyanite mine in Buckingham County – is controlled by a domineering shareholder who is [...]

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