The VLW Blog

Washington, D.C. lawyers who won a pro bono voter records case can’t expect to recoup fees at D.C. rates, a Norfolk federal judge said last week. Lawyers from the D.C. office of Boston-based Ropes & Gray went to bat for Project Vote, who alleged that students at Norfolk State University had problems registering to vote [...]

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An actor who made his reputation playing a slightly sleazy TV lawyer can tell a jury he did not violate a morality clause in his contract to be a celebrity spokesperson for a legal marketing campaign. Virginia Beach-based Innovative Legal Marketing LLC hired Corbin Bernsen to promote its “BIG CASE” TV advertising campaign. Bernsen gained [...]

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Debra Farmer didn’t take the broad hint offered by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema during a final pretrial conference in Farmer’s Title VII suit against Navy Federal Credit Union, Farmer’s former employer. Brinkema recounted the state of the record and said she did not see how Farmer could survive summary judgment. Farmer forged ahead, and [...]

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An employer did not defame a nurse supervisor when it noted in her employment records that she had been terminated for misconduct related to her reports that she had been cursed at by someone she supervised on a healthcare call-in line. The nurse supervisor, Shirley Shaheen, appealed dismissal of her defamation claim to the 4th [...]

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A lawyer accused of unfair debt collection is protected by the “bona fide error defense,” even though he persisted in seeking attorney fees under an invalid contract, a federal appeals court panel has ruled. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a court victory for an Alexandria lawyer who sought to collect for nursing [...]

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It’s not just “heads on the beds” that count when a bankruptcy court is trying to determine “household” size for a Chapter 13 debtor who shares joint custody of two children with her ex-husband. A better count comes from an “economic unit” analysis, according to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court’s July [...]

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A $30-million , three-week court battle over efforts to digitize hospital medical records has been averted with a last minute settlement, a University of Virginia spokesman confirmed Tuesday. In a lawsuit, the university claimed a firm now owned by General Electric failed to live up to promises for developing an electronic medical record system at [...]

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A lawyer who worked to settle an employee’s comp case thought he should get a 20 percent fee, but he had to settle for 5 percent when the case settled for $100,000 after the claimant fired the lawyer. Senad Sabic won medical benefits and temporary disability benefits after his 2008 work-related injury, but he hired [...]

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A Botetourt County man was jailed without bond after refusing to comply with a judge’s order to respond to a deposition question in a civil suit. Danny H. Goad was charged with contempt of court after a hearing Thursday in Botetourt County Circuit Court. According to The Roanoke Times, Goad refused to comply with Circuit [...]

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A bankruptcy court can be its own authority on the prevailing pay rate for a winning lawyer, according to a new opinion from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In awarding $279,090 in fees after upholding the lien priority of Tysons Financial LLC in an adversary proceeding, the bankruptcy court said it could “almost [...]

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