The VLW Blog

Taboada v. Daily Seven, the premises liability case that greatly expanded the potential liability of hotel operators, has been settled. The case is perhaps better known for the intemperate petition for a rehearing filed by a Roanoke attorney that earned him a contempt citation and a fine from the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Roanoke Times has [...]

[Read more →]

Two big names in Roanoke’s legal community have changed addresses.
Frank Flippin and Doug Densmore, late of the firm that bears their names – LeClairRyan Flippin Densmore – have joined Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore LLP.
Both attorneys were founding members of Flippin Densmore Morse & Jessee, which was established in 1996. That firm merged [...]

[Read more →]

A Roanoke general district judge has given 30 days in jail to a guy accused of ordering, then not paying for, a bowl of chili at the Texas Tavern.
The Texas Tavern is the only 24-hour restaurant in downtown Roanoke.
The tab for the chili was $1.66. The accused man, Charles B. Ogle, testified that [...]

[Read more →]

Salem lawyer Chris Clemens has garnered endorsements from three Roanoke-area bar groups for a general district judgeship that will open next year after the retirement of Judge Julian Raney, reports the Roanoke Times.
The Roanoke Bar Association and the Salem/Roanoke County Bar Association have endorsed Clemens. The Roanoke Valley Chapter of the Virginia Women Attorneys [...]

[Read more →]

Retired Judge Jack Coulter died last Thursday at the age of 83. He served on the 23rd Circuit, covering Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem, from 1973 to 1989. In the 1980s, Judge Coulter twice was under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The judge practiced law with his son Philip in [...]

[Read more →]

Any number of divorcing couples has learned – usually the hard way – that you can’t use child support as a bargaining chip in trying to strike a deal on a property settlement agreement.
A couple in Roanoke is the latest to get this lesson. In Wykle v. Wykle (VLW 007-8-130), the husband and wife [...]

[Read more →]

Thomas Mason served in the Navy during World War II with a young Bostonian named John F. Kennedy. In 1962, when he was in the White House and there was opening in the U.S. Attorney’s post in Roanoke, Kennedy named his old friend to the job, where Mason served until 1969. Mason died March 8 [...]

[Read more →]