The VLW Blog

An Abingdon U.S. District Court has ordered Abbott Laboratories to turn over e-mails of current and former top executives in a government investigation of health care fraud.
Abbott is under investigation for off-label marketing of its drug Depakote, approved by the FDA in 198 for treatment of bipolar disorder, epileptic seizures and migraines. The company purportedly [...]

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A Richmond federal jury has awarded family law practitioner Terry Batzli damages in his suit against his legal malpractice carrier.
A client complained about an alleged drafting error in a settlement agreement and sued Batzli for malpractice. Batzli notified his carrier, Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company.
MLM said the notice of claim came too late, and [...]

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The Virginia State Bar is pursuing ethics charges against a prosecutor and her former assistant who are accused of coaching a witness in a 1997 death penalty case. The decision to refer the matter to VSB’s disciplinary board could quiet claims that bar ethics investigators have turned a blind eye to alleged misconduct by prosecutors.
The [...]

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Arkansas lawyer David Couch used to make a living defending nursing homes. Till he switched sides and started suing them.
He was in Richmond Feb. 26 to talk to the VTLA’s Long-Term Care Litigation Section on such topics as proving understaffing.
Couch said that he likes nothing better than being told he will be trying a [...]

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Virginia public school officials score a win at the Supreme Court of Virginia today with a decision that the state’s insurance plan for school systems must cover school districts for lawsuits under the federal special education law.
The ruling means the state owes the Newport News school district nearly $200,000, and probably more, since there is [...]

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Following the 2010 General Assembly session? Here is a valuable resource you might not be aware of: the Richmond Sunlight Web site.
Established by the Virginia Interfaith Center in 2007, this volunteer-run site provides user-friendly access to comprehensive data such as:

A complete list of House and Senate bills searchable by name, topic or date. Summaries, full-text [...]

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The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a finding that a Botetourt County officer had qualified immunity from a lawsuit claiming he unlawfully entered a home at night to investigate a missing teen aged girl.
The 4th U.S. Court of Appeals in June reversed the decision of District Judge Samuel Wilson that Sgt. J.A. Wood [...]

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Sarah Palin. The Salahis. The “Haddocks Squared.” Dapper Congressman Jim Moran as a song-and-dance man.
They all showed up last night at the George Washington Masonic Memorial (right) in Alexandria. Masonic temples may be suspected sites for secret rites, but the Alexandria temple gave up secrets last night when the Alexandria Bar Association put on its [...]

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Would it have made any difference at Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon’s trial?
Any difference, that is, if the court had had the benefit of proposed model jury instructions just out for federal judges that explicitly tell jurors to stay off their Blackberries, iPhones, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. When the judge tells jurors not to talk [...]

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Dow Jones and Virginia local newspapers have been squabbling over public notice rights in the past year. When the Wall Street Journal decided to cherry-pick public notices in Virginia, papers like the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Virginian-Pilot headed to court.
Del. Steve Landes, R-Waynesboro, had an idea to open up the market even more, with a [...]

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