The VLW Blog

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 [...]

[Read more →]

A Hampton Roads law firm violated ethics rules when it simultaneously represented two clients who were in adverse legal positions. A Norfolk U.S. District Court said it found no prejudice in the current case and would not disqualify the firm, but would refer the matter to the Virginia State Bar. Montagna Klein Camden LLP specializes [...]

[Read more →]

Richmond U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne said courtroom security video helped him decide that a trial that produced a $212-million verdict against a Botox manufacturer was unfair. Payne has vacated the 2011 jury verdict and ordered a new trial. The decision turned on hand gestures used by the plaintiff’s lawyer in closing arguments. The [...]

[Read more →]

A Richmond federal court has applied the brakes to an auto-accident plaintiff’s attempt to collect a $4 million judgment she won in Richmond state court last October. Sheila Womack, a 29-year-old office assistant, claimed she suffered a head injury when Jerrene Yeoman made an improper left turn and their cars collided. Yeoman admitted liability, but [...]

[Read more →]

An employee contract clause calling for a $100,000 annual benefit for a surviving spouse is ambiguous, prompting the 4th Circuit to vacate judgment against the employee’s widow and send the case back for another look. When Hampton Roads music promoter David Williams went to work for Cellar Door Management, or CDP Inc., in 1994, he [...]

[Read more →]

Culpeper County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close has announced he is resigning in the wake of harsh criticism from a federal judge of his handling of a capital murder case against a teenaged suspect. U.S. District Judge James C. Turk criticized both Close and police detectives who prepared the case against Michael Wayne Hash, who was [...]

[Read more →]

A long running court battle over claims of race discrimination and breach of contract in a Danville public construction project is headed for a third trial in the wake of a hung jury last month. The case of Carnell Construction and its claim of mistreatment by the Danville housing authority brought a $3.17-million jury verdict [...]

[Read more →]

A longtime veteran prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office has been named a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. The judges of the U.S. District Court appointed David J. Novak to the position, effective Feb. 1, 2012. Novak succeeds U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis W. Dohnal, who recently retired from the bench. Novak, [...]

[Read more →]

A Sterling man claims a police video shows a Loudoun County officer knocking him unconscious from behind as he stood with his hands in the air. The alleged 2009 assault occurred as the former deputy sheriff responded to a report of an incident at a shopping center. The civil rights lawsuit filed by Carlos Garcia [...]

[Read more →]

A company that approached Rockingham Memorial Hospital with a plan to boost its Medicare reimbursements failed to prove a binding contract for a percentage of the increased revenues, a federal appeals court found last week. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday affirmed dismissal of the suit brought by McKay Consulting Inc. seeking court [...]

[Read more →]