Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Employees who took advantage of a shift in a U.S. Army contract to form their own company and compete with their former employer did not violate their duty of loyalty to that employer, an Alexandria federal magistrate judge has ruled. ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Richmond federal judge has rejected a state-law wrongful termination claim based on alleged retaliation against an employee who reported safety and health violations. The Bowman claim fizzled because the state code already provides a “extensive statutory remedy” that precludes ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge David J. Novak retaliation

A lawsuit targeting the industry that offers “Cash Now” in exchange for future settlement annuity payments has been dismissed, along with claims against a Virginia lawyer-legislator who represented some of the major players in the business. Rulings this month by ...

A defense often raised in federal litigation could have added vitality in a state courtroom under a judge’s ruling last month. While a Roanoke circuit judge acknowledged the potential viability of the “intracorporate immunity doctrine” in a Virginia civil conspiracy ...

Tagged with: civil conspiracy conspiracy intracorporate immunity doctrine

Despite allegations that a lawyer was using his cellphone for work when he struck a skateboarder with his car, a Richmond federal judge has dismissed his law firm from a personal injury action at the threshold of litigation. U.S. District ...

Tagged with: Judge David J. Novak law firm Personal Injury U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A circuit court ruling that “undue influence and fraud” was afoot when a lawyer procured a will making himself the primary beneficiary has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Despite a challenge to the standing of one beneficiary ...

Tagged with: Supreme Court of Virginia undue influence Wills

Virginia lawyers who serve in the General Assembly enjoy outsized powers and privileges in their interactions with the judges who rule on their cases. But any regulation would be impractical, many of them say. In Virginia, lawyer-legislators can have a ...

Tagged with: Del. Jeff Campbell Del. Michael Mullin Del. Terry Kilgore Judge Bonnie L. Jones Judge David M. Hicks Judge Henry Vanover Judges Judicial nominations Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Justice Teresa Chafin Sen. Joe Morrissey Sen. Richard H. Stuart Sen. Scott Surovell Sen. Tommy Norment Virginia General Assembly

The Supreme Court of Virginia has blocked a $20,000 award of costs to medical malpractice defendants after the plaintiff took a mid-trial nonsuit, ruling the order granting costs came more than 21 days after the nonsuit order. The May 20 ...

Tagged with: Court costs Justice Stephen R. McCullough Medical Malpractice Supreme Court of Virginia

A former lawyer accused of defrauding two elderly clients may be confronted on the witness stand with the Virginia State Bar affidavit she signed when she agreed to give up her law license in 2019, a Lynchburg federal judge has ...

Tagged with: Attorneys bar discipline Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A Floyd County circuit judge has refused to allow the state to seize a couple’s home alleged to have been the site of a major marijuana distribution operation. The judge cited the fact that only one spouse had been convicted ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Drug seizure Floyd County Circuit Court Judge K. Mike Fleenor Jr. marijuana