Where the unpaid materialmen filed mechanic’s liens suits against the owner, who, in turn, filed a lien action against the prime contractor and its surety, and the prime contractor filed suit in Missouri against the owner and the surety for ...
Read More »Civil Practice – Settlement Agreement – Mechanic's Lien Suit – Suit Against Surety
Tort/Negligence – Defamation – Former Business Partner 
Where plaintiff sued his former business partner for defamation for the partner’s alleged statements describing plaintiff as a criminal, a thief and a convicted thief, and at the defamation trial, the trial court allowed into evidence a newspaper article which ...
Read More »Tort/Negligence – Premises Liability – Dangerous Instrumentality – Broken Receptacle – Restaurant 
Where the four-year old child sustained an electrical burn to the palm of his hand when he touched a broken fluorescent light receptacle charged with 120 volts of electricity which was located under the customer’s side of an order counter ...
Read More »Municipal – Water Supply – Reservoir In Two Counties – County Consent 
Where the City of Virginia Beach in 1984 contracted with the federal government for the right to use a designated amount of water in a reservoir located partially in Mecklenburg and Halifax Counties, the city was not required to obtain ...
Read More »Landlord/Tenant – Restaurant Lease – Rent Default – Lease Termination 
Although the restaurant lessee argues that its failure to timely pay rent for two months was not a default which would allow termination of the 15-year lease, the plain language of the agreement provided that failure to pay rent when ...
Read More »Labor & Employment – Municipal – Teachers – Involuntary Transfer – Grievance Procedure 
Where two teachers filed a grievance asserting that their involuntary transfer to other schools because of overstaffing violated various school board policies and regulations, the trial court erred in concluding that the teachers’ complaints were “grievable” under Va. Code § ...
Read More »Civil Practice – Sexual Abuse Of Minor Child – Parents' Suit – Limitations 
Where plaintiff parents’ motion for judgment alleges that defendant caused them emotional distress and attendant medical expenses by sexually abusing their minor daughter from 1974-1978, which they only discovered in 1991, their cause of action, which is derivative of their ...
Read More »Contract – Real Estate – Void Contract – Enforcement Of Deposit Provisions – Severability 
Although the sellers argue that when the contract became “null and void” under its own terms for failure of a condition precedent, in that the buyer was unable to obtain financing, the buyer could not then enforce the contractual provisions ...
Read More »Criminal – Forfeiture Of Bail Bonds – No Appearance – Show Cause – 'Reasonable' Notice 
Although the commonwealth did not provide the bonding companies with notice of nonappearance of the several criminal defendants in these cases from 13 months to more than three years after the fact of nonappearance, the commonwealth nevertheless may move for ...
Read More »Tort/Negligence – Tortious Interference With Contracts – Soliciting Former Customers 
Where the two former employees of the hair replacement business did not sign any noncompete agreements with the employer, and after they left the employer, they took no documents or other property with them and began soliciting the employer’s customers ...
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