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Lawyer urges Jewish justice
Dear Editor: In the over 200 years of our Commonwealth, our citizens have been fortunate to have had numerous capable Justices of our Virginia Supreme Court. Beginning in the 1980s, the General Assembly and Governor began the overdue diversification of our state’s highest court. Now is the time to correct an oversight obvious to the […]
Lawyer takes issue with VLW editorial
Dear Editor: I am responding to your April 6, 2015, editorial (“No license to discriminate”) regarding the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Even if the Indiana law differed in some way from the federal or other state statutes, it in essence required the showing of a compelling state interest and least restrictive means when the […]
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor: In light of your publication’s coverage of the VSB’s decision to cancel its Midyear Legal Seminar to Jerusalem, I’d encourage you to continue to cover the ongoing responses from the broader Virginia legal community. [Here] is a letter sent today by the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond (JCFR) to the VSB. By […]
Bar’s decision lacked transparency
Editor’s note: This open letter to VSB President Kevin Martingayle was shared with Virginia Lawyers Weekly and posted here at our website March 31. Re: Your decision to cancel the mid-year meeting in Israel Dear President Martingayle, Along with many others I was shocked, outraged and deeply disappointed to receive your blast e-mail late Friday […]
Bar owes no apology or further explanation
Editor’s note: The following letter to VSB leaders Kevin Martingayle and Edward Weiner was shared with Virginia Lawyers Weekly and posted here at our website on March 31. Dear Kevin and Edward: I have not been privy to, nor previously followed, discussions regarding the Bar’s planned midyear seminar in Israel. But I was surprised to […]
Security hurdles a weak excuse for trip cancelation
Dear Editor: It is disingenuous to claim a November VSB trip that has not reached the minimum number of participants within a month of the flier being sent out is a no-go – particularly since even 37 or so Muslims an/or Palestinian-Americans would apparently have gone but for the claimed problems with Israeli security checks. Why […]
Letter to the Editor
Editor Virginia Lawyers Weekly I read with interest your editorial of June 3, 2013, regarding the Diversity Conference of the Virginia State Bar. In it, you noted the creation of the conference amid a certain amount of controversy in 2010, and advocated for modifying the compromise reached at that time by permitting funding of the […]
Return of appellate defender advocated
Dear Editor: I wanted to bring a crucial matter to the attention of the Virginia legal community: The critical need for a state appellate defender in our commonwealth. Sen. J. Chapman Petersen of Fairfax has introduced (for the second straight year) a budget amendment authorizing an Appellate Defender. It is a modest sum — $275,000 […]
Stop the attack on the judicial branch
Dear Editor: Challenges to the freedoms protected by the constitution sometimes come in seemingly small and insignificant appearing increments. It should amaze most Americans to discover that the Constitution of the Soviet Union (you remember the Soviet Union: the gulags, the KGB, and the imprisoned dissidents) gave Soviet citizens the rights to free speech, assembly […]
Lawyer opposes public notice bill
Dear Editor, I have just seen a copy of Senate Bill 664, offered to the Senate Jan. 20, 2012, by its patron, Sen. Ralph K. Smith. The purpose of the bill is to amend and reenact §15.2-107.1 of the Virginia Code, by inserting “or instead of’ in the first line. I am not aware as […]
Bring back office of Appellate Defender
Dear Editor: I write in support of the budget amendment introduced by Sen. Chap Petersen that will reestablish the Appellate Defender’s office. In 2009, the Appellate Defender’s office was shuttered, a victim of budget cuts. Now we have an opportunity to reestablish this office on a small scale (the budget amendment is $275,000 for two […]
Lawyer: Don’t use ‘mom’ and ‘dad’
Dear Editor, My teeth clenched again yesterday as I read the digest of the opinion in Campbell v. Campbell, which appeared on Page 18 of your August 15 issue. Why is it that your writer refers to the parties in this family law case as “mom” and “dad” in the lead paragraph? Especially when, as […]
Verdicts & Settlements
- Driver struck twice in rear-end collision at red light — $350,000 settlement
- Drunken driver strikes vehicle on interstate — $200,000 settlement
- Trip and fall on mat leads to knee replacement surgery — $1.5M verdict
- Woman suffers permanent injury in broadside crash — $2.325M settlement
- Teacher injured in accident during morning commute — $1.5M settlement
- Woodshop incident leads to amputation of fingers — $1.3M settlement
- Motorcyclist’s foot amputated in collision — $7M settlement
- Contractor rear-ended on interstate on way to wedding — $825,000 settlement
- Man suffers back injury in crash with out-of-state driver — $530,000 settlement
- Driver crossed center line, struck 89-year-old’s vehicle — $1.2M settlement
- Jury returns defense verdict in favor of gastroenterologist
- Teens killed in T-bone collision with officer — $3.1M settlement
Opinion Digests
- Court silent on if ALJs were constitutionally appointed
- Homeowner’s lawsuit barred by res judicata
- Uncertainty over service prevents default judgment
- No stay of case pending resolution of motion
- Man’s unlawful search, seizure claims dismissed
- Amazon shows patent claim is ineligible abstract idea
- Geographical separation dooms trademark claim
- ‘Narcotics trafficker’ defense rejected
- Litigant’s suit against courts, judges dismissed
- Body cam footage properly admitted
- Motion to withdraw pleas properly denied
- Evidence supports murder, conspiracy conviction
