Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

The proceeds from a Chapter 7 debtor’s wrongful death lawsuit can be used to pay off the creditors, a U.S. district judge in Roanoke has ruled. The court held that a Virginia statute which protects personal injury judgment awards and ...

For the past 20 years, Judge Duncan M. Byrd Jr. has been riding the same circuit. First he traveled the Virginia highlands as a district court judge. Now he circulates among five courts as a circuit court judge. His predecessors ...

The Board of Governors of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association has endorsed the concept of a statewide system of random review of lawyer trust acounts. The Virginia State Bar Council will vote on a proposal to implement such a program ...

A Chapter 7 debtor seeking to protect assets with a Virginia homestead deed can no longer claim a nominal value on a bankruptcy schedule and expect to keep the entire value of the protected property, a Norfolk federal district judge ...

The Virginia Supreme Court will revisit the issue of punitive damages in drunken driving cases this fall. The high court has granted a writ in a Prince William County case in which the judge struck a punitives claim on a ...

By Robert SmithMidford, News Editor Picture a 19th century county courthouse – maybe red brick with a small bell tower. In the deed room, leather- or at least canvass-bound title books line bookshelves along the wall. A few of the ...

A Wythe County burn victim has won a record $1.9 million verdict against a machine shop with an improperly installed water heater. The pilot light in the water heater ignited paint and lacquer vapors in the shop. The award is ...

Virginia Trial Lawyers Association members are strongly opposed to using affidavits to support motions for summary judgment in Virginia courts. However, members were almost evenly divided on using depositions to support motions for summary judgment. The poll was taken in ...

It’s a common situation for purchasing large, capital equipment for resale or lease: a finance company lends money to a leasing company who in turn uses it to buy construction equipment to rent out. The finance company has a purchase ...

Although a software design company could prove marketing activity in only 31 states at most, the company could enforce a non-compete agreement which prohibited a former employee from engaging in competitive activity anywhere in the United States, the 4th U.S. ...